I Built a Tool That Cuts Windows Setup Time From 4 Hours to 2 Minutes

Anas Berrqia — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 21:04:20 +0000

Every developer has lived this nightmare.

You fresh-install Windows. You open Chrome, go to the VS Code website,
download the installer, click through the wizard. Then Git. Then Node.js.
Then Python. Then VLC because you need to watch something while you wait.
Four hours later you're finally back to where you were.

There had to be a better way.

The Idea

Windows has had Winget (Windows Package Manager) built-in since 2021,
and Chocolatey has existed even longer. Both let you install software
from the command line with a single command:

winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode

So technically you could install everything with a script.
The problem? Writing that script manually every time is tedious,
and you have to remember the exact package IDs.

What I Built

SetupBuilder (stackforge-dev.vercel.app) is a web tool that does
exactly one thing well: lets you select the apps you want from a
categorized registry of 92 packages and outputs a ready-to-run
PowerShell script + a .bat launcher.

Select your apps → Download → Right-click Run as Admin → Done.

No account. No cloud. The script runs entirely on your machine.

The Stack

Next.js + TypeScript for the frontend
Tailwind CSS for styling
Winget and Chocolatey package IDs hardcoded into a verified registry
Output is a plain .ps1 file — you can read every line before running it

What's Next

Currently at 92 packages across categories like Dev tools, Browsers,
Gaming, Emulators, Creative, Security and more.

Planning to add: custom script naming, preset saving, and more packages
based on community requests.

If you try it, I'd genuinely love to know what packages are missing
from your workflow.

→ https://stackforge-dev.vercel.app

DEV Community: Anas Berrqia

I Built a Tool That Cuts Windows Setup Time From 4 Hours to 2 Minutes

The Idea

What I Built

The Stack

What's Next