maui templates.instructions.md

A set of instructions for editing .NET MAUI project templates, which are files used to generate new application projects.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when changing files in the .NET MAUI Templates directory, especially for conditional code targeting Windows, Android, iOS, or MacCatalyst.
Why use it?
It explains how platform-specific code and template-only directives must be marked so generated projects compile and preserve the intended behavior.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add instructions/dotnet/maui/templates
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dotnet/maui

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Per session 764 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 764 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00764 $0.00764
Opus 5 $0.00382 $0.00382
Sonnet 5 $0.00153 $0.00153
Haiku 4.5 $0.00076 $0.00076

Measured 2d ago against content hash 3dfe72f9304a, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

maui templates.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.github/instructions/templates.instructions.md · 92 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 92 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Working with .NET MAUI Templates

1. Overview

When modifying files in the src/Templates/ directory, you must follow special template semantics and conventions to ensure the templates work correctly when users create new projects. This guide covers conditional compilation directives, naming conventions, file exclusions, and testing procedures.

2. Conditional Compilation

Templates use special comment markers to control how preprocessor directives are processed during template instantiation.

Build-Time Directives (Platform-Specific)

Platform-specific #if directives (like #if WINDOWS, #if ANDROID, #if IOS, #if MACCATALYST) must be wrapped with //-:cnd:noEmit and //+:cnd:noEmit markers:

//-:cnd:noEmit
#if WINDOWS
    // Windows-specific code
#endif
//+:cnd:noEmit

Why? These markers tell the template engine to preserve these directives in the generated code exactly as-is, so they will be evaluated at compile-time when the user builds their project.

Examples:

//-:cnd:noEmit
#if DEBUG
    builder.Logging.AddDebug();
#endif
//+:cnd:noEmit

//-:cnd:noEmit
#if IOS || MACCATALYST
    handlers.AddHandler<CollectionView, CollectionViewHandler2>();
#endif
//+:cnd:noEmit

//-:cnd:noEmit
#if WINDOWS
    Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Handlers.Items.CollectionViewHandler.Mapper.AppendToMapping(
        "KeyboardAccessibleCollectionView", 
        (handler, view) => { /* ... */ });
#endif
//+:cnd:noEmit

Template-Time Directives (Template Parameters)

Template parameter directives (like #if (IncludeSampleContent)) do NOT use the //-:cnd:noEmit markers:

#if (IncludeSampleContent)
using CommunityToolkit.Maui;
#endif

Why? These directives are evaluated when the template is instantiated (when user runs dotnet new maui), not when the code is compiled.

3. Naming and Placeholders

  • Template project names use placeholders like MauiApp._1 which get replaced with the user's actual project name
  • Namespaces follow the same pattern: namespace MauiApp._1;
  • These will be transformed to the user's chosen project name during template instantiation

Read the full file on GitHub · 92 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 92 lines · 764 tokens per session scan A 3dfe72f9304a

Subscribe to this mod's changes

maui templates.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository dotnet/maui (23,317 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 764 tokens to every session, about $0.0038 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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