CmdPal: Extension Gallery by jiripolasek · Pull Request #46636 · microsoft/PowerToys

jiripolasek · 2026-03-30T18:55:33Z

Summary of the Pull Request

Adds the Extension Gallery to Command Palette — a built-in page where users can discover, browse, and install community extensions without leaving the app.

ExtensionGallery.mp4

How it works

1. The extension author's side

Extensions are listed in the external repo microsoft/CmdPal-Extensions. To get an extension into the in-app gallery, an author opens a PR there that adds a single entry to extensions.json. Nothing in PowerToys itself needs to change. A typical entry looks like:

{
  "id": "contoso.sample",
  "title": "Sample Extension",
  "description": "Short blurb shown in the list and detail view.",
  "author": { "name": "Contoso", "url": "https://github.com/contoso" },
  "homepage": "https://github.com/contoso/sample",
  "iconUrl": "https://.../icon.png",
  "screenshotUrls": ["https://.../screenshot-1.png"],
  "tags": ["sample"],
  "installSources": [
    { "type": "winget",  "id":  "Contoso.SampleExtension" },
    { "type": "msstore", "id":  "9P..." },
    { "type": "url",     "uri": "https://github.com/contoso/sample/releases/latest" }
  ],
  "detection": { "packageFamilyName": "Contoso.SampleExtension_8wekyb..." }
}

id, title, description, author.name, and at least one installSources entry are required; everything else is optional.
installSources can mix and match winget / msstore / url. The gallery shows an install button for the first source it can handle (WinGet preferred) and exposes any remaining sources as links.
detection.packageFamilyName lets CmdPal recognise an already-installed packaged extension before any WinGet lookup resolves, so the "Installed" badge appears instantly.

Once the PR is merged into CmdPal-Extensions, every running copy of CmdPal picks the new entry up the next time its feed cache expires (within 4 hours) or when the user clicks Refresh.

2. What CmdPal does with it

ExtensionGalleryService (in Microsoft.CmdPal.Common) owns the whole pipeline:

Resolve the feed URL. Default is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/CmdPal-Extensions/refs/heads/main/extensions.json. A hidden setting (GalleryFeedUrl) lets developers point at a custom URL or a file:// path for local testing.
Fetch the feed through ExtensionGalleryHttpClient, which wraps HttpCachingClient — a conditional-GET + on-disk cache layer built on HttpClient (ETag / If-None-Match, 30 s timeout, UA PowerToys-CmdPal/1.0).
Parse with the source-generated GallerySerializationContext into a strongly-typed GalleryRemoteIndex ({ "extensions": [ ... ] }). Entries without an id are dropped.
Normalize relative iconUrl / screenshotUrls against the feed URL (useful for local file:// feeds).
Localize icons. Each HTTP icon URL is pulled through the same cache and rewritten to a local file:// URI before the view model binds to it, so the list renders instantly on subsequent loads and works offline.
Prune cached resources that are no longer referenced, but only after a successful forced refresh.

The gallery page itself is built on top of ExtensionGalleryViewModel, with ExtensionGalleryItemViewModel handling per-entry concerns — install/update/uninstall (via the shared WinGet service), installed-state detection, and joining in-flight install progress so the global WinGetOperationsButton in the top bar stays in sync.

3. Caching + offline behaviour

The cache lives under ApplicationData.Current.LocalCacheFolder\GalleryCache\ when CmdPal runs packaged, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\Microsoft.CmdPal\Cache\GalleryCache\ when unpackaged.

Resource	TTL
`extensions.json` feed	4 hours
Icons (per URL)	24 hours

Each fetch returns a GalleryFetchResult whose flags drive the UI:

FromCache — cache was still fresh, no network call was made.
UsedFallbackCache — network failed; the last-known-good cached copy was served instead. The page shows a "showing cached data" info bar.
RateLimited — origin returned 429 and no fallback was available. The page shows a rate-limit error.

RefreshAsync (wired up to the gallery's refresh button) forces a fresh conditional GET, then prunes any cached files that the new feed no longer references.

4. WinGet install flow

installSources[type=winget].id is handed to the shared WinGet service for install/update/uninstall.
In-flight operations are surfaced by WinGetOperationsButton in the top bar with per-operation progress.
detection.packageFamilyName is consulted first so that the gallery can show "Installed" / "Update available" without waiting on WinGet metadata.

Top-level command cleanup

Removed the separate "Find extensions from WinGet" and "Find extensions from the Store" top-level commands — the gallery replaces both.
Renamed the gallery command to "Find and install Command Palette extensions" and gave it the extensions puzzle-piece icon.

