pod docs

Installing pod on Windows

Download one file, rename it to pod.exe, click past one warning, and you have a film studio on your PC.

The hidden-ending trap: Windows usually hides file endings, so if you type pod.exe while renaming you may accidentally create pod.exe.exe. Safest: rename it to just pod — Windows quietly keeps the hidden .exe for you. (To see real endings: open the folder → View → check File name extensions.)

There is nothing to "install" in the traditional sense — no installer wizard, no registry, no account signup on a website. pod is a single file. You download it, give it its proper name, and double-click it. The whole thing takes about two minutes, plus a one-time toolchain download the first time it runs.

Step 1 — Download the right build

Almost every Windows machine made in the last decade is 64-bit, so start here:

Click the link and your browser saves the file — usually into your Downloads folder.

Note: On the 32-bit build, animated title cards degrade to simple static cards. The films themselves — every shot, every clip, the full edit — are completely unaffected. If your machine can run the 64-bit build, use that one.

Step 2 — Rename it to pod.exe

Open your Downloads folder, find the file you just downloaded, right-click it, choose Rename, and name it:

pod.exe

That's its real name. You can leave it in Downloads or move it anywhere you like — your Desktop is fine.

Step 3 — The SmartScreen warning (expected, and fine)

Double-click pod.exe. The first time you run it, Windows will very likely show a blue screen that says something like "Windows protected your PC" — this is SmartScreen, and it appears for any app that hasn't paid for a Microsoft code-signing certificate. It does not mean anything is wrong with the file.

  1. Click More info (a small link in the warning text).
  2. Click Run anyway.

Windows remembers your choice; you won't see the warning every time.

Tip: Unsigned is not unsafe. The warning simply means the app is new to Microsoft, not that it's dangerous. And once pod is running, its own updates are protected far more strictly than SmartScreen ever checks: every update pod fetches for itself is cryptographically verified before installing — it refuses anything tampered, mismatched, or older than what you already have. See Updating.

Step 4 — First run: the toolchain

When pod opens for the first time, it sets up its own little workshop before it can make films. It downloads its toolchain — about 250 MB, one time only: a video engine (ffmpeg) and a local graphics renderer. You'll see the progress live in the window; just let it finish. Nothing else on your computer is touched.

After the toolchain, pod runs a short, friendly setup wizard asking for your keys — your pod license key, and (unless you're on a managed studio account, which only needs the license key) your own generation key from kie.ai. That step has its own page: Setting up your keys.

Then you're in. A bordered box with a ❯ prompt appears — that's the studio. Type what you want in plain words, in any language:

❯ make a 30-second teaser for my thriller — telugu, moody
  (pod shows you the exact command it plans to run — Enter runs it, n backs out)

Nothing renders and nothing is spent until you say go. Your first launch also plays a 30-second tour, and you can type demo to render a free five-second local clip — no credits, no internet generation — just to prove everything works. When you're ready for a real production, head to Your first film.

Checking the setup: pod doctor

If anything ever looks off — titles rendering strangely, a first run that got interrupted, a machine that's been asleep for a month — type this inside the studio:

❯ doctor
  (re-checks the whole setup and renders two free local test clips)

It re-checks everything pod depends on, repairs the toolchain if needed, and renders two free local test clips so you can see with your own eyes that video and graphics both work. It costs nothing and it's safe to run any time.

How updating works on Windows

You never go back to the download link. When a new version ships, just type update inside the studio (. pod fetches the new version and cryptographically verifies it came from its makers before installing anything.

Windows has one quirk: a running program can't overwrite its own file. So on Windows, the update finishes with one move command shown on screen — pod prints exactly what to type, close pod, press the Windows key, type cmd, press Enter, paste that line, press Enter — done. That single shown command is the entire Windows update ritual. The full story is on the Updating page.

Updates ship frequently — often the same week feedback comes in. If something bugs you, the feedback command sends a note straight to the makers, and report sends a bug report with context attached.

If something goes wrong

More cures live on the Troubleshooting page. On a Mac instead? See Installing on Mac.