wincoman — Windows Computer Manager

Find Windows apps not managed by WinGet, Chocolatey, or Scoop — and register them with Chocolatey in one command.

What it does

1. Scans the Windows registry for all installed programs
2. Checks WinGet, Chocolatey, and Scoop to find which apps are already managed
3. Searches the Chocolatey repository for matching packages for the unmanaged remainder
4. Registers found packages — interactively, automatically, or exports a batch file

Requirements

Requirement	Notes
Windows 10 / 11	Required
Python 3.11+	Via uv — no manual install needed
uv	Fast Python project manager
WinGet	Pre-installed on Windows 11; download for Windows 10
Chocolatey	Installation guide
Administrator privileges	Required for choco install
Scoop	Optional — detected automatically if installed

Quickstart

# 1. Install uv (if not already installed)
winget install astral-sh.uv

# 2. Clone
git clone https://github.com/peterandree/winget-chocolatey-manager.git
cd winget-chocolatey-manager

# 3. Run (as Administrator)
uv run wincoman

Always run as Administrator. choco install requires elevation.

CLI Reference

uv run wincoman [OPTIONS]

Flag	Description
(none)	Full interactive scan
--dry-run	Preview all actions — no packages are installed
--auto	Register all matches without prompting
--export-only	Write a .bat file instead of installing
--output PATH	Batch file destination (used with --export-only)
--exclude-microsoft	Filter out Microsoft/Windows-published apps from scan
--min-score INT	Fuzzy-match threshold 0–100 (default: 60)
--use-cache	Skip scan and reuse results from a previous run
--cache-file PATH	JSON cache file path (default: ~/.wincoman/state.json)
--log-file PATH	Tee log output to a file
--quiet / -q	Suppress INFO output (warnings and errors only)

Common examples

# Preview what would be registered — no changes made
uv run wincoman --dry-run

# Register everything automatically (CI / headless)
uv run wincoman --auto

# Export a batch file for manual review
uv run wincoman --export-only --output register.bat

# Re-run from last scan's cache (fast)
uv run wincoman --use-cache

# Strict matching — only high-confidence package matches
uv run wincoman --min-score 80

# Log everything to a file
uv run wincoman --log-file wincoman.log

Interactive workflow

When run without flags, wincoman guides you through five steps:

wincoman — Windows Computer Manager
======================================================================

Step 1/5: Checking WinGet Managed Packages
Found 47 apps managed by WinGet

Step 2/5: Scanning Installed Programs
Found 124 installed programs

Step 3/5: Checking Chocolatey Packages
Found 12 packages in Chocolatey

Step 4/5: Finding Unmanaged Apps
Found 23 unmanaged apps

Step 5/5: Searching Chocolatey Repository
Progress: 23/23 apps processed...

======================================================================
  RESULTS
======================================================================

Found 8 apps that can be registered with Chocolatey:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Installed App                            Chocolatey Package
----------------------------------------------------------------------
7-Zip 23.01                              7zip
VLC media player                         vlc
Notepad++ (64-bit)                       notepadplusplus
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Registration options:
  1. Register all packages automatically
  2. Review and select packages individually
  3. Export to batch file (manual registration)
  4. Exit without registering

Architecture

wincoman is a modular Python package under src/wincoman/:

src/wincoman/
├── cli.py           CLI entry point (_build_arg_parser, main)
├── runner.py        Orchestrator — wires all pipeline stages
├── config.py        ScanConfig dataclass (single source of configuration)
├── shell.py         Subprocess wrapper (run_command, timeout handling)
├── scoring.py       fuzzy_score, normalize_name, versions_differ
├── registry.py      Windows registry scan via PowerShell
├── detector.py      find_unmanaged — cross-references installed vs managers
├── cache.py         JSON scan-result persistence (save/load)
├── reporter.py      display_results, export_to_batch
├── installer.py     register_packages, register_interactive
└── matchers/
    ├── base.py      BasePackageManager ABC, SearchablePackageManager, PackageMatch
    ├── winget.py    WinGetManager adapter
    ├── chocolatey.py ChocolateyManager adapter (list + search)
    └── scoop.py     ScoopManager adapter (optional, graceful skip)

Adding support for a new package manager (e.g. pip, npm) requires only a new adapter file in matchers/ — no changes to detector.py or runner.py.

Development

# Install all dependencies (including dev)
uv sync

# Run tests
uv run pytest tests/

# Run tests with coverage
uv run coverage run -m pytest tests/
uv run coverage report

# Run a specific test file
uv run pytest tests/test_matchers_chocolatey.py -v

Project structure

winget-chocolatey-manager/
├── pyproject.toml           Project metadata and dependencies
├── uv.lock                  Locked dependency versions
├── register_unmanaged_apps.py  Deprecated shim (removed in v2.0)
├── src/wincoman/            Main package (see Architecture above)
└── tests/                   170 tests, 90% coverage
    ├── conftest.py
    ├── test_cli.py
    ├── test_config.py
    ├── test_shell.py
    ├── test_scoring.py
    ├── test_registry.py
    ├── test_cache.py
    ├── test_detector.py
    ├── test_reporter.py
    ├── test_installer.py
    ├── test_runner.py
    ├── test_matchers_base.py
    ├── test_matchers_winget.py
    ├── test_matchers_scoop.py
    └── test_matchers_chocolatey.py

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Add or update tests for your change
4. Run uv run pytest tests/ — all tests must pass
5. Commit (git commit -m 'feat: my feature') and push
6. Open a Pull Request

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
WinGet is not available	winget not on PATH	Windows 11: update Windows; Windows 10: download winget
Chocolatey is not available	choco not installed	Install Chocolatey
Not running as Administrator	No elevation	Re-run PowerShell as Administrator
Step 5 is slow	Chocolatey API queries per app	Normal — ~2–5 min for 20+ apps; use --use-cache on re-runs
App not detected	No registry entry	Portable/standalone apps don't appear in the registry scan
Low-confidence match	Fuzzy threshold too low	Raise --min-score (e.g. --min-score 80)

FAQ

Do I need both WinGet and Chocolatey? WinGet is your primary manager. Install Chocolatey only for apps WinGet doesn't cover.

Will this reinstall my applications? No. choco install --force only registers the app in Chocolatey's database; it does not reinstall the software.

What if I already have some apps in Chocolatey? They are automatically detected and skipped.

Can I run this without Scoop installed? Yes. The Scoop check is optional and skipped gracefully if Scoop is not on PATH.

Is register_unmanaged_apps.py still supported? It remains as a deprecated shim and will be removed in v2.0. Use uv run wincoman instead.

Version history

• 1.3.0 — Modular refactor: src/wincoman/ package, wincoman CLI, uv project setup, adapter plugin system (WinGet/Chocolatey/Scoop), 170 tests, 90% coverage
• 1.2.0 — Scoop support, JSON cache (--use-cache), version mismatch detection, argparse CLI, dry-run mode, structured logging
• 1.1.0 — Comprehensive error handling, direct interactive registration, admin privilege detection, progress tracking
• 1.0.0 — Initial release: WinGet integration, Chocolatey automation, batch export

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Support

• Open an issue with your Windows version, Python version, WinGet version, and Chocolatey version
• Check the Security Policy for reporting vulnerabilities