A native Linux launcher for World of Warcraft, and a proper home for the rest of Battle.net.

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Lightforge installs, patches, verifies and launches World of Warcraft on Linux without the Battle.net client. It speaks Blizzard's own distribution protocols (TACT and NGDP for the CDN, CASC for local storage), reimplemented in Rust, so your game lands in a store the real client can read: point Battle.net at the folder and it adopts it, no re-download.

For everything else (Diablo, Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft) it keeps one well-maintained Battle.net prefix and hands off to the client. They get a tile here and start with one press.

Install

Every package and the installer are on the releases page.

Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS

Download the .deb, then:

sudo apt install ./lightforge_*_amd64.deb

Fedora

From COPR, which keeps it updated with the rest of your system:

sudo dnf copr enable simplykenny/lightforge
sudo dnf install lightforge

Or download the .rpm and install it directly:

sudo dnf install ./lightforge-*.x86_64.rpm

openSUSE

Download the .rpm, then:

sudo zypper install ./lightforge-*.x86_64.rpm

Arch Linux, CachyOS, EndeavourOS, Manjaro

There's a PKGBUILD in the repository (AUR registrations are closed, so it isn't on the AUR yet):

git clone https://github.com/LightforgeProject/lightforge.git
cd lightforge/packaging/aur/lightforge-bin && makepkg -si

SteamOS, Bazzite and everything else

Download lightforge-installer.desktop and double-click it. It fetches the newest version, verifies it, installs it into your home folder and starts Lightforge, no terminal needed. Run it again any time to update. Or from a terminal:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LightforgeProject/lightforge/main/packaging/installer/install.sh | bash

Bazzite/Fedora Atomic specific:

sudo dnf5 copr enable simplykenny/lightforge
sudo rpm-ostree install lightforge
sudo systemctl reboot

From source

git clone https://github.com/LightforgeProject/lightforge.git
cd lightforge
cargo build --release --locked
./target/release/lightforge-gui

INSTALL.md has the details: the Steam Deck, the 32-bit package Battle.net's installer needs, and how to remove Lightforge again.

Tested distros

🟢 tested and working · 🟠 testing still to do · 🔴 not working

Distro	Status	Notes
CachyOS	🟢	PKGBUILD, Lightforge was developed on CachyOS
Arch Linux	🟢	PKGBUILD, Tested on hardware
EndeavourOS	🟠	Not tested yet but PKGBUILD should work
Manjaro	🟠	Same as EndeavourOS
Fedora	🟢	COPR repo / RPM install, Tested on hardware
Bazzite	🟢	install-script, Desktop and ROG Ally X, reported by players.
SteamOS	🟠	install-script, Tested in a VM; a real Steam Deck is next.
Nobara	🟢	COPR repo / RPM install, Tested on hardware
Debian	🟢	deb file, Tested in a VM.
Ubuntu	🟠	not tested yet but should work with deb file
Linux Mint	🟠	same as ubuntu
Pop!_OS	🟠	same as ubuntu
openSUSE Tumbleweed	🟠	not tested yet
NixOS	🟠	not tested yet

Running it on something else, or on one of the orange ones? Tell me how it went in Discord or through the in-app reporter (☰ › Report a bug).

Requirements

OS	Any current Linux. glibc 2.36+ for the release binaries.
GPU	Vulkan if you have it; it falls back to software rendering if you don't.
32-bit	Only for Battle.net's installer, the one 32-bit binary in the flow. WoW alone doesn't need it.

Proton-GE is downloaded and verified by Lightforge itself. You don't need Steam, Lutris or a system Wine.

What it does

• Installs and updates WoW itself: Retail, Classic, Classic Era, Anniversary and WoW: Forever, with their PTR and beta branches. Resumable downloads, real CASC storage, and verification of every stored byte.
• Finds the games you already have and adopts them where they are, from Lutris, Bottles, Heroic, Faugus or a hand-made prefix.
• Puts games on any drive you add, Battle.net's own included.
• Manages addons from CurseForge, WoWInterface, Tukui and GitHub, with update channels, changelogs, pinning, and WoWUp import and export.
• Tunes the game with presets, Proton's Wayland backend with HDR, frame caps and your own environment variables.
• Sets Battle.net up for you, then launches its games with one press. The in-game shop works too.
• Plays well on a controller, with a handheld mode for the Steam Deck and similar devices.
• Stays out of your way: one native binary, no background service, nothing running when the launcher is closed.

What it deliberately doesn't do

• No credential handling. You sign in to Battle.net yourself, in Blizzard's own window.
• It never touches the running game. No memory reads, no injection. Lightforge manages the prefix, the files and the process around Wow.exe, never inside it.
• Nothing is sent anywhere unless you fill in the bug reporter and press Send, and it shows you the whole report first.
• WoW first. Other Blizzard games are installed and run by Battle.net.
• Linux only.

How it was built

I wrote Lightforge with Claude Code, and I'd rather say so here than have anyone wonder. The architecture and every real trade-off are my decisions; the protocol work was settled against real CDN responses, not against what a model believed about TACT; nothing was committed unread. Judge it on the tests, on a 123 GiB Retail install that Battle.net adopted and played, and on the code. TECHDOC.md goes further into both the pipeline and the method.

This is a beta

It has been through full installs of Retail and Classic Era, but it has had few machines to run on. Expect rough edges on hardware and distros it hasn't met yet, and please tell me when you find them. Known problems and their fixes are in TROUBLESHOOTING.md; what changed in each version is in RELEASES.md.

What's next

No dates, no promises, one person's spare time:

• A Flatpak, and the AUR once registrations reopen.
• Moving a game to another drive without re-downloading it.
• Staging pre-downloads, so a patch day is minutes instead of an evening.
• Adding your games to Steam's library.

Something missing? Say so in Discord.

Documentation

INSTALL.md	Installing, the Steam Deck, what each distro needs, removing it
TROUBLESHOOTING.md	Known problems and what to do about them
docs/CLI.md	The command-line tool: every command, generated from the binary
TECHDOC.md	How it works underneath
CONTRIBUTING.md	Reporting bugs, sending patches, the house rules
SECURITY.md	Reporting a vulnerability, and how downloads are trusted
DISCLAIMER.md	Blizzard, the guardrail, and what leaves your machine
RELEASES.md	What's in each version

Support the project

Lightforge is free and built in my spare time. If it saved you an evening of fighting Battle.net:

Telling someone about it works too. Come say hi on Discord or X.

Legal

Lightforge is an independent, unofficial project, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft, Battle.net and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. Lightforge ships no game content: it downloads from Blizzard's own CDN with your own account, the same way their client does. See DISCLAIMER.md for the rest.

Licensed under GPL-3.0.