Build your first Runic app.

You need the .NET 10 SDK and a JavaScript package manager: Node.js 24 with npm or pnpm, or Bun 1.4. The creator asks which one to use.

The default CS-WebUI host opens your app in an installed browser in app mode; Chrome, Edge and other Chromium-based browsers work best, and Firefox works without app mode. Without a browser it falls back to the platform WebView: the Edge WebView2 Runtime on Windows, GTK 3 with WebKitGTK 4.1 on Linux, or WKWebView on macOS. The Runic Desktop host uses that WebView in a native window. Run dotnet runic doctor in the generated project to check your setup.

dnx Runic.Create@0.7.0-preview.5

The creator asks for a project name, frontend, package manager, Window host, and ViewModel library, then creates the project and prints the next steps. dnx ships with the .NET 10 SDK and runs the creator without installing it. Then start the app:

cd MyApp
dotnet tool restore
dotnet runic dev

dotnet tool restore installs the project's dotnet runic tool. dotnet runic dev restores the .NET and frontend packages, builds the app, starts the frontend development server and opens the app. Frontend edits reload in place; C# edits rebuild and restart the app. Plain dotnet build and dotnet run work too: the first build installs the frontend packages and builds the production frontend.

Prefer to choose in the browser? Put your app together and copy one command. The creator runs the runic-app template, which you can also use directly:

dotnet new install Runic.Application.Templates@0.7.0-preview.5
dotnet new runic-app --name MyApp --frontend react --package-manager npm --host cswebui --view-models toolkit

The generated app contains C# ViewModels, a Window and Views that select them, and a frontend in Frontend. The build generates a typed client for each ViewModel in Frontend/src/generated; it is regenerated on every build and not committed. Change a page, then follow its client calls into the ViewModel. The frontend owns rendering; .NET owns the application model and operation lifetime.

Follow Windows and Views, step by step through the generated project and its tests, learn about Windows and Views, or explore the CommunityToolkit Notes example for nested content, editing, and navigation.