Improve WinApp agent discoverability for WinUI queries

[Beth Pan (beth-panx)]

Investigation

Copilot Agent Finder was asked to find a WinUI agent plugin using this task-oriented query:

WinUI plugins and tools for developing Windows apps with WinUI 3

The search returned:

Rank	Result	Relevance score
1	openai/skills — Winui App	90
2	anthropics/claude-plugins-public — Plugin Dev	40

The official microsoft/WinAppCli plugin did not appear, despite shipping a Copilot agent and Agent Plugins 1.0 skills for WinUI project creation, control/sample discovery, Windows API discovery, UI automation, package identity, and MSIX distribution.

A catalog check also found no microsoft/WinAppCli entry in github/agentfinder-catalog. The existing plugin metadata emphasized packaging and distribution but omitted several common discovery terms, including WinUI, XAML, scaffolding, UI testing, and sample discovery.

This PR improves the source metadata and agent routing. A separate PR to github/agentfinder-catalog is still required to add WinApp CLI to Agent Finder itself.

A draft PR is in place in the agentfinder catalog repo once this is approved and merged.

Changes

• describe both native WinUI development and Windows enablement for existing desktop and cross-platform apps
• add WinUI, XAML, scaffolding, UI automation, and related discovery terms to plugin manifests and marketplace metadata
• preserve a user's existing framework unless migration is explicitly requested
• align the agent's core responsibilities with project creation, grounded UI/API discovery, build/run/debug workflows, Windows API bindings, packaging, signing, Store distribution, and UI automation
• document previously missing public commands: unregister, manifest add-alias, cert info, ui click, and ui get-value

Validation

• plugin package validation passes
• every public command path in docs/cli-schema.json is represented in winapp.agent.md
• all modified JSON parses successfully and synchronized descriptions match
• git diff --check passes

[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

The new manifest add-alias guidance incorrectly implies that --manifest and --app-id override the alias target.

Get a fresh assessment by requesting another Copilot review.

Pull request overview

Improves WinApp plugin discovery and agent routing for WinUI development while retaining support for existing app frameworks.

Changes:

• Adds WinUI/XAML and UI automation discovery metadata.
• Expands the agent’s WinUI development responsibilities and routing.
• Documents previously omitted CLI commands.

File summaries

File	Description
plugins/winapp/plugin.json	Updates portable plugin metadata and keywords.
plugins/winapp/com.github.copilot/agents/winapp.agent.md	Expands routing guidance and command documentation.
plugins/winapp/.claude-plugin/plugin.json	Synchronizes Claude plugin metadata.
plugin.json	Updates legacy manifest discovery metadata.
.github/plugin/marketplace.json	Synchronizes GitHub marketplace descriptions.
.claude-plugin/marketplace.json	Adds WinUI-focused description and tags.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 6/6 changed files
• Comments generated: 1
• Review effort level: Balanced

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[github-actions]

⏳ Build in progress — metrics below are from a previous commit and will update when the current build finishes.

Build Metrics Report

Binary Sizes

Artifact	Baseline	Current	Delta
CLI (ARM64)	46.12 MB	46.12 MB	✅ 0.0 KB (0.00%)
CLI (x64)	46.03 MB	46.03 MB	✅ 0.0 KB (0.00%)
MSIX (ARM64)	19.04 MB	19.04 MB	📈 +0.4 KB (+0.00%)
MSIX (x64)	20.18 MB	20.19 MB	📈 +0.6 KB (+0.00%)
NPM Package	39.61 MB	39.61 MB	📈 +0.2 KB (+0.00%)
NuGet Package	39.75 MB	39.75 MB	📈 +0.5 KB (+0.00%)

Test Results

✅ 5809 passed, 18 skipped out of 5827 tests in 880.6s (+36.2s vs. baseline)

Test Coverage

✅ 87.5% line coverage, 80.8% branch coverage · ✅ no change vs. baseline

CLI Startup Time

72ms median (x64, winapp --version) · ⚠️ +11ms vs. baseline

Try This Build

Installs the MSIX for your architecture, replacing any previously installed build. Needs the GitHub CLI — the command offers to install it and sign you in if it is missing.

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/winappCli/main/scripts/winapp-pr.ps1))) 843

Switching between builds often?

Put the tool on your PATH once:

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/winappCli/main/scripts/winapp-pr.ps1))) -AddToPath

Then this build is just:

winapp-pr 843

Run winapp-pr with no arguments to pick from a list of open PRs.

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Updated 2026-09-15 00:53:12 UTC · commit da6c5ba · workflow run