microsoft/WindowsAppSDK
WindowsAppSDK
The Windows App SDK is a set of APIs and UI frameworks for building native Windows desktop applications. It provides a Windows Runtime API for accessing system capabilities and a dedicated UI framework for creating responsive, accessible interfaces. The project also functions as a desktop app deployment framework and a local AI execution environment for running hardware-accelerated models on CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs.
The SDK distinguishes itself by enabling the modernization of legacy applications, allowing developers to embed modern controls and platform features into existing projects without a full rewrite. It utilizes a native C++ projection for high-performance system interactions and employs NuGet-based distribution to decouple the framework version from the operating system, supporting side-by-side runtime execution.
Broad capability areas include comprehensive application lifecycle management, hardware-accelerated visual rendering, and flexible deployment options for both packaged and unpackaged applications. It also covers resource management for localized assets, process-isolated sandboxing for security, and integration for system-level notifications and widgets.
The framework supports structural patterns such as the Model-View-ViewModel architecture to decouple application data from the user interface.
Features
- Windows Desktop Development - Provides the APIs and UI frameworks for building native, high-performance applications for Windows.
- Native Desktop Application Frameworks - Provides a framework for creating native desktop applications that utilize the host operating system's native UI widgets.
- Runtime Distributions - Distributes the necessary execution environment with the application regardless of the packaging method.
- High-Fidelity UI Rendering - Produces high-fidelity user experiences with advanced pixel rendering and smooth animations optimized for modern hardware.
- Application Lifecycle Management - Handles how applications start, manage multiple instances, and respond to system power or activation triggers.
- Application Packaging - Bundles applications into distribution formats and manages installation across different operating system versions.
- Desktop App Deployment Frameworks - Provides a system for managing app lifecycles, runtime dependencies, and packaging for Windows applications.
- GPU-Accelerated UI Rendering - Uses GPU-backed layout and pixel pipelines to produce high-fidelity user interfaces and resolution-independent text.
- Windows API Runtimes - Provides native interfaces for accessing system capabilities, hardware acceleration, and operating system services.
- Platform API Access - Provides a unified interface for accessing native operating system capabilities and modern desktop user interface elements.
- Windows Runtime Projections - Provides a native C++ projection of Windows Runtime APIs for high-performance system interactions.
- Legacy Software Modernization - Enables adding modern UI and platform capabilities to existing desktop projects without a full rewrite.
- Accessible Design Systems - Provides a comprehensive design system of themed components that prioritize accessibility standards.
- Desktop Windowing Management - Manages desktop-specific user interactions including window control and appearance synchronization.
- Input Method Detection - Identifies whether a user is interacting via touch, mouse, pen, or keyboard to adapt the UI.
- Interface Composition Frameworks - Enables the construction of complex layouts through the composition of pre-built UI components and styles.
- Windows Frameworks - Provides a set of APIs and UI frameworks specifically designed for building native applications on Windows.
- Native Windows UI Renderers - Provides hardware-accelerated rendering and support for diverse input methods for native Windows user interfaces.
- Local On-Device AI - Enables execution of hardware-accelerated AI models on local CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs within desktop applications.
- Local AI Execution Environments - Provides an environment for running hardware-accelerated artificial intelligence models on local CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs.
- Local Model Execution - Provides capabilities for running artificial intelligence models directly on local CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs for optimized inference performance.
- Runtime Distribution Bundles - Bundles the required runtime and dependencies with the application to ensure version compatibility.
- Unpackaged Runtime Bootstrapping - Bootstraps the required environment for unpackaged desktop applications using automatic configuration or explicit calls.
- Window Appearance Customizers - Configures advanced window properties such as placement, appearance, and visual effects.
- Static Resource Retrieval - Fetches localized strings, graphics, and layout files from a centralized resource manager.
- SDK Version Migrations - Offers automated tooling to transform legacy codebases to align with modern SDK versions.
- Windows Packages - Manages the packaging and distribution of runtimes and dependencies for Windows desktop applications.
- NuGet-Based Distributions - Distributes runtime binaries and API definitions as NuGet packages to decouple framework versions from the OS.
- High-Performance Text Rendering - Displays resolution-independent fonts and Unicode text using a hardware-accelerated layout system.
- Application Asset Management - Handles strings and images across multiple languages and scales independently of core application logic.
- Shared Runtime Components - Distributes shared API definitions and binaries via a system-wide package to avoid redundant bundling.
- Runtime Bootstrapping - Provides mechanisms to initialize the runtime environment and load dependencies for unpackaged applications.
- Application Sandboxing - Restricts access to system resources via a sandbox environment to enhance security and protect the host.
- App Bootstrap & Identity - Initializes the runtime environment and loads framework dependencies for applications not deployed as standard packages.
- MVVM Architectures - Supports structuring application logic using the Model-View-ViewModel pattern to decouple data from the user interface.
- Side-by-Side Runtimes - Allows multiple versions of the framework to exist and run simultaneously without conflicting with the system image.
