Install

One file to download, one Discord setting to check. That's all.

What you need

• Windows 10 or 11.
• The Discord desktop app, open on the same PC. The browser version of Discord can't show a game status.

Steps

1. Download VisualNovelRPC.exe from the latest release on GitHub. Put it anywhere you like (e.g. a folder in Documents).
2. Turn on activity sharing in Discord. In Discord, go to User Settings → Activity Privacy and turn on Share your detected activities with others. Without it, nobody sees your status.
3. Run VisualNovelRPC.exe. The window opens and an icon appears in the system tray. Until you start a game it waits:

   

4. Start a visual novel. After a few seconds the app finds it, looks up its cover on VNDB, and your Discord status changes. The Discord preview card shows exactly what friends see.

   

Windows SmartScreen

The first time, Windows may say it "protected your PC", because the .exe isn't signed. Click More info, then Run anyway.

Close, tray and startup

Closing the window keeps the app running in the tray, so your status keeps updating. Right-click the tray icon for:

• Show: opens the window (clicking the tray icon does the same).
• Pause / resume presence: hides your status for a while without quitting.
• Take screenshot: captures the game window (see Screenshots).
• Quit: closes the app and clears your Discord status.

In Settings → General → App you can turn on Launch when Windows starts and Start minimized to the tray, so it's always ready without getting in the way. Only one copy runs at a time: starting the .exe again just brings the window back.

Updates

Each time it starts, the app checks GitHub for a new release. If there is one, it asks: Update downloads it and restarts the app, Later skips it for now. You can also check at any time with Check for updates at the bottom of Settings, and turn the automatic check off with Check for updates at launch (Settings → General → App).

After an update, a What's new page lists the changes. It also has Report a bug and Suggest something buttons (they open a GitHub issue, already filled with your version) and Join the Discord. Open it again with the What's new button in Settings → General → App.

Coming from version 1.x

Version 2.0 is a rewrite of the app in Rust with Tauri: the same features in a much lighter .exe (about 9 MB). The update to 2.0 is offered in the app like any other.

On its first launch, 2.0 copies your settings, Library, time read and custom covers from the 1.x folder (%APPDATA%\VisualNovelRPC\) into its own (%APPDATA%\moe.lenn.vnrpc-tauri\). The old folder is left untouched. See Your data & backups.