Native Install Methods

Pre-built binaries will be available on GitHub (opens in a new tab), Supported platforms are: Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Kavita's releases are made to be used 'out of the box'. This means there's no need to install extra requirements

You have 2 options when it comes to running on Windows. You can install with Scoop (opens in a new tab) or use the native builds posted in the steps below.

To install with Scoop (opens in a new tab), follow their instructions to get scoop onto your system.

Once scoop is installed, run:

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install kavita

If you want to run Kavita as a service then you can add:

scoop install shawl

Then see the optional step section once you have everything installed.

If scoop was installed without modifying the default settings then Kavita will now be installed at %userprofile%\scoop\apps\kavita\current\kavita.exe

Install Steps from Github:

Step 1

Go to https://github.com/Kareadita/Kavita/releases/latest (opens in a new tab) and scroll down until you see the 'assets' section where there's a list of files that you can download.

Download the kavita-win-x64 if you have a 64-bit system (preferred version - Windows 10 + Windows 11)

Download the kavita-win-x86 if you have a 32-bit system (usually older devices - Windows 7 and below)

Step 2

Unzip the archive to a writable directory using a program like 7z (opens in a new tab)

🚫

Do not place it in Program Files/ or Program Files (x86)/

These are protected folders and will have permissions problems!

Step 3

Once the files are extracted to a location, run Kavita.exe to launch the server.

Running as a service (Optional)

🚫

nssm is outdated and has problems with Windows 11. Do not use it.

We recommend using shawl (opens in a new tab) to run Kavita as a service. Shawl is a "portable app", you can simply download it and put it anywhere without going through an installer.

Once you have shawl installed then you can modify this command to create the service:

⚠️

This is an example! You need to modify the command to point to your files! Copying and pasting this command won't work.

sc create Kavita binPath= "C:\path\to\shawl.exe run --name Kavita --cwd C:\your\folder\for\kavita -- C:\your\folder\for\kavita\Kavita.exe"

Getting Started Docker Install