Frequently asked questions

Both. A switch in the title bar picks which game the overlay targets. Path of Exile 2 gets the full tool set: campaign quest tracker, permanent-reward checklist, stash regex builder, speedrun timer, crafting guides, and Path of Building import. Path of Exile 1 currently gets a leveling guide with an auto-progress "you are here" marker, gem-reward tracking, and a passive-tree viewer, driven by your own Path of Building import.

Yes. Exile Compass is free and open source for Windows and Linux. There are no paid tiers, accounts aren't required to use the overlay, and it will stay that way.

Yes. Every line of code is public at github.com/juddisjudd/exilecompass, and each release is built directly from that source by GitHub Actions (not compiled on anyone's personal machine), so the download always matches what's in the repo. It only reads your local Client.txt log file and the game window's title/position to draw and place the overlay; it never reads or writes game memory.

Exile Compass only reads your local log file and the game window's title/position to draw its own window on top of the game. It never reads or writes game process memory, and the only thing it does to the game window itself is focus it (never simulated clicks, key presses, or any other input). That said, Exile Compass isn't affiliated with, reviewed by, or endorsed by Grinding Gear Games. If you need a definitive answer, GGG's own stance on third-party tools is what matters, not this page.

No, it's a false positive. The Windows build isn't code-signed yet, and an unsigned, auto-updating app that reads the game window's title (needed to find and attach the overlay) matches the heuristic profile antivirus engines use for a lot of real malware. New or lightly-downloaded releases get hit hardest. Two options: report it to Microsoft as a false positive (fixes it for everyone within a day or two once reviewed; pick "Software developer" as the submission type), or run this exclusion script from the repo yourself (right-click it, then Run with PowerShell as Administrator, after installing) to whitelist just Exile Compass's own install folder. It's short; read it before you run it, same as any admin-elevated script.

Those features need your Client.txt log file connected first: Settings → Log File → Auto Detect, or Browse to it yourself if Auto Detect can't find it. The log file path is saved separately per game, so setting it while playing Path of Exile 2 doesn't carry over to Path of Exile 1 and vice versa; you'll need to connect it again after switching. Once it's set, Path of Exile 2 uses it to automatically check off Passive Boosts rewards as you earn them, and Path of Exile 1 uses it for the leveling guide's auto-progress marker and the automatic timer splits.

Campaign steps, permanent rewards, and crafting guides are community-authored. See the Contributing section on GitHub if you'd like to submit a crafting guide or fix something you spotted.

Open an issue on GitHub, or drop it in the Discord.

Automatic reward tracking only reacts to new events in your log file from the point you set it up going forward. It won't scan back through your log for rewards you collected earlier on the current character, and it can't retroactively check off rewards from a previous character either. Tick those off by hand if you want a fully accurate list, or clear tracking in Settings if you'd rather start fresh and let it pick up everything from here on.

Auto-progress follows your position by watching for new zone entries in your log file, and since revisiting an already-generated zone produces no new log line to follow, it looks up to 20 steps ahead in the route for a match instead of only the very next one. The most common way this desyncs is a town portal: if you portal out and come back a different way than the guide expects, the next zone you actually enter can match a step further down the route than the one you're really on, so the marker jumps ahead of you rather than falling behind. Click any step that shows a position marker to snap 'you are here' back to where you actually are: this only moves the marker, so your checked-off steps and gem progress stay exactly as they were. Auto-progress keeps following normally from there. If your route causes this a lot, you can also turn it off from the checkbox in the guide header and move the marker by hand instead.

No. Auto-progress only moves the 'you are here' marker as you play; it never checks a step off for you, and it doesn't touch gem-reward tracking either. That's on purpose: since the marker can occasionally jump ahead of where you actually are (see the question above), auto-checking steps off that same signal could mark things you haven't actually done as complete. Checking off steps and gems always stays something you do by hand, no matter what the marker is doing.