A portable Windows development sandbox.
Bring a complete Cygwin + Bash toolchain to your IDE with kRun — without installing every tool into Windows.
简体中文说明：README.CN.md
Komandare is a portable development environment for Windows. It packages a Cygwin-based Unix userland, Bash, common command-line tools, and optional language toolchains into one relocatable directory. It is best understood as a sandbox for your development environment, not as another terminal emulator or a replacement for Windows itself.
The key idea is simple: the environment is injected into the program you want to use. Start an IDE, debugger, build tool, or script through kRun, and Komandare boots its modules first, then gives the target process the resulting PATH, toolchain variables, cache locations, and junctions.
kRun code .
kRun "C:\Program Files\JetBrains\Toolbox\bin\jetbrains-toolbox.exe"
kRun powershell -NoExitYour IDE does not need a separate copy of every compiler, interpreter, package manager, or Unix utility. It sees the same environment as a Komandare shell.
| Problem | Komandare's answer |
|---|---|
| Every project needs a different toolchain | Install and enable toolchains as portable Module/ packages. |
| IDEs cannot see tools configured in another shell | Launch the IDE with kRun; the shell environment is injected before startup. |
| Reinstalling Windows means rebuilding development setup | Keep or copy the Komandare directory and restore the environment from that directory. |
| Package caches and global prefixes spread through the user profile | npm, pnpm, pip, Playwright, Go, Gradle, and Ruby state is redirected into Module/. |
| You need Unix commands on Windows | Use Cygwin + Bash, /kbin, apt-cyg, and the bundled Windows bridges. |
| You need help remembering shell commands | Use the optional aishell module to turn natural language into a reviewed command. |
One folder is the unit of portability. The launcher derives
KMD_ROOTfrom its own location, so the tree can be moved to another directory, drive, machine, or backup without rebuilding paths by hand.
This is the most important Komandare workflow. kRun.exe starts the normal kInitrd.cmd boot chain and passes the command to it. The boot chain adds Cygwin and Binary/ to PATH, loads registered modules in Config/Init.d/, sets cache and toolchain variables, repairs portable junctions, and then starts the target program.
kRun code . :: VS Code sees Node, Python, Git, Bash, etc.
kRun devenv project.sln :: start another Windows development tool
kRun my-build.cmd :: run a project script in the same environmentRun kRun.exe without arguments to open a small native Windows Run-style dialog. Use --console when a target should always receive a visible console window. kRun is implemented in Source/kRun.c as a zero-CRT native PE.
Double-click kmd.exe to open a ready-to-use Komandare terminal. It prefers Windows Terminal, falls back to the bundled console, and can inject a Windows Terminal profile fragment for path translation. kmd.exe launches and exits; it does not remain as a background daemon.
kmd.exeOn first boot, kmd-welcome can install the modules you select. You can skip the wizard and manage modules later.
kBash :: Bash with the Komandare environment
kCmd :: cmd with the Komandare environment
kInitrd.cmd bash -c "git status"All launchers converge on kInitrd.cmd, so a shell and an IDE launched with kRun receive the same environment.
- Download Komandare-Setup-5.4.2026.0922.exe from the 5.4 release.
- Install it to a directory you control. The base runtime is included; optional modules are fetched after installation.
- Start
kmd.exeonce and choose modules inkmd-welcome, or install them explicitly:
kmod-setup sync
kmod-setup install -r git
kmod-setup install -r python3x
kmod-setup install -r nodejs- Open your project from that environment or launch its IDE through
kRun:
cd C:\work\my-project
kRun code .The installer ships the base runtime. Module packs (.kmp) and registry.kp are published separately through Releases and are downloaded by kmod-setup; modules are not embedded in the installer.
Komandare does not promise that Windows APIs or third-party applications can never write outside the tree. Its promise is narrower and practical: the managed development toolchains keep their state in the sandbox.
| Toolchain | Contained state |
|---|---|
| Node.js 22 | npm prefix/cache, pnpm store/cache, corepack |
| Python 3.12 | pip cache, Playwright browsers, user site |
| Go | GOPATH, GOMODCACHE, GOCACHE, GOENV |
| Ruby 4 | gems and SSL certificates |
| Gradle | GRADLE_USER_HOME |
| PHP 8.3 | runtime and Composer tooling |
z-cache-clean can maintain cache sizes using Config/CacheClean.ini. Copying the directory carries the configured toolchains and their caches with it. Deleting the directory removes the Komandare-managed state; Windows itself and programs you launch remain subject to their own behavior.
Komandare includes Cygwin userland, Bash, Vim, Git support, curl, gcc-class development tools, apt-cyg, and a /kbin command layer. Useful built-ins include:
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
kmod-setup |
install, update, export, remove, and mirror module packages |
ver / version |
show Komandare and system information |
apt-cyg / apt |
manage Cygwin packages |
sudo / su |
Windows UAC-backed elevated workflows |
service |
dispatch services defined under Config/Service/ |
webd |
start a quick python3 -m http.server |
wcmdbox / mobabox |
bridge Windows commands and hardware/network information |
binwalk / jefferson |
firmware and filesystem analysis |
The Binary/ directory adds portable standalone utilities such as Caddy, mitmproxy, SSH clients, tcping, RawCap, cygwin-setup, Composer, and PHPUnit.
Modules are self-contained directories registered by numbered loaders under Config/Init.d/. The 5.2 module system supports remote registries, multiple mirrors, SHA-256 verification, dependencies, install hooks, offline-tolerant registry caching, root-layout packages, and protection for core modules.
kmod-setup list
kmod-setup list -r
kmod-setup install -r python3x
kmod-setup update [name]
kmod-setup export <name> [out.kmp]
kmod-setup remove <name>
kmod-setup mirror [url]To create a private module, place its files under Module/<name>/, add a loader under Config/Init.d/, or use kmod-setup install <name>. A .kmp package is a zip containing kmp.ini, loader.cmd, and module/.
The aishell module converts a natural-language request into a suggested shell command and requires an explicit RUN confirmation before execution. Configure the endpoint and model in Config/AIShell.ini. Do not commit API keys; the release build strips this per-user configuration from the shipped payload.
aishell "find log files modified in the last 7 days and sort by size"| Path | Role |
|---|---|
kRun.exe |
launch any program after booting and injecting the Komandare environment |
kmd.exe |
open the complete Komandare shell |
kBash.bat / kCmd.bat |
enter from an existing terminal |
kInitrd.cmd |
common boot chain and environment setup |
Config/ |
loaders, aliases, cache policy, services, and settings |
Module/ |
portable toolchain state and packages |
Binary/ |
standalone Windows tools and wrappers |
Unixlike/ |
Cygwin userland, Bash, /kbin, etc/, and home/ |
Komandare is not a VM, WSL distribution, or security boundary. It uses Cygwin userland and Windows processes; programs launched through it still have the Windows permissions of their user or an elevated UAC session. The “sandbox” means a portable, contained development workspace and boot environment, not process isolation.
- Latest release: Komandare 5.4
- Homepage: https://komandare.github.io/
- Repository: https://github.com/xRetia/Komandare
- Vendor: xRetia Labs
The repository contains the homepage, documentation, launcher sources, and release scripts. The full runtime tree is distributed through the installer and module packages rather than committed here.
Copyright (c) 2020–2026 xRetia Labs. All rights reserved.
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