pyr0ball opened issue Circuit-Forge/roadmap#27

pyr0ball
Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:18:21 -0700

27#Windows native self-hosting — no WSL2, no Docker required#

Windows Native Self-Hosting (no WSL2, no Docker)

Support self-hosting on Windows 10/11 natively — no WSL2, no Docker, no virtualisation required.

Status

Architecture defined. Implementation tracked in cf-core.

Circuit-Forge/circuitforge-core#6: manage.py cross-platform process manager

manage.sh / manage.ps1 become thin shims that find Python and delegate to manage.py

Docker mode (Linux/macOS default) and Native mode (Windows primary)

PID file management, platform-aware log tailing, platformdirs for config/data paths

Single manage.py ships in circuitforge-core; all products shim into it

Why native over WSL2

WSL2 has 6+ silent failure modes (BIOS virt, Windows version, WSL version, driver version, Hyper-V conflicts, reboot handling) that are insurmountable for non-technical users. The CF mission — accessible tools for ND/adaptive needs users — makes native support non-negotiable.

Why this matters for accessibility

Many users in the target demographic (ND, limited tech support) are on Windows

Docker Desktop on Windows is resource-heavy and frequently broken after updates

A python manage.py start that just works is the accessibility baseline

Blocker

Circuitforge-core manage.py (#6 above) must ship before any product can advertise Windows native support.