Windows Support

relay-tty does not natively support Windows. Use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) and install relay-tty inside your WSL distribution.

Why Not Native Windows?

The core architecture is deeply Unix. The Rust pty-host uses forkpty(3), Unix domain sockets, and POSIX signals — none of which exist on Windows. A native port would require replacing these with Windows equivalents across both the Rust binary and the Node.js server.

What a Native Port Would Require

Rust pty-host (hard)

Unix API	Windows Equivalent	Notes
`libc::forkpty`	ConPTY (`CreatePseudoConsole`)	Available since Windows 10 1809. Different API — no fork, uses `CreateProcess` with `PROC_THREAD_ATTRIBUTE_PSEUDOCONSOLE`. The `conpty` crate exists but is less mature.
`libc::tcgetpgrp`	No direct equivalent	Foreground process tracking would need `NtQueryInformationProcess` or console API calls.
`proc_pidinfo` / `/proc/pid/cwd`	`NtQueryInformationProcess`	CWD polling for the shell process.
`proc_name` / `/proc/pid/comm`	`QueryFullProcessImageNameW`	Process name resolution.
`SIGWINCH`, `SIGHUP`, `SIGTERM`	Console events, `TerminateProcess`	Windows uses `GenerateConsoleCtrlEvent` and `SetConsoleCtrlHandler` instead of Unix signals. ConPTY resize uses `ResizePseudoConsole`.
`UnixListener` (Unix domain sockets)	Named pipes or `AF_UNIX`	Windows has `AF_UNIX` since Win10 1803, but Rust's `std::os::unix` module isn't available on Windows. Named pipes (`\\.\pipe\`) are the native alternative.

Node.js server (medium)

Unix socket IPC in pty-manager.ts and ws-handler.ts — switch to named pipes or TCP localhost.
Process management — process.kill(pid, 0) for liveness checks needs a different approach (e.g., tasklist or Windows APIs via native addon).
File paths — .sock file conventions, hardcoded / separators in some places.

Build & distribution

Cross-compile the Rust binary for x86_64-pc-windows-msvc and aarch64-pc-windows-msvc.
Update the postinstall binary download script to handle .exe binaries.
CI matrix for Windows testing.

Effort Estimate

A working Windows port would be a 2-3 week focused effort, primarily on the Rust ConPTY backend. The Node.js changes are straightforward by comparison. Testing across Windows versions adds additional time.

Recommended Approach (if pursuing)

Abstract spawn_pty() behind a trait with Unix and Windows implementations.
Use the conpty crate or raw windows-rs bindings for CreatePseudoConsole.
Replace Unix sockets with named pipes (or TCP localhost for simplicity).
Gate platform-specific code with #[cfg(target_os)] — the existing get_process_name and get_process_cwd functions already use this pattern.
Start with a minimal "it runs" port before adding feature parity (foreground process tracking, CWD polling, etc.).