# Install and first run

> Install Polestar from the CurseForge app or a release zip, restart the game and follow the arrow.

Page: https://polestar.guide/docs/players/quick-start (Polestar docs > Players)

1. **Install it with the CurseForge app** (search for
   [Polestar Guides](https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/polestar)),
   then skip to step 3. **Or download** `Polestar-<version>.zip` from the
   newest release on the
   [Releases page](https://github.com/fitzforge/polestar/releases), under
   *Assets* (not "Source code").
2. **Unzip it into the game's AddOns folder**, so the Polestar folders
   (`Polestar`, `Polestar_Guides`, `Polestar_QuestDB`, `Polestar_ItemDB`) sit
   directly inside it:
   `World of Warcraft/_classic_beta_/Interface/AddOns/` on the beta client,
   `_forever_` instead of `_classic_beta_` from launch.
3. **Restart the game completely** (a `/reload` does not load new addons) and
   log in. The guide window opens with a guide for your race, level and zone:
   follow the arrow, and the goals tick themselves off as you play.

Good to know:

- `/polestar guides` opens the hub: every guide, Lookup, Dungeons and Rares.
  `/polestar options` holds every setting; quest markers on the map are off
  until you turn them on under **Map**.
- `/polestar skip` moves on for good; `/polestar next` and `prev` only look
  ahead or back.
- **Updating:** delete the old Polestar folders, then unzip the new release
  the same way.
- **Memory:** the arrow's walking routes (`Polestar_Nav`) load after login,
  never in combat: about 34 MB for the walking maps, and while a walk is being
  searched up to about 45 MB more for the stretch of map it crosses, released
  when the search ends. **Walk real paths** (Options, Arrow & routes) off
  never loads them.
- **Optional:** `Polestar_Recorder-<version>.zip` from the same release
  records your sessions to improve the routes. It does nothing until you turn
  it on.
- **Community guides** are other people's guides for Polestar, each a
  separate addon from its own author: see
  [Community guides](https://polestar.guide/docs/players/community-guides).
- Something wrong? Click the bug in the guide window, beside Skip: say what
  went wrong, copy the report (it already holds the step, where you stand and
  the versions) and paste it on the
  [Polestar Discord](https://discord.gg/polestar). `/polestar report` opens
  it too, and [issues](https://github.com/fitzforge/polestar/issues) are
  welcome as well. The release's `SHA256SUMS` holds the zips' checksums.

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Next page: [What Polestar is](https://polestar.guide/docs/players/what-it-is.md) · Every docs page: https://polestar.guide/llms.txt · All docs in one file: https://polestar.guide/llms-full.txt