name: maui-workload-discovery
description: Discover .NET SDK versions, workload sets, workload manifest versions, and workload dependencies (Xcode/JDK/Android SDK) for MAUI release docs and environment validation. Use when asked about .NET MAUI requirements, dotnet SDK requirements and versions, dotnet workload sets / version sets, dotnet workload versions and manifest versions, dotnet workload dependencies such as Xcode versions, Android SDK packages, JDK versions, or other native tools and sdks.

When to use this skill

Activate this skill when the user asks:
- What Xcode version is required for .NET X?
- What Android SDK packages are needed for .NET MAUI?
- What JDK version is required?
- What is the latest workload set for .NET X?
- What workload versions ship with .NET X?
- How do I find the WorkloadDependencies.json for a workload?
- What is the latest .NET SDK for version X?
- What SDK versions are available for .NET X?
- What is the latest MAUI NuGet package version?
- What is the latest Microsoft.Maui.Controls version for .NET X?

Inputs

Workload alias mapping

Step-by-step process

Step 0: Discover available .NET SDK versions (optional but recommended)

Use the official .NET releases JSON to find available SDK versions for a major version.

Releases index

GET https://dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json

Response contains an array of channels:

{
  "releases-index": [
    {
      "channel-version": "10.0",
      "latest-release": "10.0.2",
      "latest-sdk": "10.0.102",
      "support-phase": "active",
      "release-type": "lts",
      "releases.json": "https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/release-metadata/10.0/releases.json"
    }
  ]
}

Key fields:
| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| channel-version | Major.minor version (e.g., "10.0") |
| latest-sdk | Latest stable SDK version (e.g., "10.0.102") |
| latest-release | Latest runtime release version |
| support-phase | "active", "maintenance", "eol" |
| release-type | "lts" or "sts" |
| releases.json | URL to detailed release info |

Per-channel releases detail

Fetch the releases.json URL for full SDK history:

GET https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/release-metadata/{major}.0/releases.json

Response contains a releases array with each release having:

{
  "release-version": "10.0.2",
  "sdk": {
    "version": "10.0.102",
    "runtime-version": "10.0.2"
  },
  "sdks": [
    { "version": "10.0.102" },
    { "version": "10.0.101" }
  ]
}

SDK band derivation

From an SDK version like 10.0.102:
- SDK band = {major}.0.{feature_band} where feature_band is the hundreds digit
- Example: 10.0.102 → band 10.0.100
- Example: 10.0.205 → band 10.0.200

Quick lookup algorithm

1. Fetch releases-index.json
2. Find entry where channel-version matches requested major version
3. Use latest-sdk for the current stable SDK
4. Derive SDK band from SDK version
5. Use band to find workload set packages

Step 1: Find workload set packages

Search NuGet for workload set packages:

GET https://azuresearch-usnc.nuget.org/query?q=Microsoft.NET.Workloads.{major}.0&prerelease=false&semVerLevel=2.0.0

Example for .NET 10:

https://azuresearch-usnc.nuget.org/query?q=Microsoft.NET.Workloads.10.0&prerelease=false&semVerLevel=2.0.0

Filter results:
- Include only packages matching Microsoft.NET.Workloads.{major}.{band} (e.g., Microsoft.NET.Workloads.10.0.100)
- Exclude MSI packages (.Msi.x64, .Msi.arm64)
- Pick highest version

Step 2: Convert NuGet version to CLI version

NuGet version format: {major}.{patch}.{revision} (e.g., 10.102.0)
CLI version format: {major}.0.{patch} (e.g., 10.0.102)

Conversion:

parts = nugetVersion.split('.')
cliVersion = parts[0] + ".0." + parts[1]

Step 3: Download and extract workload set manifest

Download URL pattern (all lowercase):

https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/{packageid}/{version}/{packageid}.{version}.nupkg

Example:

https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/microsoft.net.workloads.10.0.100/10.102.0/microsoft.net.workloads.10.0.100.10.102.0.nupkg

The .nupkg is a ZIP file. Extract and read:

data/microsoft.net.workloads.workloadset.json

Contents example:

{
  "microsoft.net.sdk.android": "35.0.50/9.0.100",
  "microsoft.net.sdk.ios": "26.2.10191/10.0.100",
  "microsoft.net.sdk.maui": "10.0.10/10.0.100"
}

Format: "{workload_id}": "{manifestVersion}/{sdkBand}"

Step 4: Download workload manifest package

Build manifest package id:

{WorkloadId}.Manifest-{sdkBand}

Examples:
- Microsoft.NET.Sdk.iOS.Manifest-10.0.100
- Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Android.Manifest-9.0.100

Download URL:

https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/microsoft.net.sdk.ios.manifest-10.0.100/26.2.10191/microsoft.net.sdk.ios.manifest-10.0.100.26.2.10191.nupkg

