Download & Install

This page shows you how to install BlazorForge after purchase.

Step 1: Download the ZIP File

After purchasing BlazorForge on Gumroad, you receive a download link by email. The file is named something like BlazorForge-v1.0.0.zip.

Click the download link and save the file to your computer.

If you did not receive the email, check your spam folder. If you still cannot find it, log in to your Gumroad account and find the download link on your purchase page.

Step 2: Extract the ZIP File

Locate the downloaded ZIP file.

On Windows, right-click the file and choose Extract All. Choose a destination folder such as C:\Projects\BlazorForge. Click Extract.

On macOS, double-click the ZIP file. It extracts automatically to the same folder.

On Linux, right-click the file and choose Extract Here, or use the terminal with unzip BlazorForge-v1.0.0.zip.

After extraction, you should have a folder named BlazorForge with subfolders like Pages, Services, and wwwroot, plus a file called BlazorForge.csproj.

Step 3: Open a Terminal

You need a terminal open in the BlazorForge folder.

On Windows, open File Explorer and navigate to the BlazorForge folder. Click the address bar at the top, type cmd, and press Enter. A Command Prompt window opens in that folder.

On macOS, open Terminal, type cd with a space, drag the BlazorForge folder into the terminal window, and press Enter.

On Linux, use the same method as macOS.

Step 4: Run the Project

In the terminal, type:

dotnet run

Press Enter.

The first run takes one to three minutes. You see output like this:

Building...
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14]
      Now listening on: http://localhost:5052
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.

When you see Now listening on, the site is running.

Step 5: Open in Browser

Open your browser and go to:

http://localhost:5052

The BlazorForge home page should load.

Step 6: Stop the Server

To stop the site, go back to the terminal and press:

Ctrl + C

The site stops. You can close the terminal.

Common Issues

If you see dotnet is not recognized, the .NET SDK is not installed or not on your PATH. Reinstall from the Requirements page.

If you see The ASP.NET Core developer certificate is not trusted, this is a warning, not an error. The site still runs. To fix it permanently, run dotnet dev-certs https --trust and click Yes when prompted.

If you see Port 5052 is already in use, another application is using that port. Either close the other application or change the port in Properties/launchSettings.json.

If the site loads but shows no content, make sure you ran dotnet run from inside the BlazorForge folder, not from a parent folder.

What Happens on First Run

The first time you run dotnet run, three things happen automatically.

First, the Markdown compiler runs. It reads every file in wwwroot/content/ and generates JSON files in wwwroot/metadata/.

Second, the Blazor project is built. NuGet packages are restored, and the project is compiled.

Third, the development server starts on port 5052.

On subsequent runs, the compiler and build still run, but they are much faster because NuGet packages are already cached.

Next Steps

If the site is running, continue to Run Locally to learn about the running environment.

If you want to deploy immediately, see Deploy to Netlify.