A modern, lightweight launcher for Vintage Story.
English · Русский
Download · Discord · Privacy Policy · Code Signing Policy · Issues · Support
Waxlight is an independent, open-source launcher that brings Vintage Story accounts, game versions, isolated instances, mods, updates, and playtime into one desktop app for Windows and Linux.
It is maintained by AmadoMuerte with help from contributors. Waxlight is not affiliated with or endorsed by the developers of Vintage Story and does not distribute the game or bypass its licensing.
- Instance management — isolated instances, cloning, existing-install import,
.waxlightimport/export, custom covers, and per-instance launch settings. - Game versions — install and keep multiple Vintage Story versions side by side.
- Mods — browse ModDB, install local mods, choose versions, manage dependencies and update policies, and update per instance.
- Backups and recovery — manual and automatic snapshots, configurable retention, and Last Known Good recovery.
- Accounts and clients — multiple Vintage Story accounts and Optimum support.
- Servers and sharing — public server browser, favorites, and deep links for shareable mod and server pages.
- Activity — playtime statistics, launch logs, downloads, and background operation history.
- News and updates — official Vintage Story news plus stable and prerelease launcher updates with checksum verification.
- Desktop support — native Windows and Linux packages with a movable launcher data folder.
- Community translations — English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and many other community translations.
Get the latest version from GitHub Releases.
| Platform | Package |
|---|---|
| Windows x64 | Installer .exe or portable .zip |
| Debian / Ubuntu x64 | .deb |
| Fedora / RPM x64 | .rpm |
| Other Linux x64 | Portable .tar.gz |
Each release includes SHA256SUMS for integrity checks.
On Windows, unsigned Waxlight builds may trigger Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. Download Waxlight only from this repository's Releases page.
Waxlight is packaged as a Nix flake for x86_64-linux. The
package builds the launcher natively against GTK3 and WebKitGTK 4.1 — no steam-run, nix-ld,
or manual library setup is needed. All user data (configuration, instances, mods, logs, and
account sessions) stays in the standard XDG directories under ~/.config/waxlight/ and is
never written into the immutable Nix store.
Run Waxlight without installing:
nix run github:AmadoMuerte/Waxlight-launcherInstall it into your user profile, which also adds it to your desktop application launcher:
nix profile install github:AmadoMuerte/Waxlight-launcherTo use Waxlight from another flake, for example as part of your NixOS configuration
(flake.nix):
{
inputs = {
nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
waxlight.url = "github:AmadoMuerte/Waxlight-launcher";
};
outputs = { nixpkgs, waxlight, ... }: {
nixosConfigurations.my-machine = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
modules = [
({ pkgs, ... }: {
environment.systemPackages = [ waxlight.packages.${pkgs.system}.default ];
})
];
};
};
}Uninstall Waxlight from the user profile:
nix profile remove Waxlight-launcherLauncher self-updates are disabled in the Nix build: Waxlight never tries to replace its own
executable inside /nix/store. Update it through Nix instead:
nix profile upgrade Waxlight-launcher- Sign in under Accounts.
- Install a game version under Game Versions.
- Create an instance in Library and select its account and game version.
- Install mods from Mods if needed.
- Press Play.
A valid Vintage Story account with access to the game is required.
On Windows, the game also requires the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2015–2022 (x64). Without it the game may fail to start with an
Unable to load DLL 'nanosvg' (or one of its dependencies)error. Install it from the latest supported Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable downloads.
Default data locations:
- Linux:
~/.config/waxlight/ - Windows:
%AppData%\waxlight\
The main data folder can be moved from Settings → Data folder. Account credentials remain in the operating system credential store.
Optional telemetry is disabled by default for new installations. When enabled, it sends a pseudonymous installation ID, launcher version, OS, architecture, and limited numeric or allowlisted operational data. It can be changed in Settings → Privacy & telemetry. See the Privacy Policy for the complete, current list of network transfers.
See SECURITY.md and authentication notes for details.
Requirements: Go 1.25+, Node.js 22+, Wails 2.11, a C compiler, and the required Wails platform dependencies.
git clone https://github.com/AmadoMuerte/Waxlight-launcher.git
cd Waxlight-launcher
npm ci --include=dev --prefix frontend
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@v2.11.0
cd cmd/waxlight
wails devProduction build from the repository root:
make wails-buildThe backend API reference is generated from the Wails transport source and GoDoc with the pinned WailsDoc dependency:
make api-docs # generate schema, Markdown, and the checked API inventory
make api-docs-dev # generate and start the VitePress development server
make api-docs-build # generate and build the production VitePress siteGenerated schema, Markdown, and VitePress output are intentionally not committed. A clean checkout reproduces them from internal/transport/wails, wailsdoc.yaml, and docs/wails-api-inventory.json remains the checked public API contract.
Contributors can browse the current backend API reference at https://docs.waxlight.by.
Code, translations, testing, documentation, bug reports, and focused feature proposals are welcome.
Before opening a pull request, read CONTRIBUTING.md and run:
make release-checkFor security issues, follow SECURITY.md instead of opening a public issue.
Waxlight is free and open source. If you enjoy the project and want to support its continued development:
Waxlight Launcher is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See NOTICE for third-party and project notices.