Installation

Getting Ishvana running on a new machine is a ten-minute job if everything goes right, and maybe twenty minutes if Windows SmartScreen or your antivirus decides to be loud about the installer. The instructions below cover the happy path and the rough edges you’re likely to hit. Since v1.2.0 on May 1, 2026, there is no model-provider setup step: the Divinity Engine ships with the app and runs locally.

System requirements

• OS. Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit. Windows only
• CPU. A 6-core / 12-thread processor or better. Consumer-grade chips from the last five years are fine; anything older will run Ishvana but might feel sluggish during deep analysis and manuscript-scale scans.
• RAM. 16 GB minimum. 32 GB is more comfortable for large projects and Deep Analysis Pack workflows.
• GPU. An Nvidia GPU with 8+ GB VRAM is recommended for accelerated local embedding, contradiction, and deep analysis workloads. CPU fallback works, but is slower. GPU recommended
• Disk. SSD recommended. Install size is roughly 500 MB plus whatever your projects grow to over time.

The minimum target is a mid-range consumer PC. Ishvana runs fine on older or lower-spec hardware too, but the hardware tier detection in Settings → Performance will drop the app into conservative defaults that keep things responsive at the cost of some features running slower.

Download and install

Three steps, in order:

1. Buy the license. Head to ishvana.com and purchase. After payment, you’ll get a download link and a license key via email. The license key is a long string — copy it somewhere you won’t lose it.
2. Run the installer. The downloaded file is a standard Windows installer (NSIS). Double-click, pick an install location, click through the prompts. The installer is code-signed, so it should work without hassles — but see the troubleshooting section below if Windows SmartScreen gets in the way.
3. Launch Ishvana from the Start Menu or the desktop shortcut.

License activation

On first launch, Ishvana asks for your license key. Paste it into the activation screen and click activate. The app validates the key against the licensing server, registers your machine, and downloads a signed license file that makes subsequent launches work offline — no network required after the first activation.

A few things worth knowing:

• Your license activates on up to three machines by default. Desktop, laptop, and one extra device is usually enough for most authors. If you need more, contact support.
• If you’re moving to a new computer, deactivate on the old machine first via Settings → Licensing. Deactivation frees up a slot; activation on the new machine takes it.
• Lost your key? Check the email you got after purchase. If that’s gone too, contact support with your purchase confirmation.

Full details on how the licensing system actually works — including what happens if your network is down, how offline verification works, and how to deactivate a machine remotely if it’s been lost or destroyed — are in the Licensing settings page.

Auto-updates

Ishvana checks for updates on every launch. When one is available, you’ll see a notification with the release notes. Click to install — the update downloads in the background and applies on the next restart.

Updates are delivered within your purchased major version. Patches and minor feature additions come free; a future Ishvana 6.0 might be a paid upgrade with an existing-customer discount, but that’s a future concern, not something to worry about when you’re installing today.

Where your data lives

Ishvana stores everything under your Windows AppData folder at C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Roaming\Ishvana\.

• DirectoryIshvana/

  • Directorydata/

    • Directorydocuments/ (.docx manuscript files)

      • …
    • lore.db (SQLite Legendry database)
    • ishvana.db (SQLite main database)
    • Directorychromadb/ (vector embeddings)

      • …
    • Directoryattachments/ (images and assets)

      • …
    • Directorybackups/ (auto-generated backups)

      • …
    • Directoryconfig/ (settings)

      • …
    • Directorylogs/ (error logs and crash dumps)

      • …
  • (electron app state)

This is the directory you want to back up regularly. Your manuscripts, your Legendry, your agent conversation history, your research bookmarks — all of it lives here. For the full breakdown of what every folder contains and why, see Data Storage.

Back up your data

Ishvana does its own auto-backups into data/backups/, but those live in the same directory as your main data. If the whole data folder gets corrupted or deleted, the auto-backups go with it. You want a second backup somewhere — another drive, Backblaze, Dropbox, whatever works for you — so that a bad day doesn’t turn into a lost novel.

Engine setup

There is no provider setup. Ishvana’s agents work after installation because the Divinity Engine runs through bundled local handlers. You do not install Ollama, enter an Anthropic key, configure OpenRouter, or assign models to tiers.

The optional setup step is the Deep Analysis Pack, which Ishvana prompts for only when you use features that need the larger spaCy or FastCoref assets. The pack is still local once installed; it is not a cloud service.

Troubleshooting

The rough edges that most often come up on first launch:

Windows SmartScreen warning

The installer is code-signed through Azure Trusted Signing, but SmartScreen can still flag it as “unrecognized” on less-common software — especially for authors downloading it for the first time. If you see the warning, click More info, then Run anyway. This is standard SmartScreen behavior for new software, not a sign that anything’s wrong.

Ishvana won’t start after install

Most of the time this is antivirus. Ishvana runs a Python backend as a child process on port 37737, and some security tools don’t like that pattern. Add an exception for the Ishvana install directory in your antivirus — Windows Defender, Malwarebytes, Norton, whatever you use. If that doesn’t help, check the logs in %APPDATA%\Ishvana\data\logs\ for the actual error.

Antivirus false positives

Some antivirus tools flag Ishvana’s backend as suspicious because it’s a PyInstaller-bundled Python executable, and PyInstaller binaries trigger heuristics in certain scanners. This is a false positive. Ishvana is code-signed and safe; the scanners are being overly eager. Add an exception and move on.

License key issues

Paste errors are the most common cause. Check for extra spaces at the start or end of the key when you paste it. If you’re still getting rejections after a clean paste, contact support with your purchase confirmation email and they’ll sort it out.

None of these are common, and most users get through installation without hitting any of them. But if you’re the unlucky one who hits all four on the same day, at least the fixes are quick.

What’s next

Your First Project Create a project, add your first lore entry, write a scene, and talk to an agent — all in one sitting.

Settings Configure editor preferences, performance tuning, licensing, and everything else you can tune.

Licensing Full details on how activation, deactivation, and license management work.