u/Userware

Hi everyone,

Quick follow-up to our previous post about Windows .EXE export: xaml.io can now also export to macOS and Linux. So the publish flow now covers all three desktop OSes.

xaml.io exports your C# + XAML project to a native binary for each platform:
• Windows .exe
• macOS .app bundle (ad-hoc signed)
• Linux executable (x86_64)

A few details that might be interesting to this sub:

• The whole toolchain still runs in the browser via WebAssembly. No backend compile step, nothing uploaded to a server. Your code stays local.

• What runs where, to head off a common question: the WebAssembly part is only the IDE itself. The desktop apps it produces are real native .NET processes. Your C# runs as native code in-process (same as a WPF or WinForms app). The process embeds the OS's built-in WebView (Edge WebView2 on Windows, WKWebView on macOS, WebKitGTK on Linux) via Photino purely as the UI rendering surface. Not Electron-style, not WASM at runtime.

• The macOS ad-hoc code-signing happens client-side too, in WASM. We ended up vendoring a small subset of Filip Navara's Melanzana (.NET Mach-O writer + CodeDirectory hasher) and lazy-loading it so non-Mac users don't pay for the bytes on first paint. This client-side code-signing was the part we weren't sure was possible until we got it working.

• Still no install, no signup (unless you want to save to the cloud or use AI).

• It's free.

Honest caveats up front:

• Apps are unsigned in the "publisher identity" sense (no Apple Developer ID, no Windows Authenticode), so first-launch warnings on macOS Gatekeeper and Windows SmartScreen still apply. The bundled README has the bypass for each. Support for user-supplied code-signing certificates is on the way.

• macOS is Apple Silicon (arm64) only for now. Linux is x86_64 only.

• Linux uses WebKitGTK 4.1 (preinstalled on Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 38+, Arch). Older distros may need a one-time install. The bundled README has the package names.

If you've tried xaml.io and bounced off, still genuinely curious what was missing. Bug reports and "this is still missing X" feedback both welcome. We read everything that gets posted here.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,
We shipped this today and wanted to share it here: xaml.io can now export your C# + XAML project as a native Windows .EXE. It’s been one of the most-requested features for a while, so it felt worth a post.

A few details that might be interesting to this sub:
• The whole toolchain runs in the browser via WebAssembly. No backend compile step, nothing uploaded to a server — your code stays local.
• No install, no signup to use it (unless you want to save to the cloud or use AI).
• It’s free.

If you’ve tried XAML.io before and bounced off, genuinely curious what was missing. Bug reports and “this is still missing X” feedback both welcome. We read everything that gets posted here.

Thanks a lot!

Hey everyone,

We’ve improved our free, instantly runnable XAML UI Designer on https://XAML.io with support for generating C# event handlers like Button_Click.

That means the workflow is getting closer to the old VB6 feeling: drag a button, click it, write code, run.

We also recently added XAML analyzers with auto-fix buttons, and better WPF XAML support, including support for Triggers.

It’s available for free on XAML.io, with no install, no signup required.

We’d love your feedback.

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EDIT:

Several people have asked why we support WPF-style XAML in the browser if WPF itself is a desktop framework and already has a designer. To clarify, XAML.io is not just for copy-pasting XAML into WPF or other desktop frameworks. The output of a GUI app built on XAML.io is a .NET web app powered by OpenSilver, our open-source framework for building web apps with WPF-style C# and XAML.

OpenSilver compiles C# to WebAssembly and renders XAML as real HTML/CSS DOM elements, rather than drawing everything onto a single canvas. That DOM-based approach results in browser-native benefits such as accessibility, SEO, Ctrl+F, text selection, screen readers, mobile interactions, browser translation, and compatibility with browser extensions, while still working in a WPF-style programming model. It also integrates well with the broader web and .NET ecosystem, including support for using Blazor components directly inside XAML applications.

So with XAML.io, our goal is really to bring the simplicity and rapid development experience people often associate with desktop app creation to web app creation, made possible by the fact that our underlying framework for building web apps with WPF-style C# and XAML brings that programming model to the web.

We are trying to bring back that same feeling of rapid, low-friction visual app development that VB6 and WinForms provided, this time for WebAssembly-powered web apps in C# and XAML.