diff --git a/update.py b/update.py
index 219ad94..c93cc1a 100644
--- a/update.py
+++ b/update.py
@@ -66,28 +66,67 @@ def ensure_config():
     return cfg, first
 
 
+ZIP_URL = "https://git.armoredarmadillo.com/brockdarnold/eve-watcher/archive/main.zip"
+
+
 def _git(*a):
     return subprocess.run(["git", "-C", HERE, *a], capture_output=True, text=True)
 
 
-def git_pull():
-    """Force the working tree to the latest remote commit (reset --hard). This is
-    bulletproof vs. `git pull` on Windows, which fails on CRLF/dirty trees. The
-    gitignored config.ini is never touched. Returns True if the code changed."""
-    if not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(HERE, ".git")):
-        print("• not a git clone — can't auto-update. Reinstall via the one-liner.")
+def _have_git():
+    import shutil as _sh
+    return os.path.isdir(os.path.join(HERE, ".git")) and _sh.which("git") is not None
+
+
+def update_code():
+    """Pull the latest watcher code. Uses git when this is a clone; otherwise
+    downloads the repo zip and overwrites files (config.ini is never touched).
+    Returns True if anything changed."""
+    if _have_git():
+        before = _git("rev-parse", "HEAD").stdout.strip()
+        if _git("fetch", "-q", "origin").returncode != 0:
+            print("! git fetch failed (offline?). Keeping current version.")
+            return False
+        _git("reset", "--hard", "-q", "origin/main")
+        after = _git("rev-parse", "HEAD").stdout.strip()
+        if before and after and before != after:
+            print(f"  updated: {before[:7]} -> {after[:7]}")
+            return True
+        print("  already on latest code.")
         return False
-    before = _git("rev-parse", "HEAD").stdout.strip()
-    if _git("fetch", "-q", "origin").returncode != 0:
-        print("! git fetch failed (offline?). Keeping current version.")
+    return _zip_update()
+
+
+def _zip_update():
+    """git-less update: download the repo zip and write any changed files."""
+    import io
+    import urllib.request
+    import zipfile
+    try:
+        req = urllib.request.Request(ZIP_URL, headers={"User-Agent": "eve-watcher-updater"})
+        data = urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=60).read()
+        z = zipfile.ZipFile(io.BytesIO(data))
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"• update check failed (offline?): {e}")
         return False
-    _git("reset", "--hard", "-q", "origin/main")
-    after = _git("rev-parse", "HEAD").stdout.strip()
-    if before and after and before != after:
-        print(f"  updated: {before[:7]} -> {after[:7]}")
-        return True
-    print("  already on latest code.")
-    return False
+    changed = 0
+    for n in z.namelist():
+        if n.endswith("/"):
+            continue
+        rel = n.split("/", 1)[1] if "/" in n else n     # strip top 'eve-watcher/'
+        if not rel or rel == "config.ini":              # never clobber local config
+            continue
+        dest = os.path.join(HERE, rel.replace("/", os.sep))
+        new = z.read(n)
+        old = open(dest, "rb").read() if os.path.exists(dest) else None
+        if old != new:
+            os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(dest) or HERE, exist_ok=True)
+            with open(dest, "wb") as f:
+                f.write(new)
+            changed += 1
+    print(f"  code updated (zip): {changed} file(s)." if changed
+          else "  already on latest code (zip).")
+    return changed > 0
 
 
 def deps():
@@ -206,7 +245,7 @@ def ensure_daily_task():
 def main():
     print("=== Eve watcher setup / auto-update ===")
     cfg, first = ensure_config()
-    changed = git_pull()
+    changed = update_code()
     if changed or first:
         deps()
         ensure_tesseract(cfg)