Getting Started with PDD on Windows

Getting Started with PDD on Windows

This example shows you how to set up Prompt-Driven Development (PDD) with Windows and run the built-in Hello example.

Goal: By the end, you’ll have PDD installed on Windows and pdd generate running on the Hello example.

1. Install the pdd CLI

PDD runs on Python 3.8+, so verify its installation and add to PATH.
You can verify this with:

python --version  

PDD works best in an isolated environment. You can pick one of these methods:

Option A — uv (recommended)

PowerShell

irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex  
uv tool install pdd-cli  
pdd --version  

Git Bash

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh  
uv tool install pdd-cli  
pdd --version  

Option B — pipx

python -m pip install --user pipx  
python -m pipx ensurepath  
pipx install pdd-cli  
pdd --version  

Option C — venv

python -m venv ~/.venvs/pdd  
%USERPROFILE%\venvs\pdd\Scripts\activate  
pip install --upgrade pip  
pip install pdd-cli  
pdd --version  

✅ If you see pdd, version X.Y.Z, installation worked.
⚠️ If pdd isn’t found, try ~/.local/bin/pdd --version once, then add ~/.local/bin to your PATH.

2. Run the guided setup

With the CLI on your PATH, continue with:

pdd setup  

The command installs tab completion, walks you through API key entry, and seeds local configuration files.
If you postpone this step, the CLI detects the missing setup artifacts the first time you run another command and shows a reminder banner so you can complete it later (the banner is suppressed once ~/.pdd/api-env exists or when your project already provides credentials via .env or .pdd/).

⚠️ If you see:

Unsupported shell:  
Error during ‘setup’ command:  
    An unexpected error occurred:  

It means your SHELL environment variable is missing or invalid and must be set:

# PowerShell  
$env:SHELL = "C:\Path\To\bash.exe"

# CMD  
set SHELL=C:\Path\To\bash.exe

# Git Bash  
export SHELL="/Path/To/bash"  

💡 These fixes only last for the current session.
To make them permanent, add the variable to your system environment variables:

1. Search “Environment Variables” in the Start Menu

2. Click “Edit the system environment variables” → Environment Variables…

3. Under “User variables for (username)” click New…
   Variable name: SHELL
   Variable value: Path to your shell executable (e.g., C:\Path\To\bash.exe)

3. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/promptdriven/pdd.git  
cd pdd/examples/hello  

Set environment variable PDD_PATH to the location of the cloned repo.

If you are having trouble with API keys, check out README.md or SETUP_WITH_GEMINI.md for more setup information.

4. Run the Hello example

From pdd/examples/hello:

# generate code from the prompt  
pdd generate hello_python.prompt

# run the generated example if it has a main block  
python examples/hello/hello.py  

Sometimes the generated file only defines the function (e.g., def hello(): print("hello")) but doesn’t include the standard Python entry point:

if __name__ == "__main__":  
    hello()  

If the generated hello.py is minimal (no __main__ block):

Option A — Run interactively

python -i examples/hello/hello.py  
>>> hello()  
hello  

Option B — Add a main guard

Append this to the bottom of the file:

if __name__ == "__main__":  
    hello()  

Then re-run:

python examples/hello/hello.py  
# output:  
hello  

5. (Optional) Sync

After you’ve confirmed generate works:

pdd --force sync hello  

6. Updating

If you are prompted to update to a new version of pdd-cli, the command may not work. Instead, use the following line to update:

uv tool upgrade pdd-cli  

✅ That’s it! You’ve installed PDD on Windows and generated your first working example.