Windows workers

Windows Native Workers are a Self-Hosted Enterprise Feature.

You can use the Windows worker natively if you do not want to run Docker or WSL on Windows (e.g., for policy or security reasons). This feature supports the Python, Bun, PowerShell, C# and Nu executors.

You can connect Windows workers to your existing Dockerized or cloud self-hosted PostgreSQL database and Windmill server.

Setting up Windmill worker executable

1. Set up a working directory:

   • Create a directory from where you want to run the Windmill worker, e.g., C:\Users\Alex\windmill.

2. Download Windmill executable:

   • Download the windmill-ee.exe file into the newly created directory from the releases page.

3. Set basic environment variables:

   • Set the following environment variables (replace the placeholders with your specific values):

     # Replace these variables with your specific configuration
     $env:MODE="worker"
     $env:DATABASE_URL="postgres://postgres:changeme@172.12.0.1:5432/windmill?sslmode=disable"
     $env:SKIP_MIGRATION="true"
     More environment variables and worker settings can be found here.

4. Run windmill-ee.exe:

   PS C:\Users\Alex\windmill> .\windmill-ee.exe

   We recommend running Windmill as a service on your Windows environment using sc or NSSM to monitor the Windmill worker, start it at system boot, and manage the restart policy.

After the basic setup, follow these steps for each language your worker should support.

Python executor

1. Install uv:

   powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

You can also check other installation methods in uv`s official documentation.

Bun executor

1. Install Bun: Follow the official documentation for Windows.

2. Locate Bun installation:

   • Find where Bun is installed by running:

     where.exe bun
     Example output:

     C:\Users\Alex\.bun\bin\bun.exe

3. Set environment variables:

   • Add the following environment variables (replace the placeholders with your specific values):

     # Replace these variables with your specific configuration
     $env:BUN_PATH="C:\Users\Alex\.bun\bin\bun.exe"

PowerShell executor

1. Install PowerShell 7+ (stable): Ensure you have the latest stable release of PowerShell by following the official documentation.

   • Start PowerShell 7 and verify you're running PowerShell 7 by checking $PSVersionTable:

     $PSVersionTable
     PSVersion 7.4.5

2. Locate PowerShell 7 installation:

   • Find where PowerShell 7 is installed by running:

     where.exe pwsh.exe # Note: previous versions used powershell.exe
     Example output:

     C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe

3. Set environment variables:

   • Add the following environment variables (replace the placeholders with your specific values):

     # Replace these variables with your specific configuration
     $env:POWERSHELL_PATH="C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe"

C# executor

1. Install .NET 9.0 SDK: Follow Microsoft instructions and make sure you have .NET 9.0 installed.

   • You can check it by listing the installed SDKs:

     dotnet --list-sdks

2. Locate your .NET installation:

   • Find where .NET is installed by running:

     where.exe dotnet

3. Set environment variables:

   • Add the following environment variables (replace with your values if needed):

     # Replace these variables with your specific configuration
     $env:DOTNET_ROOT="C:\Program Files\dotnet"
     $env:DOTNET_PATH="C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe"

Nu executor

1. Nu: Ensure you have installed Nu by following the official documentation.

   • Start PowerShell and verify you can enter Nushell:

     nu

2. Locate Nu installation:

   • Find where Nu is installed by running:

     where.exe nu.exe 

3. Set environment variables:

   • Add the following environment variables (replace the placeholders with your specific values):

     # Replace these variables with your specific configuration
     $env:NU_PATH="C:\..\..\nu.exe"