Installing TigerMole on Windows

Download

Get the latest release from the releases page:

• TigerMole-Setup-X.X.X.exe — recommended, self-contained graphical installer • TigerMole-X.X.X.msi — MSI only, for IT/MDM deployment • tigermole-proxy-X.X.X-windows-x86_64.exe — standalone binary, for advanced/headless use

Always verify the SHA-256 checksum before running:

Copiar$file     = "TigerMole-Setup-X.X.X.exe"
$expected = ((Get-Content "$file.sha256") -split '\s')[0].ToLower()
$actual   = (Get-FileHash $file -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
if ($actual -ne $expected) { throw "Checksum mismatch!" }
Write-Host "OK: $actual"

All artifacts are Authenticode-signed. Verify the signature before running on managed machines:

CopiarGet-AuthenticodeSignature TigerMole-Setup-X.X.X.exe

The graphical wizard — 5 steps

Step 1 — License Agreement

Read and accept the EULA. The Next button is disabled until you tick the acceptance checkbox. Your acceptance is recorded locally with a timestamp.

Step 2 — License Activation

A license key is required — TigerMole does not forward traffic without an active license. The key format is key/<base64url-payload>.<base64url-signature>.

The installer validates the key format locally, then sends an activation request with: your license key, a machine fingerprint (v1:SHA256(MachineGuid | primary MAC)), your hostname (or an owner label you supply), and the platform identifier (win-x64).

If you proceed without a key: the installer lets you continue, but the proxy will block all traffic to Claude until a key is activated. Always activate during install, or immediately afterward with tigermole-proxy activate <KEY>.

Activation outcomes

Outcome

What happens

Success | Seat bound to this machine; tier features unlocked

Key not found | Check for typos — copy-paste the key directly

Expired | Your subscription lapsed; renew at tigermole.com

Seat limit | All seats occupied; release one on another machine first

Rate limited | Too many attempts; the UI shows a countdown and retries

Server error | Transient — the installer retries up to 3 times

Team / Custom licenses show an additional Owner label field after a successful activation: a human-readable name for this machine (e.g. "Alice's Laptop").

The validated license is encrypted with DPAPI (Windows Data Protection API, current-user scope) and stored at %LOCALAPPDATA%\TigerMole\license.dat.

Step 3 — Options

Start automatically at login (on by default) — registers in the Windows Startup folder, no admin rights needed; falls back to Task Scheduler if unavailable.

Desktop shortcut (off by default).

Audit encryption key (Team/Custom only) — TigerMole can encrypt audit logs with your own X25519 public key. Click Browse to select a .pub file. Accepted formats: 32 raw bytes, 64 lowercase hex characters, or Base64 (standard or URL-safe) of 32 bytes. This step is optional on Windows; you can import the key later with tigermole-proxy import-audit-key <path>.

Step 4 — Installation

The installer performs these actions in order, showing a progress bar: extracts and runs the MSI (msiexec /quiet), creates a watchdog that restarts the proxy on crash, registers autostart, configures ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL in settings.json, activates the license, and imports the audit key if provided.

If any step fails, the installer shows the error and offers a Retry button. The install log is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\TigerMole\install.log.

Step 5 — Summary

On success, click Open TigerMole to launch the system tray, or Finish to close the wizard (TigerMole starts at next login). The summary shows your license tier, seat count, and expiry date if applicable.

What gets installed, and where

Everything lives under %LOCALAPPDATA%\TigerMole\: the proxy binary, the tray icon, the watchdog script, the DPAPI-encrypted license record, the configuration, the install log, and daily audit logs (JSONL). A Start menu shortcut is also created, plus an optional autostart registry entry.

No files are written outside the current user's profile. No administrator rights are required.

Upgrading

Run the new TigerMole-Setup-X.X.X.exe. The installer detects the existing version, shuts down the running proxy, upgrades the binary, and restarts it. License data, config, and audit logs are preserved across upgrades.

Uninstalling

The recommended path releases your license seat automatically:

Copiar& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\TigerMole\tigermole-proxy.exe" uninstall

You can also uninstall from Apps & Features by searching for TigerMole. The uninstaller releases the seat, removes autostart, stops the proxy, removes ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL from settings.json, and wipes runtime data.

Verifying the installation

Copiar& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\TigerMole\tigermole-proxy.exe" doctor
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\TigerMole\tigermole-proxy.exe" status
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\TigerMole\tigermole-proxy.exe" license

Troubleshooting

The tray icon does not appear after installation

Open the Startup folder (shell:startup) and double-click tigermole-proxy.vbs, or run tigermole-proxy tray directly.

ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is not set in settings.json

Copiar& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\TigerMole\tigermole-proxy.exe" configure

License activation fails with "Seat limit"

On another machine that has TigerMole installed, run tigermole-proxy deactivate, then retry activation on the new machine.