Step 5: Extract WorkloadDependencies.json

From the manifest .nupkg, extract:

data/WorkloadDependencies.json

Android dependencies structure

{
  "microsoft.net.sdk.android": {
    "jdk": {
      "version": "[17.0,22.0)",
      "recommendedVersion": "17.0.14"
    },
    "androidsdk": {
      "packages": ["build-tools;35.0.0", "platform-tools", "platforms;android-35", "cmdline-tools;13.0"],
      "apiLevel": "35",
      "buildToolsVersion": "35.0.0",
      "cmdLineToolsVersion": "13.0"
    }
  }
}

Apple (iOS/macOS/tvOS) dependencies structure

{
  "microsoft.net.sdk.ios": {
    "xcode": {
      "version": "[26.2,)",
      "recommendedVersion": "26.2"
    },
    "sdk": {
      "version": "26.2"
    }
  }
}

Version range notation

CLI commands for manual inspection

Fetch SDK versions

curl -s "https://dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json" | jq '.["releases-index"][] | select(.["channel-version"]=="10.0")'

Download and extract a NuGet package

curl -o package.nupkg "https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/{id}/{version}/{id}.{version}.nupkg"
unzip package.nupkg -d extracted/
cat extracted/data/WorkloadDependencies.json

Output format

Return structured data with:
- dotnetVersion
- latestSdk (version from releases-index)
- sdkBand (derived from SDK version)
- workloadSet (packageId, nugetVersion, cliVersion)
- workloads array with:
- workloadId
- manifestVersion
- sdkBand
- manifestPackageId
- dependencies (parsed from WorkloadDependencies.json)
- mauiNugets (optional, when MAUI packages are relevant):
- packageId
- latestVersion
- workloadVersion (for comparison)

Example output

{
  "dotnetVersion": "10.0",
  "latestSdk": "10.0.102",
  "sdkBand": "10.0.100",
  "workloadSet": {
    "packageId": "Microsoft.NET.Workloads.10.0.100",
    "nugetVersion": "10.102.0",
    "cliVersion": "10.0.102"
  },
  "workloads": [
    {
      "workloadId": "microsoft.net.sdk.ios",
      "manifestVersion": "26.2.10191",
      "sdkBand": "10.0.100",
      "manifestPackageId": "Microsoft.NET.Sdk.iOS.Manifest-10.0.100",
      "dependencies": {
        "xcode": {
          "versionRange": "[26.2,)",
          "recommendedVersion": "26.2"
        },
        "sdk": {
          "version": "26.2"
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "mauiNugets": [
    {
      "packageId": "Microsoft.Maui.Controls",
      "latestVersion": "10.0.30",
      "workloadVersion": "10.0.10"
    }
  ]
}

Error handling

• If NuGet search returns no results, retry with prerelease=true
• If WorkloadDependencies.json is missing, report explicitly
• If a dependency key is missing, note which keys are absent

Finding latest MAUI NuGet packages

MAUI NuGet packages are sometimes updated out-of-band from the workloads and can contain new features and bug fixes. These packages are versioned to align with major .NET versions (e.g., 10.x packages require .NET 10, 9.x packages require .NET 9).

Key MAUI NuGet packages

Query NuGet for latest package version

Use the NuGet Search API to find the latest version for a specific .NET major version:

GET https://azuresearch-usnc.nuget.org/query?q=packageid:Microsoft.Maui.Controls&prerelease=false&semVerLevel=2.0.0

Response structure:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "Microsoft.Maui.Controls",
      "version": "10.0.30",
      "versions": [
        { "version": "9.0.0", "@id": "..." },
        { "version": "9.0.100", "@id": "..." },
        { "version": "10.0.10", "@id": "..." },
        { "version": "10.0.30", "@id": "..." }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Filter by .NET major version

MAUI packages use semantic versioning aligned to .NET versions:
- .NET 10 → 10.x.x (e.g., 10.0.30)
- .NET 9 → 9.x.x (e.g., 9.0.120)
- .NET 8 → 8.x.x (e.g., 8.0.100)

To find the latest version for a specific .NET version:
1. Query NuGet for the package
2. Filter versions array where version starts with {major}.
3. Select the highest matching version

Algorithm

latestForMajor = versions
  .filter(v => v.version.startsWith(majorVersion + "."))
  .sort(semverDescending)
  .first()

CLI command for MAUI package lookup

# Get latest Microsoft.Maui.Controls for .NET 10
curl -s "https://azuresearch-usnc.nuget.org/query?q=packageid:Microsoft.Maui.Controls&prerelease=false" | \
  jq '.data[0].versions | map(select(.version | startswith("10."))) | last'

Package metadata endpoint

For detailed package information including release notes:

GET https://api.nuget.org/v3/registration5-gz-semver2/microsoft.maui.controls/index.json

Version comparison: Workload vs NuGet

When the NuGet package version is higher than the workload version, users can explicitly reference the newer package in their project file:

<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Maui.Controls" Version="10.0.30" />

Best practices

• ALWAYS fetch live data from NuGet; never use hard-coded versions
• ALWAYS include sdkBand with every manifest version
• Prefer stable versions unless user requests previews
• Show the user the exact URLs used for transparency

Reference

See docs/workload-discovery-process.md for detailed background.