Deploy Paladin

A lightweight installer framework for Windows applications. Write a Lua script describing your installer wizard, bundle it with your files, and distribute a single setup executable.

Projects

Project	Type	Description
DeployPaladin	WinExe (Avalonia)	The installer UI engine — runs the wizard, extracts files, writes registry keys
DeployPaladin.Builder	Console	CLI tool that bundles a payload folder into a self-extracting installer

Prerequisites

• .NET 9 SDK (for building from source)
• Windows (registry features are Windows-only)

Quick Start

1. Publish both tools

# Publish the installer engine (base exe that becomes each setup.exe)
dotnet publish DeployPaladin.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -o .\publish

# Publish the builder CLI (standalone, no .NET required to run)
dotnet publish DeployPaladin.Builder\DeployPaladin.Builder.csproj -c Release -o .\publish-builder

This gives you two standalone executables:

• publish\DeployPaladin.exe — the base installer engine
• publish-builder\DeployPaladin.Builder.exe — the builder CLI (~13 MB, self-contained, no .NET runtime needed)

You can copy both files anywhere. The builder is a standalone tool — put it on a build server, a USB stick, or wherever you create installers.

2. Prepare a payload folder

Create a folder with your application files, a LICENSE.txt, and an installer.lua script:

MyAppInstaller/
├── installer.lua
├── LICENSE.txt
├── icon.ico
├── MyApp.exe
├── library.dll
└── assets/
    └── ...

3. Write installer.lua

SetMetadata("AppName", "My Application")
SetMetadata("Version", "1.0.0")
SetMetadata("Company", "My Company")

SetTheme("Windows11")       -- "Windows11" or "Aqua"
SetInstallDirSuffix("MyApp")
SetAppIcon("icon.ico")      -- optional: custom window icon

AddStep("Welcome", { title = "Welcome", description = "Click Next to begin." })
AddStep("License", { title = "License", description = "Review the terms.", contentFile = "LICENSE.txt" })
AddStep("Folder",  { title = "Location", description = "Choose install folder." })
AddStep("Shortcuts", { title = "Shortcuts", description = "Choose optional shortcuts." })
AddStep("Install", { title = "Installing...", description = "Please wait." })
AddStep("Finish",  { title = "Done!", description = "Installation complete." })

MkDir("%INSTALLDIR%")
CopyFiles("MyApp.exe", "%INSTALLDIR%/MyApp.exe")
CopyFiles("library.dll", "%INSTALLDIR%/library.dll")
CopyDir("assets", "%INSTALLDIR%/assets")

CreateShortcut("%INSTALLDIR%/MyApp.exe", "%DESKTOP%", "My Application",
    { label = "Create Desktop Shortcut", isOptional = true, isSelected = true, icon = "%INSTALLDIR%/icon.ico" })
CreateShortcut("%INSTALLDIR%/MyApp.exe", "%STARTMENU%", "My Application")

CheckRegistry("HKCU", "Software\\MyCompany\\MyApp", "InstallDir")
CreateRegistry("HKCU", "Software\\MyCompany\\MyApp", "InstallDir", "%INSTALLDIR%")

4. Build the bundled installer

DeployPaladin.Builder.exe --payload .\MyAppInstaller --base .\DeployPaladin.exe --output .\MyApp_Setup.exe

Or from the repo with the SDK:

dotnet run --project DeployPaladin.Builder -- --payload .\MyAppInstaller --base .\publish\DeployPaladin.exe --output .\MyApp_Setup.exe

Flag	Short	Description
--payload	-p	Folder containing installer.lua and referenced payload files
--base	-b	Path to the published DeployPaladin installer executable
--output	-o	Path for the output bundled setup executable
--help	-h	Show help

This produces a single MyApp_Setup.exe that contains the installer engine and all your payload files.

5. Distribute

Ship MyApp_Setup.exe. End users double-click it and get a familiar wizard experience.

Development (running without a bundle)

During development you can run the installer UI directly. It will look for installer.lua and payload files relative to the executable's directory:

dotnet run --project DeployPaladin.csproj

Lua Script API

Metadata

Function	Description
SetMetadata("AppName", "...")	Application name shown in the title bar
SetMetadata("Version", "...")	Version string
SetMetadata("Company", "...")	Company name
SetTheme("Windows11")	UI theme — "Windows11" or "Aqua"
SetInstallDirSuffix("...")	Subfolder appended to the chosen install directory
SetAppIcon("icon.ico")	Custom window icon (.ico file from the payload)

Wizard Steps

AddStep(type, { title = "...", description = "...", contentFile = "..." })

Step types: Welcome, License, Folder, Shortcuts, Install, Finish

Option	Description
contentFile	Loads a text file (e.g., LICENSE.txt) and displays it in a scrollable box on that step
requireScroll	When true, the user must scroll to the bottom before they can proceed (useful for license steps)

The Shortcuts step displays checkboxes for any optional shortcut actions (those with isOptional = true), letting the user choose which shortcuts to create before installation begins.

Install Actions

Function	Description
MkDir("%INSTALLDIR%")	Create a directory
CopyFiles("source", "dest")	Copy/extract a single file from the payload to disk
CopyDir("sourceDir", "destDir")	Copy/extract an entire directory from the payload to disk (preserves subfolder structure)
CreateShortcut(target, location, name, options?)	Create a .lnk shortcut (see below)
CreateRegistry("HKCU", "key", "value", "data")	Write a registry value
CheckRegistry("HKCU", "key", "value")	Check if already installed (shows reinstall/uninstall prompt)

CreateShortcut options

CreateShortcut("%INSTALLDIR%/App.exe", "%DESKTOP%", "My App", {
    label      = "Create Desktop Shortcut",  -- display text on the Shortcuts step
    isOptional = true,                        -- show as a user-toggleable checkbox
    isSelected = true,                        -- default checkbox state (default: true)
    icon       = "%INSTALLDIR%/icon.ico"      -- optional shortcut icon
})

When isOptional is false (the default), the shortcut is always created. When true, it appears as a checkbox on the Shortcuts wizard step so the user can opt in or out.

Path Variables

Variable	Expands to
%INSTALLDIR%	The user's chosen install directory + suffix
%PROGRAMFILES%	C:\Program Files
%LOCALAPPDATA%	C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local
%DESKTOP%	User's desktop folder
%STARTMENU%	C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
%SYSTEM%	C:\Windows\System32

Bundle Format

The builder appends data to the end of the base executable:

[original exe bytes] [zip payload] [zip length: 4 bytes, int32] [magic: "PLDN"]

At runtime, BundleReader seeks to the end of its own exe, finds the PLDN marker, reads the zip length, and loads the payload into memory.

License

MIT