winapp-troubleshoot

winapp-troubleshoot is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from microsoft/winappCli. It costs 43 tokens per session (2,399 once invoked), scanned B, original, MIT.

A troubleshooting guide for Windows app packaging, signing, identity, SDK setup, and installation errors. MSIX is Windows's app-package format, and a certificate verifies a package's publisher.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps diagnose winapp CLI errors, missing configuration or manifests, publisher mismatches, untrusted certificates, and failed package installs.
Why use it?
It explains common command failures and the configuration, certificate, permission, or installation problem behind each one.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Part of the winapp plugin — 10 skills, 1 agent shipped together

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 skills/microsoft/winappcli/winapp-troubleshoot
Any agent
npx skills add microsoft/winappCli --skill winapp-troubleshoot
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/winappCli

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install winapp, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 10 skills, 1 agent.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for winapp-troubleshoot

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/microsoft/winappcli/winapp-troubleshoot.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/microsoft/winappcli/winapp-troubleshoot)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/microsoft/winappcli/winapp-troubleshoot"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/microsoft/winappcli/winapp-troubleshoot.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 43 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,399 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 1 finding. 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 $0.00043 $0.02399
Opus 5 $0.00022 $0.01200
Sonnet 5 $0.00009 $0.00480
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00240

Measured 4d ago against content hash 9df174d8e16e, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

winapp-troubleshoot scanned grade B with 1 finding 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 4d 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.

Unrestricted tool accessmediumExcessive agency

A wildcard tool grant or "run any command" leaves no least-privilege boundary at all.

- Run any command with `--help` for its specific usage information
plugins/winapp/skills/winapp-troubleshoot/SKILL.md · 134 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 134 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

When to use

Use this skill when:

  • Diagnosing errors from winapp CLI commands
  • Choosing the right command for a task
  • Understanding prerequisites — what each command needs and what it produces

Common errors & solutions

Error Cause Solution
"winapp.yaml not found" Running restore or update without config Run winapp init first, or cd to the directory containing winapp.yaml
"Package.appxmanifest not found" Running package, create-debug-identity, or cert generate --manifest Run winapp init or winapp manifest generate first, or pass --manifest <path>
"Publisher mismatch" Certificate publisher ≠ manifest publisher Regenerate cert: winapp cert generate --manifest, or edit Package.appxmanifest Identity.Publisher to match
"Access denied" / "elevation required" cert install without admin Run terminal as Administrator for winapp cert install
"Package installation failed" Cert not trusted, or stale package registration winapp cert install ./devcert.pfx (admin), then Get-AppxPackage <name> | Remove-AppxPackage
"Certificate not trusted" Dev cert not installed on machine winapp cert install ./devcert.pfx (admin)
"Build tools not found" First run, tools not yet downloaded Run winapp update to download tools; ensure internet access
"Failed to add package identity" Stale debug identity or untrusted cert Get-AppxPackage *yourapp* | Remove-AppxPackage to clean up, then winapp cert install and retry
"Certificate file already exists" devcert.pfx already present Use winapp cert generate --if-exists overwrite or --if-exists skip
"Manifest already exists" Package.appxmanifest already present Use winapp manifest generate --if-exists overwrite or edit manifest directly
run / create-debug-identity registration error 0x800704EC Developer Mode is disabled Enable it in Settings → Privacy & security → For developers, or Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock' -Name AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense -Value 1, then retry
run / create-debug-identity registration error 0x80073CFB Package already registered with a conflicting identity Run winapp unregister (or winapp unregister --force if the package was registered from a different project tree), then retry

Read the full file on GitHub · 134 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. 4d ago First seen · 134 lines · 43 tokens per session scan B 9df174d8e16e

Subscribe to this mod's changes

winapp-troubleshoot is a skill published in the GitHub repository microsoft/winappCli (1,205 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 43 tokens to every session and 2,399 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (unrestricted tool access). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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