PR Checklist

New projects / areas

Area	What
Microsoft.CmdPal.Common	Gallery models, `ExtensionGalleryService` (fetch + cache), HTTP caching layer (`HttpCachingClient`, `FileSystemHttpResourceCacheStore`), WinGet service abstractions and implementations
Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels	`ExtensionGalleryViewModel`, `ExtensionGalleryItemViewModel`, WinGet operation view models, gallery sort options
Microsoft.CmdPal.UI	`ExtensionGalleryPage.xaml`, `ExtensionGalleryItemPage.xaml`, `IconCarouselControl`, `WinGetOperationsButton`, service registrations
Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.WinGet	Streamlined — removed the two redundant "find extensions" top-level commands, kept the general WinGet search page
Tests	Unit tests for gallery service, gallery view models, WinGet services
Docs	`doc/devdocs/modules/cmdpal/extension-gallery/extension-gallery.md` — dev reference for the runtime, caching, and feed shape

Validation Steps Performed

Gallery loads and displays extensions from the remote index
Search, sort, and filtering work as expected
WinGet install/update/uninstall flow works end-to-end with progress tracking
Loading state correctly hides all content until data is fetched
Offline / cache-fallback path surfaces the info bar as expected
Spell-check CI workflow passes

github-advanced-security

check-spelling found more than 20 potential problems in the proposed changes. Check the Files changed tab for more details.

jiripolasek · 2026-03-30T21:10:33Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-03-30T21:10:44Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

niels9001 · 2026-04-01T09:30:31Z

@copilot fix spell check

Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/sessions/e2de7cde-3866-4cfd-a69d-79629aa2b9fb Co-authored-by: niels9001 <9866362+niels9001@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-04-01T10:04:01Z

@copilot fix spell check

Fixed in b4ce152. Added all 16 flagged words to the spell-check allow lists:

allow/names.txt: Chieh, Fintz, Jiri, jiripolasek, Polasek (author names from extension manifests), contoso (lowercase form used in test URLs)
expect.txt: Cesky, nazev, popis, Ukazkove, rozsireni (Czech strings in localization test data), dedup, llm, nba (technical terms/abbreviations), opengallerysettings, opensettings (reverse-DNS command IDs)

Warning

Firewall rules blocked me from connecting to one or more addresses (expand for details)

I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

https://api.github.com/graphql
- Triggering command: /usr/bin/gh gh pr view --json number,headRefName (http block)
- Triggering command: /usr/bin/gh gh pr view 46628 --json comments (http block)
- Triggering command: /usr/bin/gh gh pr list --head dev/jpolasek/f/46628-cmdpal-extension-gallery (http block)
https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/PowerToys/pulls
- Triggering command: /usr/bin/gh gh api repos/microsoft/PowerToys/pulls?state=open (http block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:

Configure Actions setup steps to set up my environment, which run before the firewall is enabled
Add the appropriate URLs or hosts to the custom allowlist in this repository's Copilot coding agent settings (admins only)

jiripolasek · 2026-04-03T09:41:19Z

@niels9001 I'll deal with our mighty spell checker overlord, in a different way

## Summary of the Pull Request  ## PR Checklist - [ ] Closes: #xxx  - [ ] **Communication:** I've discussed this with core contributors already. If the work hasn't been agreed, this work might be rejected - [ ] **Tests:** Added/updated and all pass - [ ] **Localization:** All end-user-facing strings can be localized - [ ] **Dev docs:** Added/updated - [ ] **New binaries:** Added on the required places - [ ] [JSON for signing](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/.pipelines/ESRPSigning_core.json) for new binaries - [ ] [WXS for installer](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/installer/PowerToysSetup/Product.wxs) for new binaries and localization folder - [ ] [YML for CI pipeline](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/.pipelines/ci/templates/build-powertoys-steps.yml) for new test projects - [ ] [YML for signed pipeline](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/.pipelines/release.yml) - [ ] **Documentation updated:** If checked, please file a pull request on [our docs repo](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/windows-uwp/tree/docs/hub/powertoys) and link it here: #xxx  ## Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments  ## Validation Steps Performed --------- Co-authored-by: Jiří Polášek <me@jiripolasek.com>

…ache, fix icon placeholder, fix gallery page stale data info bar

zadjii-msft

91/109

zadjii-msft · 2026-05-12T18:32:28Z

+        if (_trackerSubscriptionActive)
        {
-            case PackageInstallProgressState.Queued:
-                _installBanner.Message = string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, QueuedPackageDownload, _package.Name);
-                break;
-            case PackageInstallProgressState.Downloading:
-                if (progress.BytesRequired > 0)
-                {
-                    var downloadText = string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, DownloadProgress, FormatBytes(progress.BytesDownloaded), FormatBytes(progress.BytesRequired));
-                    _installBanner.Progress ??= new ProgressState() { IsIndeterminate = false };
-                    var downloaded = progress.BytesDownloaded / (float)progress.BytesRequired;
-                    var percent = downloaded * 100.0f;
-                    ((ProgressState)_installBanner.Progress).ProgressPercent = (uint)percent;
-                    _installBanner.Message = downloadText;
-                }
+            return;
+        }

