microsoft/win-dev-skills

What it solves

This project provides a set of specialized AI agent skills and plugins for developing native Windows applications using WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK. It prevents AI agents from hallucinating older frameworks (like UWP or WPF) and ensures they follow modern Windows development patterns, from initial scaffolding to final MSIX packaging and Store submission.

How it works

It implements the Agent Plugins 1.0 specification to provide a portable set of "skills" (prompts and playbooks) that can be integrated into AI agents like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and OpenAI Codex. These skills leverage a combination of specialized tools:

• External Tools: It relies on the winapp CLI for project scaffolding, building, and packaging.
• In-Repo Tools: It includes a native-AOT metadata indexer (winmd.exe) to verify API signatures before writing code, a Roslyn analyzer to catch common WinUI 3 pitfalls at build time, and PowerShell scripts for automated build-and-run cycles.

Who it’s for

Developers building native Windows apps who want to use AI agents to accelerate their workflow without sacrificing architectural correctness or having to manually manage complex environment setup and packaging pipelines.

Highlights

• End-to-End Workflow: Covers the entire lifecycle: scaffold $\rightarrow$ design $\rightarrow$ build $\rightarrow$ run $\rightarrow$ test $\rightarrow$ package $\rightarrow$ ship.
• Multi-Agent Compatibility: Works across GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, OpenClaw, and OpenCode.
• Specialized Skill Set: Includes dedicated skills for XAML design, MVVM code review, automated UI testing, and WPF-to-WinUI 3 migration.
• Ground-Truth Verification: Uses winmd to ensure the AI generates code that actually compiles against current SDKs.