Develop Windows Widgets and Dashboards

Widgets

Windows widgets are small UI containers associated with an installed app. The Widgets Board displays them in a grid over the Windows desktop, with personalized content and quick actions from your app. You can define content with Adaptive Cards, which bind data to a JSON template, or display HTML from a URL with a web widget provider. Web widgets still use an Adaptive Card JSON payload to specify the content URL.

For design guidance, see Windows Widgets design overview.

Choose a widget development path

Use this table to select the implementation path and the next topic to open.

If you want to...	Use this approach	Start here
Add an Adaptive Card widget to a packaged C# desktop app	Implement IWidgetProvider, send template and data updates with WidgetManager, and register the provider through the package manifest.	C# widget provider walkthrough
Add an Adaptive Card widget to a packaged C++/WinRT desktop app	Implement IWidgetProvider in the out-of-process COM server and register its CLSID and widget definitions in the package manifest.	C++/WinRT widget provider walkthrough
Display HTML from a URL inside a desktop widget	Use a web widget provider. This feature is available only to users in the EEA. The provider still sends an Adaptive Card payload containing the web URL and fallback content.	Web widget providers
Add a widget for an existing Progressive Web App (PWA)	Define the widget in the web app manifest and handle widget events in the service worker. This is separate from the desktop IWidgetProvider path.	Build PWA-driven widgets
Handle a button or form action in your desktop provider	Use Action.Execute and handle the verb in OnActionInvoked. Show it only when $host.isUserContextAuthenticated is true.	Create a widget template
Open an app page or website without a provider callback	Use Action.OpenUrl. This remains available when the widget user context isn't authenticated.	Create a widget template
Let users configure a widget	Implement IWidgetProvider2, set the manifest's IsCustomizable attribute, and supply a customization payload.	Implement widget customization
Adapt content for size, theme, settings, header, web support, or authentication	Use Windows $host properties in the Adaptive Card template and declare every supported size in the package manifest.	Windows widget host properties
Show loading or signed-out content	Send a deliberate fallback template and data. Set IsPlaceholderContent when content isn't yet personalized or actionable.	Widget providers
Add a dashboard feed instead of an individual widget	Implement a feed provider. Feed providers are a separate integration and are available only in the EEA.	Dashboards and feed providers
Ask GitHub Copilot to create and validate a widget	Use the reusable prompt, which selects a supported path and requires package, manifest, build, and Widgets Board validation.	Create a Windows widget with GitHub Copilot

Dashboards

Feed providers register content feeds that appear as dashboards in the Widgets Board. A feed provider is a separate integration from a widget provider; displaying HTML inside a widget doesn't register a dashboard feed.

Important

Feed providers are available only to users in the European Economic Area (EEA). For availability and implementation requirements, see Dashboards and feed providers.

In this section

Topic	Description
Feed providers	Learn how to register your app's content feeds to appear directly in the Windows Widgets Board.
Widget providers	Learn how to implement a widget provider that supplies content, layout, and interactive elements for your widgets.
Web widget providers	Display HTML in a widget and handle resource requests and messages between your provider and web content.
Adaptive Cards Designer	Walk through creating a widget template using the Adaptive Cards Designer.
Create a Windows widget with GitHub Copilot	Use a reusable prompt to generate, package, and validate a widget in an existing repository.