Claude Code Install Manager 0.1.0

Highlights

First public release. A single-file Windows batch wrapper plus an
optional launcher EXE that works around the documented pain points in
Anthropic's official Claude Code installer:

• install / update / uninstall / repair subcommands that
  call the upstream installer (https://claude.ai/install.ps1) but
  also: write HKCU\Environment correctly (no setx truncation),
  broadcast WM_SETTINGCHANGE, find the binary across five known
  install locations (native .local\bin, WinGet, two legacy paths,
  npm), refuse to delete a WinGet-managed install (corrupts WinGet
  state), and present clean OK / FAIL spinners with mm:ss
  elapsed time for the long operations.
• doctor — a single command that prints OS / shell context,
  install location, version, PATH state in both User and Machine
  scopes, conflicting installs (with upstream-issue citations),
  Claude Desktop App execution-alias hijack check
  (anthropics/claude-code#25075),
  PowerShell execution policy across all four scopes (flags Group
  Policy overrides), and Git Bash detection.
• repair-system — UAC-elevates to clean Claude leftovers
  under %SystemRoot%\System32\config\systemprofile\ from an
  accidental admin-elevated install. Hard prefix-check refuses to
  touch anything outside that tree.
• disable-desktop-alias — removes the Claude Desktop App's
  Windows App Execution Alias at
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\Claude.exe so it stops
  hijacking the claude command on PATH. Tries Remove-Item
  first, falls back to takeown + icacls + del, prints the
  Settings UI path because Windows can regenerate the alias on
  the next desktop-app update.
• Pause-on-exit when launched by double-click, so the window
  doesn't slam shut before you read the output.

Note: this release is unsigned

The .exe launcher in this release was built without a
code-signing certificate. SmartScreen will warn on first run; click
"More info" → "Run anyway" once and subsequent launches are silent.
The accompanying .cmd is the actual logic and is unsigned by
necessity — .cmd files cannot carry an Authenticode signature
regardless of the toolchain. SHA256SUMS lets you verify integrity
without trust; see docs/signing.md
for how a future release will be signed.

Artifacts

File	Contents
claude-code-install-manager.exe	Unsigned launcher. Re-execs the .cmd next to it.
claude-code-install-manager.cmd	The actual wrapper — all logic lives here.
SHA256SUMS	SHA256 hashes for both files above.
claude-code-install-manager-v0.1.0-windows.zip	All three above, bundled.

Run claude-code-install-manager.exe help (or just the .cmd) to get started.

Verifying

Download claude-code-install-manager.exe,
claude-code-install-manager.cmd, and SHA256SUMS into one
directory. From PowerShell:

# Optional: also fetch scripts/verify-release.ps1 from the repo.
.\verify-release.ps1 -AllowUnsigned

-AllowUnsigned is required for v0.1.0 because the EXE is
unsigned. Future signed releases drop this flag.

What's next

v1.0.0 is in design: a single signed Go binary with CLI, TUI
(Bubbletea), and GUI (Wails) modes, full feature parity with this
release, and the .cmd form maintained on a legacy branch. See
the project board for progress.

Full changelog

CHANGELOG.md