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Getting Started

Cascade Hydro is a desktop application for Windows. It installs per-user (no administrator rights required) and keeps itself up to date in the background.

Requirements

  • Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
  • Roughly 300 MB of free disk space for the application and its updates.
  • An internet connection is required for importing Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) station data, for the background map, and for automatic updates. Working from a local CSV/Excel file or a saved .chyd session is fully offline — see Offline use.

No separate Python installation, runtime, or other dependency is needed: the installer bundles everything the application uses.

Download

Cascade Hydro is currently in a private validation beta: the installer is shared directly with participating reviewers rather than published for general download. If you would like to take part, contact the project maintainer to request a build.

Once you have the installer, follow the steps below. Updates after that first install are automatic — you will not need to download anything again.

Install

The download is a Velopack Setup installer.

  1. Run the downloaded Setup executable.
  2. The installer copies the application into your user profile and adds a Start menu shortcut. There is no install-location prompt and no administrator elevation.
  3. Cascade Hydro launches automatically when the install finishes.

To launch it again later, open it from the Start menu.

First launch

The application opens on the Map tab. From here you can import an ECCC station or set a project location and ecozone; see the User Guide for a tour of each tab.

Automatic updates

Cascade Hydro checks for new versions on launch and downloads them quietly in the background — you can keep working while it does.

When an update has finished downloading, a dismissible banner appears above the tabs:

Update X downloaded — restart to apply · Restart now / Later

  • Restart now applies the update immediately.
  • Later keeps working; the update is applied automatically the next time you launch the application.

You can see the installed version any time under Settings → About, which also shows the release notes for each version.