XIVCHAT NEXT · WINDOWS CLIENT

Your client, step by step

Install

From Releases, download one of:

• Installer (recommended): XIVChatNext-win-Setup.exe. It installs for the current user in %LOCALAPPDATA%\XIVChatNext without administrator rights, adds desktop and Start menu shortcuts, and can update itself. Windows may show a SmartScreen warning because the installer is not code-signed; choose More info → Run anyway. Uninstall from Settings → Apps; chat history and settings in %LOCALAPPDATA%\XIVChatDesktop are kept.
• Portable ZIP: XIVChatNext-Desktop-…-win-x64.zip. Extract it into its own directory and run XIVChat Desktop.exe. Keep all files and folders, including runtime. It does not update itself.

.NET and Windows App SDK are included in both; web cards also require Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.

Add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AinaSnow/FFXIV-Dalamud-Plugins/main/pluginmaster.json to Dalamud's custom plugin repositories. Install XIVChatNext Server, log in, and use matching client/plugin versions from the same release.

Connect

The first-run guide sets language, connection and notifications; reopen it from Settings. The desktop supports English, Simplified Chinese and System. New plugin configurations default to English and have an independent language setting.

Use 127.0.0.1:14777 on the same PC, unless the port was changed. On a reachable network, use the game PC's address; from plugin 1.7.17, first turn on Allow LAN connections in the plugin's Connection settings (new plugin configurations accept only same-PC connections, existing ones keep LAN access). Ports must match. Compare fingerprints and confirm trust on both ends.

Without direct access, choose Self-hosted relay, paste a fresh invitation from your relay administrator, independently compare the endpoint fingerprint with the plugin and save. Complete the chat-device trust confirmation too. Saved pairing survives normal restarts; re-pair after loss, revocation or identity changes. See Relay.

Click the Logo to reconnect to the most recently successful target. Interrupted successful relay sessions retry; explicit Disconnect cancels retries. Reopening the app does not send chat or log in to the game.

Everyday use

Open conversations as popouts and save/restore layouts. They share conversation state and preserve disconnected drafts. Reading another character's history does not switch the live sender.

Select item/map links to inspect cards; comparisons depend on available data/equipment. Request a screenshot from the client, then preview, save or copy it. Any trusted client can request screenshots while the game and plugin are running; from plugin 1.8.0 you can turn this off in the plugin's Messages tab.

Contact nicknames and streamer mode (Desktop 1.4.0)

Right-click a friend or conversation and choose Contact nickname, or use the nickname button in a conversation. Names must fit on one line, up to 64 characters. Clear the field to restore the character name. Nicknames belong to the connection and current character; they also work for friends without saved messages. They do not replace long notes or change the tell recipient. Friend/conversation search accepts both nicknames and real names. Ordinary history search, copying and exports retain original identities when streamer mode is off.

Toggle Streamer mode at the top of the main window. In Settings, choose whether to hide yourself, other players, or both, and optionally set your own display name. Both scopes default on. The app remembers the setting before reopening its windows. Protected players use stable pseudonyms, with their server and avatar hidden; pseudonyms take precedence over nicknames. Open popouts update with the main window.

The same display rules apply to known complete names in chat text, previews, history, favorites, events, notifications, selected/copied text and TXT/RTF exports. Ambiguous names use a generic anonymous label. Switching the policy clears this app's previous notifications, clears export previews and cancels running exports. Already copied text, saved files and notifications outside the app's control cannot be recalled.

This is not automatic image or free-text redaction. Game screenshots remain unchanged. Unknown nicknames, unrecognized names, images, search fields and text you type may still identify someone. Turn streamer mode off to edit stored notes, nicknames or avatar mappings; an open identity editor closes when it is enabled. The database keeps original messages. Check the actual screen or export before sharing.

Update checks (Desktop 1.4.1)

The client checks public GitHub releases shortly after startup. If a newer Windows client is available, a dismissible banner opens Settings → Updates, where you can read the release notes and open the download. This page also shows the current version and a Check for updates button. Turn off Check for updates at startup to use manual checks only; the preference saves immediately. Failed checks do not interrupt chat. In the installed version, Download and install downloads the update only after you click it, then closes the client the normal way and restarts on the new version. The portable ZIP opens the download in your browser instead.

