{"id":1328,"date":"2026-07-22T10:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:29:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:29:43","slug":"windows-app-development-cli-v0-5-0-expanded-ui-automation-js-ts-bindings-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/windows-app-development-cli-v0-5-0-expanded-ui-automation-js-ts-bindings-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows App Development CLI v0.5.0 – expanded UI automation, JS\/TS bindings, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blog<\/a><\/p>\n

WinApp CLI v0.5.0 greatly expands the UI automation toolkit (recording, touch, pen, and keyboard injection), lets you call Windows Runtime APIs straight from JavaScript and TypeScript with zero native addons, and makes WinUI crashes far easier to diagnose. Get the update by running winget install Microsoft.WinAppCLI<\/code> or check the repo for other install options<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get started with the Windows App Development CLI<\/a><\/div><\/p>\n

Here’s what the new version has to offer in depth:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd79\ufe0f An expanded UI automation toolkit<\/h2>\n
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The winapp ui<\/code> command family grew from inspection into a complete automation toolkit. On top of the existing inspect\/click\/screenshot verbs, these releases add real input injection, including touch, pen, and keyboard. Additionally, we added screen recording, so that you (or an AI agent) can drive and verify any Windows app end-to-end from the terminal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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# Record a session to MP4 (great for demos and bug reports)\r\nwinapp ui record -a myapp --duration-sec 10 --output demo.mp4\r\n\r\n# Synthesize real touch gestures\r\nwinapp ui touch img-map-9f8e -a myapp --gesture pinch --distance 200\r\nwinapp ui touch -a myapp --at 100,300 --gesture swipe --to-point 400,300\r\n\r\n# Draw and erase with a simulated pen\/stylus\r\nwinapp ui pen -a myapp --path \"100,100 150,120 210,140 260,120\"\r\nwinapp ui pen -a myapp --at 320,240 --pressure 0.8 --tilt-x 30\r\n\r\n# Send real keystrokes, including chords and typed text\r\nwinapp ui send-keys \"ctrl+a delete\" -a myapp\r\nwinapp ui send-keys \"Hello world\" --target txt-name-a1b2 -a myapp<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
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Rounding out the set: ui hover<\/code> captures tooltips and flyouts, ui drag<\/code> performs press-move-release drags (element-to-element or raw coordinates), and ui scroll --wheel<\/code> drives mouse-wheel scrolling:<\/p>\n
# Hover to reveal a tooltip, then screenshot it\r\nwinapp ui hover btn-info-a1b2 -a myapp\r\nwinapp ui screenshot -a myapp --capture-screen\r\n\r\n# Drag one element onto another (or use raw screen coords)\r\nwinapp ui drag itm-card-9f8e itm-slot-2c1a -a myapp\r\nwinapp ui drag 120,200 480,200 -a myapp\r\n\r\n# Mouse-wheel scroll over an element\r\nwinapp ui scroll img-map-a1b2 --wheel -1 -a myapp<\/code><\/pre>\n
These new automation actions enable agents to interact fully with a running application. The following MS Paint demo was fully automated using ui<\/code> commands (including invoke<\/code> and drag<\/code>), and was recorded using ui record<\/code>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/ifdef-windows\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/61\/2026\/07\/windows-logo-drawing-1.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div><\/p>\n
\ud83d\udfe8 Call Windows APIs Directly from JavaScript & TypeScript<\/h2>\n
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Electron and Node developers can now call modern Windows Runtime (WinRT) APIs, including notifications, file pickers, Windows AI, WinML, and more, directly from JavaScript or TypeScript. No native addon, no node-gyp or MSBuild step, and full IntelliSense.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Add typed bindings to a new or existing project with a single flag:<\/p>\n
npx winapp init . --use-defaults --add-js-bindings<\/code><\/pre>\n
WinApp CLI generates typed .js<\/em> + .d.ts<\/em> bindings from the WinAppSDK (and any other WinRT) .winmd<\/em> metadata, and those bindings call into WinRT at runtime via @microsoft\/dynwinrt<\/code>. Import them through the #winapp\/bindings<\/code> subpath and call WinRT like ordinary JavaScript:<\/p>\n
const {\r\n  AppNotificationBuilder,\r\n  AppNotificationManager,\r\n} = require('#winapp\/bindings');\r\n\r\nconst notification = AppNotificationBuilder\r\n  .create()\r\n  .addText('Hello from WinRT \u2014 no native addon required')\r\n  .build();\r\n\r\nAppNotificationManager.getDefault().show(notification);<\/code><\/pre>\n
The generated bindings stay version-synced with your WinAppSDK packages, so IntelliSense always matches the APIs you actually have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
We’ll be releasing a full blog post on using these bindings soon, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can check out our guide on calling Windows APIs from JavaScript.<\/a><\/p>\n
\ud83e\ude7a Better WinUI Crash Diagnostics<\/h2>\n
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Debugging WinUI 3 crashes has always been painful: most start inside a XAML event handler and surface later as a stowed exception<\/strong> (0xC000027B<\/code>) re-raised from the dispatcher, so by the time the app dies the stack no longer points at the real cause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Now winapp run --debug-output<\/code> automatically runs an extra WinUI stowed-exception triage pass<\/strong> whenever the crashed app loaded Microsoft.UI.Xaml.dll<\/em>. No new flag is required; it will kick in for any WinUI dumps and surfaces:<\/p>\n