Tool	Version	Notes
.NET SDK	10.0.x	`dotnet --version` should report `10.0.*`
CMake	3.25+	For building the C++ DLL
MinGW-w64 / MSYS2 UCRT64	GCC 13+	`C:\tools\msys64\ucrt64` is the expected location
vcpkg	any	`VCPKG_ROOT` env var must point to a bootstrapped clone

Build order

1. Build the server (for testing)

cmake --preset dev
cmake --build --preset dev --target voicecat-server

2. Build the DLL

cmake --preset windows-client
cmake --build --preset windows-client

Output: build/windows-client/bin/voicecat.dll

Verify no MinGW runtime dependencies remain:

& "C:\tools\msys64\ucrt64\bin\objdump.exe" -p build/windows-client/bin/voicecat.dll |
    Select-String "DLL Name"

Expected: only Windows system DLLs (KERNEL32.dll, WS2_32.dll, BCRYPT.dll, etc.). If libgcc_s_seh-1.dll, libstdc++-6.dll, or libwinpthread-1.dll appear, the -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -static -lwinpthread link flags in core/CMakeLists.txt are not taking effect — check the CMake log for the VOICECAT_BUILD_SHARED+WIN32 branch.

3. Build the C# solution

cd clients/windows
dotnet build VoiceCat.slnx

The app's Directory.Build.props copies voicecat.dll from ../../build/windows-client/bin/ into the output directory automatically on every build.

Running manually

# Terminal 1 — start the server
./build/dev/bin/voicecat-server.exe --name "My Server"

# Terminal 2 — launch the client
dotnet run --project clients/windows/VoiceCat.App/VoiceCat.App.csproj

On first connect to a new server:

Enter 127.0.0.1 as the host (not localhost — Windows resolves localhost to ::1 first, and while the server now dual-stacks, 127.0.0.1 is cleaner for local testing).
The server identity dialog will appear. The TLS leaf-cert SHA-256 fingerprint is shown; accept to pin it. Subsequent connects to the same server will be silent (MATCHED).

M5 — Moderation & admin UI

The WinForms client now exposes all M5 operations through the main menu and context menus:

Admin → Server accounts… — create, reset password, and delete server accounts (requires can_admin_accounts).
Channel tree right-click — create, edit, and delete channels. The edit dialog exposes the full per-channel Opus configuration: mono/stereo, sample rate, bitrate, frame size, application mode, FEC, expected packet loss, DTX, and complexity.
User list right-click — move, kick, ban, server mute/deafen, and set permissions (items are gated by your own permissions).
Activity log shows async GenericResult feedback for every moderation request.
User list shows text indicators for self-mute, self-deafen, server-mute, and server-deafen states.

These operations require an admin-provisioned account with the appropriate permissions; the connect dialog already supports username/password auth.

Known limitations

PTT is focus-scoped — the push-to-talk key only works while the VoiceCat window has focus. A system-wide WH_KEYBOARD_LL hook is not used in v1 (permissions + AV risk).
Receive-side noise reduction checkbox in per-user tuning is wired end-to-end but is a passthrough no-op until a real APM/NS backend is built (no working Windows/MSVC port of webrtc-audio-processing upstream — see docs/tech-stack.md §1).
TOFU pins the TLS leaf cert, not the declared Ed25519 identity fingerprint. Both are shown in the identity dialog, but the cert fingerprint is the value that is actually verified on reconnect. See docs/security.md §1.1.