--- title: Microsoft Introduces WinApp CLI to Unify Windows App... description: Microsoft has released a public preview of WinApp CLI, an open-source command-line tool designed to unify Windows application development workflows across... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-introduces-winapp-cli-to-unify-windows-app-development-workflows-y5sifeppi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Microsoft Introduces WinApp CLI to Unify Windows App Development Workflows | daily.dev og:description: Microsoft has released a public preview of WinApp CLI, an open-source command-line tool designed to unify Windows application development workflows across... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-introduces-winapp-cli-to-unify-windows-app-development-workflows-y5sifeppi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Y5SIfePPI.png og:image:alt: Microsoft Introduces WinApp CLI to Unify Windows App Development Workflows og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Microsoft Introduces WinApp CLI to Unify Windows App Development Workflows **[InfoQ](https://daily.dev/sources/infoq)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Microsoft has released a public preview of WinApp CLI, an open-source command-line tool designed to unify Windows application development workflows across frameworks including .NET, C++, Electron, and Rust. Key features include a single `winapp init` command for environment setup (SDK downloads, manifest generation, certificate creation), a `create-debug-identity` command that lets developers attach package identity to executables without full MSIX packaging, and automation for signing and CI/CD integration via GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps. The tool also supports Electron and Node.js scenarios, including experimental Windows API projections. Available via WinGet and npm, it is positioned as a complement to IDE-based workflows rather than a replacement. Version 0.2.0 was released in February 2026 with bug fixes; breaking changes are expected before general availability. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#electron](https://daily.dev/tags/electron) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-introduces-winapp-cli-to-unify-windows-app-development-workflows-y5sifeppi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Microsoft Introduces WinApp CLI to Unify Windows App Development Workflows","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-introduces-winapp-cli-to-unify-windows-app-development-workflows-y5sifeppi","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-introduces-winapp-cli-to-unify-windows-app-development-workflows-y5sifeppi"},"datePublished":"2026-03-27T09:03:15.261Z","dateModified":"2026-03-27T09:03:59.873Z","description":"Microsoft has released a public preview of WinApp CLI, an open-source command-line tool designed to unify Windows application development workflows across...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/deec9bf4cbdb37add501d958a1349e74?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/deec9bf4cbdb37add501d958a1349e74?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"InfoQ","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"InfoQ","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/afc3bced3e1e4b188dd9127017a60e0c","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/infoq"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-introduces-winapp-cli-to-unify-windows-app-development-workflows-y5sifeppi","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":".net,electron","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"InfoQ","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/infoq"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Microsoft Introduces WinApp CLI to Unify Windows App Development Workflows"}]} ```