git clone --recursive https://github.com/metasequoiaime/MSIME-Windows.git
cd MSIME-Windows
python scripts/product_lock.py fetch-dictionaries --staging-root .
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { throw 'Dictionary verification failed' }
$devData = Join-Path $PWD 'build/dev-data'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force $devData | Out-Null
Copy-Item MetasequoiaImeDict/out/* $devData -Force
Copy-Item vendor/MetasequoiaImeEngine/helpcode/helpcodes $devData -Recurse -Force
Copy-Item server/assets/tables/* $devData -Force
Copy-Item server/assets/config/config.toml $devData -Force
$env:METASEQUOIA_IME_DATA_DIR = $devData
cd server
python scripts/prepare_env.py

This uses the same locked data as CI and a separate development data directory. Dictionary source changes belong in Engine's dictionary/; use its root build_profile.py to build data instead of calling internal stages in the archived Dict repository.

Then, build and run,

.\scripts\lcompile.ps1
.\scripts\lrun.ps1

If you want to build and run in one step, run the following command,

.\scripts\llaunch.ps1

Watchdog

MetasequoiaImeWatchdog.exe is built next to the server. Starting the server directly also starts the watchdog, which monitors the server from the same directory and restarts it after an unexpected exit. Repeated early crashes use an exponential restart delay (up to 30 seconds) to avoid a restart storm.

The developer terminate shortcut stops both processes. The restart shortcut asks the watchdog to start a fresh server after the current process exits.

English prefix candidates

Place english.db next to msime.db in %LOCALAPPDATA%\metasequoiaime. Set general.cn_en_mixed_input = true in config.toml to enable asynchronous English prefix candidates for Quanpin and Shuangpin.

Developer Shortcuts

The server process includes a few built-in global shortcuts that are useful during development:

Ctrl + Shift + Alt + T
- terminate MetasequoiaImeServer immediately
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + R
- restart MetasequoiaImeServer
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C
- clear IME engine cache
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + 1 to Ctrl + Shift + Alt + 8
- delete candidate 1 to 8 from the current candidate window
- this only works while the candidate window is visible

Screenshots

Shared voice providers

The server links Engine VoiceCapture and Voice. WAV encoding and batch transcription/polish codecs come from the public library; Windows keeps provider configuration, SiliconFlow padding/retry behavior and Doubao streaming. Batch uploads are bounded to 20 MiB and responses to 1 MiB. Failed or empty polish responses retain the original transcript.