Install ChaiTrace
ChaiTrace does not need installing in the usual sense: you unzip its folder on the cellar computer, then open it. Allow a few minutes.
What you need
- A computer running Windows 10 or 11, in the cellar or in the office.
- An Internet connection to activate the key, then at least once a week.
- The name and access key shown when you signed up.
The steps
- Download ChaiTrace with the “Download ChaiTrace” button on the page shown when you signed up.
- In the Downloads folder, right-click ChaiTrace-Premium.zip, then choose “Extract All…” and “Extract”. Put the resulting folder wherever you like, for example in Documents.
- Open this folder and double-click ChaiTrace Premium.
- If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click “More info”, then “Run anyway”.
- If Windows asks you to allow “Node.js JavaScript Runtime”, the engine behind ChaiTrace, click “Allow access”: the estate's tablets and phones will then be able to connect to it.
- ChaiTrace opens in its own window. Choose your language, enter the name and access key shown when you signed up, then click “Activate the software”.
Windows messages
Windows shows these messages for recent software that it does not know yet. They do not indicate a problem. ChaiTrace runs from its folder, and your data stays in that folder, on your computer.
Getting started
On first launch, ChaiTrace offers a guided tour, on a practice estate or directly on your own. Then create, in this order, your harvest year and your appellations, your plots, your tanks and barrels, then your winemaking products.
The estate's tablets and phones connect to ChaiTrace over Wi-Fi, from their browser, with nothing to install. The “LISEZ-MOI - Demarrage” guide, in the ChaiTrace folder, explains how.
Your data
ChaiTrace makes an automatic backup every day, on the same computer. Also keep a recent copy of the data folder on a USB stick or an external drive.
Beta version and support
ChaiTrace is in beta: it has been used in the cellar every day since July 2026, and each update improves it. If you run into a problem, however small, write to me at lubin.rocher@studio-lr.fr: I reply within 24 hours.
Updates are included in the subscription: how to install them is explained on the Update ChaiTrace page.