Only stable Windows desktop packages are compared, independently of plugin version tags. Checking sends no chat or character information. Downloads open in your browser; extract into a new folder and close the current client before starting the new version. The client does not replace itself automatically.

Tray and global shortcut (Desktop 1.5.0)

In Settings → Window, turn on Keep running in the notification area to close the main window without exiting. Click the tray icon to show or hide the window; right-click it for Exit. Hover the icon to see unread tells.

Turn on Global shortcut and press a combination in the shortcut field (Ctrl+Alt+X by default). The shortcut shows the window with the message box focused, and hides it again when the window is already in front. It works while the game is focused, so pick a combination the game does not use. If another application already owns it, the settings page says so.

Copying several messages (Desktop 1.6.2)

Text selection normally stays inside one message. To copy across messages, turn on Free copy (the copy icon in the conversation or channel header, or Free copy in a popout's menu). The chat is shown as plain text, one time [channel] sender: message line per loaded message, so you can drag across any range or press Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+C. New messages appear after you turn it off again. Streamer mode hides names here as on screen; changing streamer mode turns free copy off.

Export chat history

Open the export window from the export button in a conversation or channel header, from Settings → History → Export chat history…, or from the XIVChat Next ▾ menu next to the logo. It exports what you are looking at: the open conversation, channel, history search or favorite. Narrow it by keyword and time, choose whether to include timestamps, preview the last 100 lines, then save.

Choose the format in the save dialog: Text (.txt), Markdown (.md) or Rich Text (.rtf). Every format writes each message as time [channel] sender: message, with the channel named in the interface language. Linkshell and cross-world linkshell messages also show the linkshell's name, for example [Cross-world Linkshell [1] · Shell name]; the plugin records it with each message from plugin 1.8.0, so earlier messages show the channel only. Markdown adds a title, groups messages under a heading per day and escapes chat text so it displays literally. With streamer mode on, exports use the same hidden names as the screen and omit linkshell names.

Translation and AI summaries (Desktop 1.6.0)

Optional and off by default. In Settings → Translation & AI, turn on Enable translation and AI summaries, choose the services and save. Nothing is sent automatically, and with streamer mode on, names are hidden the same way as in exports before text is sent. Keys are encrypted for your Windows account and never shown again; leave a key field empty to keep the saved key.

Translation uses one of:

Right-click a message, or select text in it, and choose Translate. The translation appears under the original; only that message is sent. Translate and summarize into picks the language; Interface language follows the app. Test translation checks the service with one short sentence.

AI summaries use the AI service: Claude with your own Anthropic API key (default model claude-opus-5-5), or an OpenAI-compatible service or local model (service address ending in /v1, model name, and a key if needed; plain http:// only for this computer or a private network, such as Ollama or a model server on your LAN). To read a summary without exporting, use the AI summary button in a conversation or channel header (or the main menu, or a popout's menu). It opens on the last day; change the time range or keyword, choose Summarize, then read or copy the result in the window. No file is saved. In the export window, AI summary does the same for the export range. Tick Add AI summary to Markdown export and save as .md to put it at the top of the file with a note that it may be wrong. Very large ranges are refused rather than cut short. Paid services bill your own account.

Data and upgrades

History, favorites, notes and layouts stay local; the relay is not cloud history sync. Configuration: %APPDATA%\XIVChat for Windows. Data: %LOCALAPPDATA%\XIVChatDesktop. Do not publicly share these files. Protected relay credentials belong to the current Windows user.

The installed version updates from Settings → Updates. For the portable ZIP, close the client normally and back up configuration/data before upgrading, then extract the new package into a separate directory; never mix runtime DLLs. Update the plugin in Dalamud and retain the old client package for rollback.

Desktop 1.4.0 remains compatible with plugin 1.7.15 and upgrades the history database from schema v5 to v6. Migration makes a *.before-v6-*.bak backup next to the database. To roll back, close the client and restore the previous configuration and database together with the previous executable; do not open the v6 database with an older client. Keep a copy of the current data first, since restoring a backup omits messages saved after that backup.

Desktop 1.5.0 encrypts the device private key for the current Windows user on first start. A 1.4.x client cannot read the migrated configuration; restore the configuration backed up before upgrading if you roll back.

Live sending, friends and screenshots require the game, logged-in character and plugin. This app cannot keep a character logged in or send after the game closes. Game/Dalamud updates may require a plugin update.