Project and Item Templates for WinUI 3 based Windows Desktop Apps

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Package Status:

Channel	NuGet	VS Marketplace
Stable

.NET CLI Template

To install the template NuGet package, use the below .NET CLI command:

Latest stable version:

dotnet new install VijayAnand.WinUITemplates

If you've already installed this package, then it can be updated to the latest version with the below command:

dotnet new update --check-only

dotnet new update

For Visual Studio users (both VS2022 and VS2026 release):

To provide an integrated experience, a VS extension has been developed to host these templates.

The VS extension is now supported on both x64 and ARM64 installations of Visual Studio 2022 and 2026 release. Happy coding!

Consequently, the minimum supported version of Visual Studio 2022 will be v17.6 or higher.

The v4.4 or higher extension is now compatible with the Visual Studio 2026 release v18.0.0

Extension is made available in the Visual Studio Marketplace and even more easier, can be installed from within Visual Studio itself (Extensions -> Manage Extensions / Alt + X + M).

Templates Included

Item	Template Name	Type
WinUI 3 App	winui	Project
WinUI 3 Blazor App	winui-blazor	Project
WinUI 3 Class Library	winuilib	Project
WinUI 3 Page	winui-page	Item
WinUI 3 UserControl	winui-usercontrol	Item
WinUI 3 Window	winui-window	Item

All three project templates takes the target framework as an input parameter, can be specified with --framework / -f.

And the supported values are:

• net8.0
• net9.0
• net10.0 (the default value)

Note: The default value for the framework parameter remains as net10.0 (the latest stable release), which means to create a project for .NET 8 or .NET 9, an explicit value of net8.0 / net9.0 is to be passed.

All three project templates take the below optional parameter to include the officially supported CommunityToolkit.Mvvm NuGet package.

• -imt | --include-mvvm-toolkit - Default value is false

Both the App project takes another optional parameter thus allowing it to be created as MVVM supported solution using the same Microsoft MVVM Toolkit.

• -mvvm | --use-mvvm - Default value is false

Starting with v3.1.0, all three project templates take the below optional parameter support NuGet's Central Package Management (CPM) feature.

• -cpm | --central-pkg-mgmt - Default value is false

Starting with v3.3.0, added the ability to use the NuGet Central Package Management (CPM) feature within Visual Studio IDE.

Starting with v3.4.0, introduced an option to support the XML-based solution file (slnx) format.

• -slnx | --use-slnx - Default value is true (from v5.0 onwards)

Starting with v4.0.0, added another option (net10.0) to the framework parameter to support .NET 10 Previews and revamped the WinUI Blazor project template.

Starting with v4.2.0, introduced an option to abstract the Shared components as a separate .NET MAUI and/or Razor Class Library.

.NET MAUI XAML can be included within this .NET MAUI-specific class library.

• -mcl | --maui-class-library - Default value is false

This Razor Class Library allows code reuse with other projects such as ASP.NET Core.

• -rcl | --razor-class-library - Default value is false

Note: Use both options to segregate MAUI and Razor components into distinct libraries.

dotnet new winui-blazor -o MyApp -mcl

dotnet new winui-blazor -o SharedApp -rcl

dotnet new winui-blazor -o HybridApp -mcl -rcl

Starting with v4.3.0, introduced an option to use Nightly builds with WinUI Blazor projects for .NET MAUI components, featuring automatic configuration of package feeds.

Nightly Builds support:

dotnet new winui-blazor -o NightlyApp -ni

Note: These options may also be combined.

Use the below .NET CLI command to create the projects out these template:

WinUI 3 App:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp

.NET 9:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp -f net9.0

.NET 8:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp -f net8.0

MVVM based solution:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp -mvvm

Option to include only the MVVM NuGet package:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp -imt

Option to use the CPM feature:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp -cpm

Option to create the classic SLN solution file:

dotnet new winui -n MyApp -slnx:false

Blazor Hybrid App (using .NET MAUI Embedding feature):

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp

.NET 9:

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp -f net9.0

.NET 8:

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp -f net8.0

MVVM based solution:

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp -mvvm

Option to include only the MVVM NuGet package:

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp -imt

Option to use the CPM feature:

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp -cpm

Option to create the classic SLN solution file:

dotnet new winui-blazor -n HybridApp -slnx:false

Library:

dotnet new winuilib -n MyLib

.NET 9:

dotnet new winuilib -n MyLib -f net9.0

.NET 8:

dotnet new winuilib -n MyLib -f net8.0

Option to include only the MVVM NuGet package:

dotnet new winuilib -n MyLib -imt

Option to use the CPM feature:

dotnet new winuilib -n MyLib -cpm

Option to create the SLNX solution file:

dotnet new winuilib -n MyLib -slnx

Item Templates:

Use the below .NET CLI command to create the items out these template:

All these item templates require one mandatory parameter:

• -n | --name - Name of the item

Auto suffixing of the Type name is supported for the files created with the Page and Window item templates.

Page:

dotnet new winui-page -n Order

UserControl:

dotnet new winui-usercontrol -n CardView

Window:

dotnet new winui-window -n Home