Microsoft has announced that the .NET MAUI extension for Visual Studio Code is now generally available, allowing developers to now build cross-platform apps using .NET MAUI within their editor. Microsoft created .NET MAUI in 2022 to be a replacement for Xamarin, which reached end-of-life last month.

A number of new features were also announced alongside this general availability release, including an improved editing experience with XAML. When it was in preview, the extension only had basic syntax highlighting and completions, but it’s since been updated to work with Copilot and take advantage of intelligent autocompletion, tooltips, and easy code navigation.

Hot Reload is also now available for both XAML and C# files. This highly awaited feature allows developers to make changes while an app is running and see those changes reflected automatically, without needing to restart the app. 

XAML Hot Reload comes enabled, but as the C# version is still considered experimental, developers will have to enable it in the VS Code settings. 

“Today’s release is a great milestone in our VS Code journey, but we aren’t done yet! We’ll continue to listen to your feedback and work toward improved performance, reliability, and added features to make your .NET MAUI app development more streamlined,” Maddy Montaquila, senior product manager for .NET MAUI, wrote in a blog post. 

The .NET MAUI extension for Visual Studio Code can be installed through the VS Code Marketplace. Microsoft has also put together a quick start guide for help with installation. 

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