Winui Design
WinUI 3 layout, control choice, theming and XAML-binding design/review guidance
Test report
- Verdict
- Tested · Works
- Score
- Tested
- Jul 21, 2026
- Environment
- Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
- Upstream re-checked
- Aug 10, 2026 · 16be525
Located SKILL.md at plugins/winui/skills/winui-design/; frontmatter parses with name+description. Spot-checked all 3 referenced files (references/brushes-and-icons.md, theme-accessibility.md, layout-review.md) — HTTP 200 — plus winui-search.exe (HTTP 200, 7.9MB; `file` reports PE32+ Windows console binary, unrunnable on this macOS host, so that step is Windows-only). Verified install into a clean temp HOME: SKILL.md lands at ~/.claude/skills/winui-design/SKILL.md. OUTPUT test: wrote a small "Rename File" WinUI 3 utility (TextBox + status + button) twice — baseline vs skill-following (both saved in scratchpad). Following the body produced concretely-better XAML: it caught two real silent bugs the baseline shipped — {x:Bind Vm.Status} defaults to OneTime so status never updates (skill added Mode=OneWay), and a TwoWay TextBox without UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged leaves the VM stale until focus loss — and applied the window-sizing rubric with a DPI-correct AppWindow.Resize (baseline left the oversized ~1024x768 default), swapping a hardcoded "Gray" literal + placeholder-as-label for a semantic InfoBar status and a visible label. Did NOT run winui-search.exe (wrong platform); the inline guidance carried the output without it.
Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works
- Installs cleanly 5/5
- Triggers reliably 5/5
- Output vs. baseline 8/10
- Docs & honesty 4/5
What Winui Design does
A design-and-review skill for WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK): it maps requirements to platform controls, applies Fluent app-shape silhouettes, a window-sizing rubric, Light/Dark/High-Contrast theming rules, and catches common XAML x:Bind binding landmines. Triggers when authoring or reviewing WinUI 3 XAML, migrating desktop/WPF UI to WinUI, or choosing between WinUI controls and patterns. Ships a bundled winui-search.exe (Windows-only) for searching WinUI Gallery/Toolkit/Reactor code samples, plus three on-demand reference files.
How to install Winui Design
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/win-dev-skills.git /tmp/winui-design-src
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R /tmp/winui-design-src/plugins/winui/skills/winui-design ~/.claude/skills/winui-design
# SKILL.md now at ~/.claude/skills/winui-design/SKILL.md
# Optional bundled tool: winui-search.exe is a Windows-only PE32+ binary (~7.9MB, .NET).
# It runs ONLY on Windows (WinUI's real target platform); NOT usable on macOS/Linux.
# The skill's design/review guidance works without it — the exe only adds sample lookups.
# Source for the binary is in the same repo at src/tools/winui-search if you want to build/inspect.
# Plugin-marketplace alternative: repo exposes .claude-plugin/marketplace.json (plugin name: winui).
Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/
(per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.
Commands — how to trigger Winui Design
-
/winui-designWinUI 3 layout, control choice, theming and XAML-binding design/review guidance
It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:
-
Review this XAML page against Fluent Design -
Choose the right WinUI control for this layout -
Fix dark theme contrast in this WinUI screen
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Winui Design skill free?
- Yes. The skill itself is free from microsoft/win-dev-skills. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
- Does Winui Design work with Claude Code?
- We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 21, 2026. Verdict: Tested · Works. Located SKILL.md at plugins/winui/skills/winui-design/; frontmatter parses with name+description. Spot-checked all 3 referenced files (references/brushes-and-icons.md, theme-accessibility.md, layout-review.md) — HTTP 200 — plus winui-search.exe (HTTP 200, 7.9MB; `file` reports PE32+ Windows console binary, unrunnable on this macOS host, so that step is Windows-only). Verified install into a clean temp HOME: SKILL.md lands at ~/.claude/skills/winui-design/SKILL.md. OUTPUT test: wrote a small "Rename File" WinUI 3 utility (TextBox + status + button) twice — baseline vs skill-following (both saved in scratchpad). Following the body produced concretely-better XAML: it caught two real silent bugs the baseline shipped — {x:Bind Vm.Status} defaults to OneTime so status never updates (skill added Mode=OneWay), and a TwoWay TextBox without UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged leaves the VM stale until focus loss — and applied the window-sizing rubric with a DPI-correct AppWindow.Resize (baseline left the oversized ~1024x768 default), swapping a hardcoded "Gray" literal + placeholder-as-label for a semantic InfoBar status and a visible label. Did NOT run winui-search.exe (wrong platform); the inline guidance carried the output without it.
- What is the Winui Design SkillProof Score?
- 8.8/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 8/10, docs & honesty 4/5.
- How do I install Winui Design?
- Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
- Can I use Winui Design with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?
- The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.