Quick start: Create your first WinUI 3 app

Set up your development environment

To develop WinUI 3 apps with Visual Studio, you need Visual Studio 2026 with the required workloads and Developer Mode enabled.

Set up with WinGet (recommended)

Open Windows Terminal and run the following command in PowerShell to automatically install Visual Studio 2026 with the required workloads and enable Developer Mode using a WinGet Configuration file:

winget configure -f https://aka.ms/winui-config

To review the config file and learn more, see its README on GitHub.

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.Client -Force
Repair-WinGetPackageManager -AllUsers

Set up manually

If you prefer to install tools manually:

1. Enable Developer Mode: open Windows Settings, navigate to System > Advanced, and toggle Developer Mode to On.

2. Download and install Visual Studio 2026. For details, see Install Visual Studio.

3. In the Visual Studio Installer, select the WinUI application development workload on the Workloads tab. For C++ development, also select C++ WinUI app development tools under that workload in the Installation details pane.

   

Create and launch your first WinUI 3 app

1. Open Visual Studio 2026 and select Create a new project.

2. Search for WinUI, select the WinUI Blank App (Packaged) C# project template, and select Next.

   

3. Enter a project name and select Create.

   

4. Press Start (F5) to build and run your app.

   

   Your app builds, deploys, and launches in debug mode:

   

   You've built and launched your first WinUI 3 app! 🎉

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763) or later
• Developer Mode enabled (ms-settings:developers)
• .NET 10 SDK or later (verify with dotnet --version)

Create and run your first WinUI 3 app

1. Install the WinUI 3 project templates for dotnet new (run once):

   dotnet new install Microsoft.WindowsAppSDK.WinUI.CSharp.Templates
   

2. Create a new project and navigate into it:

   dotnet new winui -n MyWinUIApp
   cd MyWinUIApp
   

3. Build the project:

   dotnet build
   

4. Run the app:

   dotnet run
   

   The template includes Microsoft.Windows.SDK.BuildTools.WinApp, which hooks into the .NET CLI run target to register a debug identity and launch the app with MSIX package identity — no manual deployment step is required.

   An empty app window opens. You've built and launched your first WinUI 3 app! 🎉