Microsoft Completes WinUI Development Move to GitHub, But External Contributions Await

Microsoft has completed its four-phase plan to open up WinUI development on GitHub. Phase 4, which aimed to make GitHub the center of development, issue tracking, and community dialogue, was reached ahead of schedule, with all four items marked complete in the official Discussion thread on August 28.

The move allows developers to track the development process itself, rather than just seeing the finished product. This is significant for WinUI's deep ties to non-public parts of Windows, which made it necessary to separate code that could be made public from private layers.

However, outside pull requests are still not accepted yet, with Microsoft using internal PRs to exercise the contribution workflow and validation process. The company will make a further announcement once external PRs start being accepted.