NativeScript Windows Runtime

Windows support for NativeScript allowing 100% access to Windows Runtime APIs and .NET APIs from JavaScript.

The workspace is split into the main runtime pieces:

• metadata - WinRT/.NET metadata reading and declaration modeling.
• metadata-generator - reads .winmd, .dll, .exe, .nupkg, or directories and emits runtime metadata bundles.
• runtime - V8-based JavaScript runtime and WinRT interop.
• runtime-binding-gen - runtime-phase binding metadata support.
• nativescript - native library entry point used by template/demo apps.
• dotnet-bridge - .NET/C# dispatch bridge.
• sbg - static binding generator. js -> cs
• devtools / runtime-devtools - debugging and developer tooling.

Prerequisites

Install these before building the full workspace:

• Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• Visual Studio 2022 or Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022 with:
  • Desktop development with C++.
  • MSVC v143 toolset.
  • Windows 10/11 SDK.
  • C++ CMake tools are useful for native dependency troubleshooting.
• Rust stable via rustup.
• Rust MSVC targets used by the native library build:
  • rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
  • rustup target add i686-pc-windows-msvc
  • rustup target add aarch64-pc-windows-msvc
• .NET SDK, currently needed for the C# bridge, tests, demo apps, and template projects.
• PowerShell 7+ (pwsh) for the build scripts.

Open a Visual Studio Developer PowerShell when building native libraries so cl.exe and the Windows SDK tools are on PATH.

Build

Build the main workspace crates:

cargo build --workspace

Build native nativescript.dll libraries and the runtime pipeline:

.\build.ps1 -Profile debug -NativeArch x64

Build all native targets:

.\build.ps1 -Profile release -NativeArch all

Run the SBG phase when you want generated static binding output:

.\build.ps1 -RunSBG

Tests

Run Rust tests:

cargo test --workspace

Run .NET bridge tests:

dotnet test dotnet-bridge-tests\DotNetBridgeTests.csproj

DevTools

DevTools are part of the runtime story, not an optional afterthought. Use the release-with-devtools profile when you need debugger/devtools symbols and runtime tooling enabled:

.\build.ps1 -Profile release-with-devtools -NativeArch x64