Tracking: official Cmder packages for WinGet, Chocolatey, Scoop, and future Windows package managers

[DRSDavidSoft]

Tip

Status: On hold until after the development merge into master; however it was important enough to ask @cmderdev/core to take action regarding registering and allowing us to publish new "official" releases.

Goal

This is the canonical tracking issue for getting Cmder into the Windows package-manager ecosystem in a way that is accurate, discoverable, and maintainable by or with the Cmder core team.

I (@DRSDavidSoft) can help with research, docs, manifests, packaging scripts, and PRs. Some actions still need the core maintainers because trusted contributors cannot take over external package ownership, publish official registry submissions, or approve release-channel policy on behalf of cmderdev.

Canonical wiki page: https://github.com/cmderdev/cmder/wiki/Package-Manager-Status

Current state as of 2026-06-20

Package manager	User command today	Current state	Official?	Current maintainer/source	Next step
WinGet	winget search --query cmder --source winget	No package found in the default WinGet source.	No.	None in microsoft/winget-pkgs.	Submit official archive/portable manifests from Cmder release assets. WinGet now supports ZIP archive manifests with NestedInstallerType: portable; use cmder.zip for full and cmder_mini.zip for mini.
Chocolatey	choco install cmder and choco install cmdermini	Community packages exist and are current at 1.3.25.	Not currently owned by cmderdev.	Package pages point to @AdmiringWorm's source repository: automatic/cmder and automatic/cmdermini. The nuspec owners list AdmiringWorm, dtgm.	Ask current maintainers to add Cmder maintainers or transfer/coordinate ownership. If there is no response after 7 days, Chocolatey's vendor guidance says to contact site admins with the contact history.
Scoop	scoop install cmder and scoop install cmder-full	Community manifests exist and are current at 1.3.25.	Community-maintained in ScoopInstaller/Main, but already uses official Cmder release assets and hashes.txt.	bucket/cmder.json and bucket/cmder-full.json.	Keep Main manifests healthy through PRs; decide whether cmderdev wants an official bucket or simply documented support for the existing Main manifests.

Important history and related threads

Please keep the open package-manager threads open and linked here so future visitors can find the current state.

• [Feature Request] Add Cmder to Winget #2552 is the active WinGet feature request. On 2026-03-18, the answer was still that Cmder is not installable with WinGet.
• [Request] Create pipeline to publish on WinGet #2355 requested a WinGet pipeline in 2020 and was later closed as a duplicate of [Feature Request] Add Cmder to Winget #2552. The old blocker was WinGet ZIP support; that blocker has changed.
• Update version on Chocolatey #959 documented the Chocolatey ownership split in 2016. Maintainers said Cmder did not maintain the Chocolatey package; @dtgm clarified that the Chocolatey package was community-driven and not affiliated with this project.
• Unable to install cmder using Install-Package in Windows 10 #762 is another older Chocolatey support request that was closed after the reporter realized the package was not maintained here.
• Include Scoop as package manager #42 is the early Scoop/package-manager discussion.
• cmder installer/updater? we have a solution! #1818 and Provide Installer for Cmder (such as .msi package) #2729 are related installer/updater discussions. We still may want an installer someday, but WinGet ZIP portable support means an installer is no longer the only path for WinGet.

Core-team decisions needed

1. Decide whether Cmder wants to present these package-manager channels as official, supported community packages, or explicitly unofficial-but-documented.
2. Decide package identity for WinGet. Proposed starting point: Cmder.Cmder for the full package and Cmder.CmderMini for the mini package.
3. Decide whether WinGet should publish both full and mini. Proposal: publish both. Full should be x64 because the full archive vendors 64-bit Git for Windows; mini can be neutral.
4. Decide who from the core team should own or co-own Chocolatey package maintenance. Chocolatey's vendor guidance starts with contacting current maintainers and asking to be added.
5. Decide whether Scoop should remain in ScoopInstaller/Main as the main discoverable route, or whether cmderdev wants an additional official Scoop bucket.
6. Decide release workflow expectations: after each GitHub release is published, package manifests should be generated/validated and submitted or pushed from a documented process.

Proposed implementation work

I am preparing a PR that makes the repository package-ready without forcing registry ownership changes in this PR:

• add package-manager manifest templates for WinGet and Chocolatey;
• add a PowerShell helper that consumes Cmder release assets/checksums and renders package-manager-ready files;
• document the release-time commands and external handoff steps;
• keep registry submission/publishing as manual maintainer actions until the core team approves automation and credentials/secrets.

This should let us move from scattered community package knowledge to one documented release path.

External resources

• WinGet manifest creation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/package/manifest
• WinGet manifest submission: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/package/repository
• WinGet installer schema for archive/portable manifests: https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/blob/master/doc/manifest/schema/1.10.0/installer.md
• Chocolatey vendor/author package maintenance guidance: https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/community-repository/users/software-vendor/
• Chocolatey package triage process: https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/community-repository/users/package-triage-process/
• Chocolatey maintainer handover guidance: https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/community-repository/maintainers/package-maintainer-handover/
• Current Chocolatey Cmder: https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/Cmder
• Current Chocolatey cmdermini: https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/cmdermini
• Current Scoop cmder: https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Main/blob/master/bucket/cmder.json
• Current Scoop cmder-full: https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Main/blob/master/bucket/cmder-full.json

[DRSDavidSoft]

Implementation PR opened for the Cmder-side release prep work: #3095. This keeps registry ownership/submission steps manual while adding a repeatable generator for WinGet manifests and Chocolatey package sources.