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DevFlow overview

DevFlow is a comprehensive testing, automation, and debugging toolkit for .NET MAUI applications. It provides an in-app HTTP agent for visual tree inspection and element interaction, a CLI with 50+ commands, a Blazor WebView CDP bridge, and an MCP server for AI agent integration.

Important

DevFlow is experimental and will change between releases.

Architecture

DevFlow consists of three components that work together:

  • Agent: In-app HTTP server that exposes the visual tree, element interactions, screenshots, and profiling. Runs inside the MAUI app process.
  • CLI: Command-line interface (maui devflow) that communicates with the agent. Integrated into the .NET MAUI CLI.
  • Broker: Lightweight background daemon that coordinates port assignment and agent discovery when multiple apps run simultaneously. See Broker architecture.

Get started

Step 1: Install the NuGet packages

Add the DevFlow agent package to your .NET MAUI project. If your app uses Blazor Hybrid, also add the Blazor package:

<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Agent" />
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Blazor" />  <!-- If using Blazor Hybrid -->

Step 2: Register the agent in MauiProgram.cs

Register the DevFlow agent in your app's startup code:

using Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Agent;

public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
{
    var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
    builder.UseMauiApp<App>();

    #if DEBUG
    builder.AddMauiDevFlowAgent();
    #endif

    return builder.Build();
}

Note

Wrap the AddMauiDevFlowAgent call in #if DEBUG to ensure the agent isn't included in release builds.

Step 3: Install the CLI tool

Install the DevFlow CLI as a global .NET tool:

dotnet tool install -g Microsoft.Maui.Cli --prerelease

Step 4: Run your app and interact

With your app running, use the CLI to inspect and interact with it:

# View the visual tree
maui devflow MAUI tree

# Take a screenshot
maui devflow MAUI screenshot -o screenshot.png

# Tap an element
maui devflow agent interact tap --automationid "MyButton"

# Start MCP server for AI agents
maui devflow mcp

Features

Packages

Package Description
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Agent In-app agent for .NET MAUI apps. Exposes visual tree, element interactions, screenshots, and profiling via HTTP/JSON API.
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Agent.Core Platform-agnostic core: HTTP server, visual tree walker, CSS selector engine, network capture, profiling.
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Agent.Gtk GTK/Linux agent for apps using the current Linux GTK4 backend.
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Blazor Blazor WebView CDP bridge. Enables Chrome DevTools Protocol access for Blazor Hybrid content.
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Blazor.Gtk Blazor CDP bridge for WebKitGTK on Linux.
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Driver Platform-aware app driver for iOS, Android, Mac Catalyst, Windows, and Linux.
Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Logging Buffered rotating JSONL file logger. No MAUI dependency.

For GTK/Linux apps, use Microsoft.Maui.DevFlow.Agent.Gtk with the current Microsoft.Maui.Platforms.Linux.Gtk4 backend. See the Linux GTK4 backend guide for package setup and automatic agent startup. Don't mix it with the superseded Platform.Maui.Linux.Gtk4* backend packages.

Platform support

Platform Agent status Notes
Mac Catalyst ✅ Supported Direct localhost connectivity
iOS Simulator ✅ Supported Shares host network
Linux/GTK ✅ Supported Direct localhost connectivity
Android 🔄 In progress Requires adb reverse for port forwarding
Windows 🔄 In progress —

Platform setup

See also

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