Avalonia Templates for dotnet new

For more information about dotnet new templates see here.

Installing the templates

Run from a command line:

dotnet new install Avalonia.Templates

The templates should now be available in dotnet new list:

Template Name                        Short Name                 Language  Tags
-----------------------------------  -------------------------  --------  -----------------------------------------
Avalonia .NET App                    avalonia.app               [C#],F#   Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS
Avalonia .NET MVVM App               avalonia.mvvm              [C#],F#   Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS
Avalonia Cross Platform Application  avalonia.xplat             [C#],F#   Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Web/Mobile
Avalonia Resource Dictionary         avalonia.resource                    Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS
Avalonia Styles                      avalonia.styles                      Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS
Avalonia TemplatedControl            avalonia.templatedcontrol  [C#],F#   Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS
Avalonia UserControl                 avalonia.usercontrol       [C#],F#   Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS
Avalonia Window                      avalonia.window            [C#],F#   Desktop/Xaml/Avalonia/Windows/Linux/macOS

Note:

By default dotnet CLI would create a C# template,if you want to create F# template you will need to add -lang F# to the end of the command.

Creating a new Application

To create a new barebones application called MyApp in its own subdirectory, run:

dotnet new avalonia.app -o MyApp

Parameter	Description	Options	Default
-f, --framework	The target framework for the project.	net10.0, net9.0, net8.0	net10.0
-av, --avalonia-version	The target version of Avalonia NuGet packages.		12.0.0
-cb, --compiled-bindings	Enable CompiledBindings by default (11.0+). See documentation.	true, false	true
--no-restore	If specified, skips the automatic restore of the project on create.

Creating a new MVVM Application

MVVM is the recommended pattern for creating Avalonia applications. The MVVM application template uses ReactiveUI to ease building applications with complex interactions.

To create a new MVVM application called MyApp in its own subdirectory, run:

dotnet new avalonia.mvvm -o MyApp

Parameter	Description	Options	Default
-f, --framework	The target framework for the project.	net10.0, net9.0, net8.0	net10.0
-av, --avalonia-version	The target version of Avalonia NuGet packages.		12.0.0
-cb, --compiled-bindings	Enable CompiledBindings by default (11.0+). See documentation.	true, false	true
-m, --mvvm	MVVM toolkit to use in the template.	ReactiveUI, CommunityToolkit	ReactiveUI
-rvl, --remove-view-locator	Remove the default ViewLocator. Useful for code trimming scenarios as the default ViewLocator is not trimming-friendly.	true, false	false
--no-restore	If specified, skips the automatic restore of the project on create.

Creating a new Cross-Platform application

To create a new Cross-Platform application in its own subdirectory, run:

dotnet new avalonia.xplat 

This template creates an application that works on Desktop, Browser and Mobile (iOS & Android). Only available with 11.0 preview versions and newer.

Parameter	Description	Options	Default
-av, --avalonia-version	The target version of Avalonia NuGet packages.		12.0.0
-cb, --compiled-bindings	Enable CompiledBindings by default. See documentation.	true, false	true
-m, --mvvm	MVVM toolkit to use in the template.	ReactiveUI, CommunityToolkit	ReactiveUI
-rvl, --remove-view-locator	Remove the default ViewLocator. Useful for code trimming scenarios as the default ViewLocator is not trimming-friendly.	true, false	false
-cpm	Use Central Package Management (CPM). If disabled, Directory.Build.props will be created with the shared Avalonia version.	true, false	true

Creating a new Window

To create a new Window called MyNewWindow, in the namespace MyApp run:

dotnet new avalonia.window -na MyApp -n MyNewWindow

Creating a new UserControl

To create a new UserControl called MyNewView, in the namespace MyApp run:

dotnet new avalonia.usercontrol -na MyApp -n MyNewView

Creating a new Styles list

To create a new Styles list called MyStyles, run:

dotnet new avalonia.styles -n MyStyles

Creating a new ResourceDictionary

To create a new ResourceDictionary called MyResources, run:

dotnet new avalonia.resource -n MyResources