Windows App Development CLI

Status: Public Preview - The Windows App Development CLI is experimental and in active development. We'd love your feedback! Share your thoughts by creating an issue.

The Windows App Development CLI is a single command-line interface for managing Windows SDKs, packaging, generating app identity, manifests, certificates, and using build tools with any app framework. The NPM package extends the CLI with Electron specific tools. This CLI gives you access to:

• Modern Windows APIs - Windows App SDK and Windows SDK with automatic setup and code generation
• App Identity - Debug and test by adding app identity without full packaging in a snap
• MSIX Packaging - App packaging with signing and Store readiness
• Developer Tools - Manifests, certificates, assets, and build integration

Perfect for:

• Electron/cross-platform developers wanting native Windows features or targeting Windows
• Developers testing and deploying adding app identity for development or packaging for deployment
• CI/CD pipelines automating Windows app builds

Get started

Checkout our getting started guide for step by step instructions: Electron guide.

📋 Usage

Install as a development dependency:

npm install @microsoft/winappcli --save-dev

once installed, call it with npx.

npx winapp --help

Commands Overview

Setup Commands:

• init - Initialize project with Windows SDK and App SDK
• restore - Restore packages and dependencies
• update - Update packages and dependencies to latest versions

App Identity & Debugging:

• package - Create MSIX packages from directories
• create-debug-identity - Add temporary app identity for debugging
• manifest - Generate and manage AppxManifest.xml files

Certificates & Signing:

• cert - Generate and install development certificates
• sign - Sign MSIX packages and executables

Development Tools:

• tool - Access Windows SDK tools
• get-winapp-path - Get paths to installed SDK components

Node.js/Electron Specific:

• node create-addon - Generate native C# or C++ addons
• node add-electron-debug-identity - Add identity to Electron processes

The full CLI usage can be found here: Documentation

🔧 Feedback

• File an issue, feature request or bug: please ensure that you are not filing a duplicate issue
• Send feedback to [email protected]: Do you love this tool? Are there features or fixes you want to see? Let us know!

We are actively working on improving Node and Python support. These features are experimental and we are aware of several issues with these app types.

🧾 Samples

Electron sample: a default Electron Forge generated application + initialized a winapp project with appxmanifest, assets + native addon + C# addon + generates cert

Support

Need help or have questions about the Windows App Development CLI? Visit our Support Guide for information about our issue templates and triage process.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.