-                break;
-            case PackageInstallProgressState.Installing:
-                _installBanner.Message = string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, InstallingPackage, _package.Name);
-                _installBanner.Progress = new ProgressState() { IsIndeterminate = true };
-                break;
-            case PackageInstallProgressState.PostInstall:
-                _installBanner.Message = string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, InstallPackageFinishing, _package.Name);
-                break;
-            case PackageInstallProgressState.Finished:
-                _installBanner.Message = Properties.Resources.winget_install_finished;
+        _trackerSubscriptionActive = true;
+        _winGetOperationTrackerService.OperationStarted += OnTrackedOperationChanged;


nit: _trackerSubscriptionActive could be an atomic?

zadjii-msft

I am okay with this with only nits. In practice, this is incredible

zadjii-msft · 2026-05-12T21:24:48Z

+        var fadeOut = new DoubleAnimation
+        {
+            To = 0,
+            Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(200)),
+            EasingFunction = new CubicEase { EasingMode = EasingMode.EaseIn },
+        };
+        Storyboard.SetTarget(fadeOut, BreadcrumbContainer);
+        Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(fadeOut, "Opacity");
+
+        _breadcrumbStoryboard = new Storyboard();
+        _breadcrumbStoryboard.Children.Add(fadeOut);
+        _breadcrumbStoryboard.Completed += (_, _) =>
+        {
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Opacity = 1;
+            _breadcrumbStoryboard = null;
+        };
+        _breadcrumbStoryboard.Begin();
+    }
+
+    private void ShowBreadcrumb()
+    {
+        _breadcrumbStoryboard?.Stop();
+        _breadcrumbStoryboard = null;
+
+        if (BreadcrumbContainer.Visibility == Visibility.Collapsed)
+        {
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Opacity = 0;
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
+
+            var fadeIn = new DoubleAnimation
+            {
+                To = 1,
+                Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(250)),
+                EasingFunction = new CubicEase { EasingMode = EasingMode.EaseOut },
+            };
+            Storyboard.SetTarget(fadeIn, BreadcrumbContainer);
+            Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(fadeIn, "Opacity");
+
+            _breadcrumbStoryboard = new Storyboard();
+            _breadcrumbStoryboard.Children.Add(fadeIn);
+            _breadcrumbStoryboard.Completed += (_, _) => _breadcrumbStoryboard = null;
+            _breadcrumbStoryboard.Begin();
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Opacity = 1;
+        }
+    }


maybe I just don't know XAML but this feels like something that can be done entirely in XAML. Like... do we really need to instantiate a new animation and start it every time we fade in/out? or can we just have one pair of fadein & fadeout animations that we just play when we need them?

Fair, this is nicer.. but then it's also not composition. We could just default back to the standard animations or using the Community Toolkit Show/Hide animations?

#47900 for your consideration

zadjii-msft · 2026-05-12T21:25:46Z

+        {
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
+            BreadcrumbContainer.Opacity = 1;
+            _breadcrumbStoryboard = null;


I really hope that nulling out the storyboard also then removes the Completed handlers we've added. Does it? cause I have a feeling it doesn't

It does not, but that does not matter here because the entire object cycle gets collected. It works in this case, but it could have been written in a better way. #47900
can make this go away entirely.

jiripolasek · 2026-05-13T17:00:03Z

I am okay with this with only nits. In practice, this is incredible

Thanks for review. I'll try to address the comments asap.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds the Command Palette Extension Gallery so users can browse community extensions, view details/screenshots, and install/update via shared WinGet infrastructure.

Changes:

