You can set the desktop application to point to your self-hosted server by either of the ways listed below.
#### Adding A Flag to Existing App
- For Windows:
- Go to the main Stoat desktop executable location in your local directory. To get there, press Windows+R and type ```%localappdata%\Stoat```.
- Make a shortcut for the stoat-desktop.exe.
- Right click the shortcut and go to 'Properties'
- In the 'Target' field, add the flag ```--force-server=https://replace-with-your-server-address.com```.
- The target field should look somethinig like ```C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\Stoat\stoat-desktop.exe --force-server=https://replace-with-your-server-address.com```.
- Run the shortcut and ensure it points to your new server instance
- If another Stoat instance is running, it will open it instead, be sure to close out of any open Stoat apps.
#### Compiling Your Own Desktop App
Follow the instructions at [Stoat For Desktop](https://github.com/stoatchat/for-desktop) but do not run ```pnpm make``` yet.
To point the desktop app to your self hosted server by going into ```src/native/window.ts``` and replace the default server URL with your instances URL.