WinKnife

20+ Windows tools and more to come. Fast, reliable, easy to use.

Clean disks, hunt duplicates, tame startup, unlock files, tweak Windows, did a mistake? undo all of it with just a click.
Every finding comes with a reason. Every removal goes to quarantine first.

Download · Türkçe

Status: twenty tools; current release v0.5.0. Interface in English and Turkish.

Tool	What works
Disk Cleaner	Read-only scans, reasons and risk buckets, selected cleanup through quarantine, previous scan summary.
Duplicate Finder	Byte-identical files, folders with the same contents and similar images; review before quarantining selected copies.
Disk map	Folder sizes, drill-down and a treemap to investigate disk usage.
Startup	Review login entries, disable and restore supported entries. Impact is estimated, not a measured boot time.
Shutdown Timer	Schedule shutdown, restart or sleep; countdown, warnings and cancellation.
Empty Folders	Folders with no file at any depth; selected ones move to quarantine.
File Unlocker	Shows which program holds a file open; can ask it to close.
Keep Awake	Keeps the PC (optionally the screen) awake for up to 24 hours. Nothing is persisted.
Restore Point	Shows System Protection status and creates a restore point (UAC prompt).
Legacy Panels	Opens 22 classic Windows tools from one page; unavailable ones are disabled.
Tweaks	27 reversible current-user Windows settings; the old value is saved and Undo restores it.
Context menu	Lists right-click menu entries with owner and publisher; disables an entry for the current user, reversibly.
Hosts File	View and edit the hosts file with a backup and diff before every save (UAC prompt).
Installed Apps	Read-only list of Win32 and Store apps with publisher and signer; opens Windows' own Apps settings.
Uninstall leftovers	App-data folders no installed program claims; selected ones move to quarantine.
Big-File Archiver	Large files untouched for a long time; moves them to a folder or drive you pick.
Scheduled Scan	Runs the read-only cleaner scan on a schedule while the app is open; auto-quarantine is off by default.
Environment Variables	Lists user and system variables; edits user ones with a diff preview and Undo.
Network	Which process listens on or talks to which port; DNS cache flush. Read-only otherwise.
Repair Kit	Windows' own SFC and DISM checks, one click each; the exact command is shown first.

Safety and privacy

• Scans inspect first; file cleanup requires confirmation. Each recommendation explains its reason.
• Ordinary cleaned files go to quarantine and can be restored while retained. Retention age and size limits can permanently purge them, including at app startup.
• Emptying the Windows recycle bin is permanent and has its own confirmation. It cannot be restored through WinKnife.
• Protected system locations cannot receive a cleanup action. Uncertain items require review or are informational only.
• The current app uses local rules. The optional LLM layer is planned and not implemented in this release preparation.
• WinKnife is not a registry cleaner, driver updater, antivirus or a promise of more FPS. See module backlog.

Code signing policy

Releases are currently unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first run and a few antivirus engines may flag the installer heuristically. Check the download against SHA256SUMS.txt on the release page. If signing is added later, only the installer built from this repository by .github/workflows/release.yml on GitHub-hosted runners will be submitted, and every signing request will be approved manually. Details: signing notes.

Role	Members
Authors (may change source without further review)	@armadavalor
Reviewers (review every change from non-committers)	@armadavalor
Approvers (approve each signing request)	@armadavalor

Flagged anyway? See the antivirus false-positive note.

Verify this download

Get WinKnife only from the GitHub releases page (armadavalor/WinKnife). A winget package (armadavalor.WinKnife) is submitted to the winget community repository and may not be available yet; there is no Scoop package. Copies from anywhere else are not ours.

Check the SHA-256 against SHA256SUMS.txt from the same release:

Get-FileHash .\WinKnife_<version>_x64-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Get-Content .\SHA256SUMS.txt

The two hashes for that file name must be identical. Release files also carry a GitHub build attestation, which proves they were built from this repository by release.yml (not that the code is safe). With the GitHub CLI:

gh attestation verify .\WinKnife_<version>_x64-setup.exe --repo armadavalor/WinKnife

Attestations start with the first release built after they were added; older releases only have SHA256SUMS.txt. The installer is unsigned, so Windows will still show SmartScreen.

Privacy: WinKnife does not transfer any information to other networked systems.

Build and run

Windows development requires Rust stable with the MSVC toolchain, Visual Studio C++ Build Tools, Node.js 24, and the WebView2 runtime.

From the repository root:

git clone https://github.com/armadavalor/WinKnife.git
cd WinKnife
npm ci
npm run tauri dev

Checks and production build:

npm run check
npm run test:ui
npm run build
cargo fmt --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml --all -- --check
cargo clippy --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml
npm run tauri build -- --bundles nsis

Link safety tests require Windows Developer Mode or an elevated test session. CI must run them without opt-outs. The local opt-out and its limitations are recorded in release instructions.

The executable is built at src-tauri/target/release/winknife.exe; it needs its rules/ resources beside it. Use the portable ZIP when distributing it. Application data remains in Windows roaming app data under com.winknife.app; “portable” means no installer, not that user data travels with the executable.

npm run tauri dev -- -- --dry-run

The flag only disables real power actions. It does not disable cleaner, startup edits, recycle-bin emptying or quarantine retention. Use an isolated VM or the separate QA identity described in QA notes.

Contributing

Small, reproducible fixes, tests, documentation and reviewed rule-pack changes are welcome. Describe the problem, expected behavior and your verification. Read conventions and the relevant module specification before changing behavior.

For rule packs, read the format, edit rules/*.json, and run the Rust tests. Protected paths and quarantine guarantees remain mandatory. Prefer a focused change over unrelated cleanup in the same PR.

Location	Contents
src-tauri/src/core/	Safety gates, quarantine, database, scanner and platform wrappers
src-tauri/src/modules/	Tool implementations
src/routes/	Svelte screens
rules/	Local rule packs and schemas
Architecture	Module contract and design
Development log	Completed work and deferrals
Release checklist	Packaging and acceptance

MIT — see LICENSE.