Adds gallery feed models/services, HTTP disk caching, cache directory support, and WinGet service abstractions.
Adds gallery/settings UI, screenshot viewer, WinGet operations progress button, and related view models.
Updates WinGet extension integration, tests, docs, and spell-check configuration.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 108 out of 109 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`src/modules/cmdpal/Tests/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.UnitTests/OpenSettingsCommandTests.cs`	Tests settings/gallery command navigation messages.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Tests/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.UnitTests/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.UnitTests.csproj`	Adds Common project reference.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Tests/Microsoft.CmdPal.Common.UnitTests/WinGet/Services/WinGetPackageManagerServiceTests.cs`	Tests WinGet unavailable behavior.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Tests/Microsoft.CmdPal.Common.UnitTests/WinGet/Services/WinGetOperationTrackerServiceTests.cs`	Tests WinGet operation tracking.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Tests/Microsoft.CmdPal.Common.UnitTests/ExtensionGallery/Models/GalleryExtensionEntryTests.cs`	Tests gallery JSON model serialization.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Styles/Button.xaml`	Adds shared button styles.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Strings/en-us/Resources.resw`	Adds localized gallery and WinGet strings.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/SettingsWindow.xaml.cs`	Adds gallery navigation and screenshot viewer logic.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/SettingsWindow.xaml`	Adds gallery nav item, WinGet operations button, and screenshot popup.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/InternalPage.xaml.cs`	Adds custom gallery feed setting handling.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/InternalPage.xaml`	Adds hidden custom feed input.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/ExtensionsPage.xaml`	Cleans up old extension discovery UI.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/ExtensionGalleryPage.xaml.cs`	Adds gallery page behavior.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Settings/ExtensionGalleryItemPage.xaml.cs`	Adds gallery details/screenshot interactions.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.csproj`	Includes new UI controls/packages.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Messages/OpenExtensionGalleryScreenshotViewerMessage.cs`	Adds screenshot viewer message.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Helpers/WinGetServiceRegistration.cs`	Registers shared WinGet services.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Helpers/GalleryServiceRegistration.cs`	Registers gallery services/view models.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Helpers/BindTransformers.cs`	Adds boolean visibility helpers.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Controls/WinGetOperationsButton.xaml.cs`	Adds WinGet operation progress control logic.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Controls/WinGetOperationsButton.xaml`	Adds WinGet operation progress flyout UI.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Controls/ScrollContainer.xaml`	Uses shared scroll button style.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/Controls/IconCarouselControl.xaml`	Adds gallery icon carousel shell.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/App.xaml.cs`	Wires gallery/WinGet services and disposal.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI/App.xaml`	Loads new button styles.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/WinGet/WinGetOperationViewModel.cs`	Adds WinGet operation item view model.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/WinGet/WinGetOperationsViewModel.cs`	Adds WinGet operations collection view model.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/SettingsModel.cs`	Adds gallery feed setting.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Services/DefaultCommandProviderCache.cs`	Formatting cleanup.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Models/ExtensionService.cs`	Adds refreshable installed extension cache.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Gallery/ExtensionGalleryItemViewModel.cs`	Adds gallery item actions/status handling.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Gallery/GallerySourceViewModel.cs`	Adds install source metadata view model.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Gallery/GallerySourceDetailItemViewModel.cs`	Adds source detail row model.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Gallery/ExtensionGallerySortOption.cs`	Adds gallery sort enum.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Gallery/ExtensionGalleryScreenshotViewModel.cs`	Adds screenshot view model.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Gallery/ExtensionGalleryItemViewModelFactory.cs`	Adds gallery item factory.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Commands/OpenSettingsCommand.cs`	Supports opening specific settings pages.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Commands/OpenGallerySettingsCommand.cs`	Adds gallery command.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Commands/BuiltInsCommandProvider.cs`	Exposes gallery command.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.Common/WinGet/*`	Adds shared WinGet models, services, and interop.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.Common/Services/*`	Adds cache directory and HTTP caching infrastructure.
`src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.Common/ExtensionGallery/*`	Adds gallery feed models and service.
`src/modules/cmdpal/ext/Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.WinGet/*`	Refactors WinGet extension to shared services.
`doc/devdocs/modules/cmdpal/extension-gallery.md`	Adds gallery developer documentation.
`.github/actions/spell-check/*`	Updates spell-check allow/exclude lists.

Files not reviewed (1)

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/sessions/cd12c2f6-f138-4850-bdf6-065110739fc3 Co-authored-by: niels9001 <9866362+niels9001@users.noreply.github.com>

niels9001 · 2026-05-14T14:43:11Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-05-14T14:43:24Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

michaeljolley

LGTM

jiripolasek · 2026-05-15T06:39:15Z

These files were intentionally deleted on main by recent PRs but were resurrected when 7aae734 merged main with a bad conflict resolution: - HideWindowMessage.cs (deleted by #47826 CmdPal parameters) - BookmarkPlaceholderForm.cs (deleted by #47886 bookmarks-as-parameters) - NativeMethods.json/.txt + WindowsPackageManager.Interop/* (deleted by #46636 Extension Gallery) - Ext.Indexer/Assets/Actions.png (moved/deleted by #46636) - DdcCiValidationResult.cs (deleted by #47875 PowerDisplay max-compat) Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

jiripolasek added 2 commits March 30, 2026 20:53

Import from jiripolasek/PowerToys

d01bd69

Merge main

0d1cc4c

github-advanced-security AI found potential problems Mar 30, 2026

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