Lichess Development Onboarding (Windows)

The simplest way to run lila on Windows is to simply use the Docker image. It will set up and run all programs and services required for lila inside a container. You can then read the Linux instructions for instructions on how to build and run lila itself and additional Lichess services like fishnet and for further instructions on seeding your database, gaining admin access, troubleshooting, etc.

An alternative is enabling the Windows Subsystem for Linux, installing an operating system, and again following the Linux instructions.

If you're running Ubuntu using WSL, then you'll run into problems when installing some of the required packages because apt-key is bugged in WSL. But there's a workaround - all apt-key commands you come across have to be rewritten in the way as described in this issue comment: https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/3286#issuecomment-395980867

You may run into some problems with redis and mongodb using WSL. Follow these instructions for redis and these instructions for mongodb

IntelliJ on WSL

When using WSL, you can store your project on either the Linux filesystem (~/lila) or the Windows filesystem (/mnt/c/lila). Using the Linux filesystem is much better as all operations (compiling, git, etc.) are faster. However, IntelliJ will misbehave if you try to open a project on the Linux filesystem directly.

Fortunately, there's a solution - IntelliJ's Remote Development feature. When you start IntelliJ, look for WSL under Remote Development. Follow the instructions to create a new WSL project, choosing the same IDE version as you have installed and choosing your project directory under the network share (\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\user\lila). Once setup is complete you should have a working IDE tied to the WSL instance, and all features (language servers, terminals, etc.) should work natively.