Submit your manifest to the repository

Article
02/11/2022
3 minutes to read

After you create a package manifest that describes your application, you're ready to submit your manifest to the Windows Package Manager repository. This a public-facing repository that contains a collection of manifests that the winget tool can access. To submit your manifest, you'll upload it to the open source https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs repository on GitHub.

After you submit a pull request to add a new manifest to the GitHub repository, an automated process will validate your manifest file and check to make sure the package complies with the Windows Package Manager polices and is not known to be malicious. If this validation is successful, your package will be added to the public-facing Windows Package Manager repository so it can be discovered by the winget client tool. Note the distinction between the manifests in the open source GitHub repository and the public-facing Windows Package Manager repository.

Important

Microsoft reserves the right to refuse a submission for any reason.

Manifest validation

When you submit a manifest to the https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs repository on GitHub, your manifest will be automatically validated and evaluated for the safety of the Windows ecosystem. Manifests may also be reviewed manually.

For more information about the validation process, see Windows Package Manager validation process.

How to submit your manifest

To submit a manifest to the repository, follow these steps.

Step 1: Validate your manifest

The winget tool provides the validate command to confirm that you have created your manifest correctly. To validate your manifest, use this command.

winget validate \<path-to-the-manifests>

If your validation fails, use the errors to locate the line number and make a correction. After your manifest is validated, you can submit it to the repository.

Step 2: Clone the repository

Next, create a fork of the repository and clone it.

Go to https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs in your browser and click Fork.
From a command line environment such as the Windows Command Prompt or PowerShell, use the following command to clone your fork.
```
git clone <your-fork-name>
```
If you are making multiple submissions, make a branch instead of a fork. We currently allow only one manifest file per submission.
```
git checkout -b <branch-name>
```

Step 3: Add your manifest to the local repository

You must add your manifest files to the repository in the following folder structure:

manifests / letter / publisher / application / version

The manifests folder is the root folder for all manifests in the repository.
The letter folder is the first letter of the publisher name in the lower case. For example, m of the publisher Microsoft.
The publisher folder is the name of the company that publishes the software. For example, Microsoft.
The application folder is the name of the application or tool. For example, VSCode.
The version folder is the version of the application or tool. For example, 1.0.0.

The PackageIdentifier and the PackageVersion values in the manifest must match the publisher, application names and version in the manifest folder path. For more information, see Create your package manifest.

Step 4: Submit your manifest to the remote repository

You're now ready to push your new manifest to the remote repository.

Use the commit command to add files and commit the change and provide information on the submission.
```
git commit -m "Submitting ContosoApp version 1.0.0" --all
```
Use the push command to push the changes to the remote repository.
```
git push
```

Step 5: Create a pull request

After you push your changes, return to https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs and create a pull request to merge your fork or branch to the main branch.

picture of pull request tab

Submission process

When you create a pull request, this will start an automated process that validates the manifests and verifies your pull request. During this process we will run tests against the installer and installed binaries to validate the submission.

We add labels to your pull request so you can track its progress. For more information on labels and the process see Windows Package Manager validation.

Once complete, your submission will be manually reviewed by a moderator, and after it is approved, your application will be added to the Windows Package Manager catalog.

If there is ever an error during the process, you will be notified and our labels and bot will assist you in fixing your submission. For the list of common errors, see Windows Package Manager validation.