App Actions on Windows package manifest XML format

This article describes the package manifest XML format for App Actions on Windows.

App extension

The app package manifest file supports many different extensions and features for Windows apps. The app package manifest format is defined by a set of schemas that are documented in the Package manifest schema reference. Action providers declare their registration information within the uap3:AppExtension. The Name attribute of the extension must be set to "com.microsoft.windows.ai.actions".

Action providers should include the uap3:Properties as the child of uap3:AppExtension. The package manifest schema does not enforce the structure of the uap3:Properties element other than requiring well-formed XML.

Action providers must provide a Registration element which specifies the path to the action definition JSON file. For more information, see Action JSON schema for Windows Copilot Action providers.

<uap3:Extension Category="windows.appExtension"> 
    <uap3:AppExtension 
        Name="com.microsoft.windows.ai.actions" 
        DisplayName="..." 
        Id="..." 
        PublicFolder="Assets"> 
      <uap3:Properties> 
        <Registration>path\to\registration.json</Registration> <!-- path relative to the PublicFolder above -->
      </uap3:Properties> 
    </uap3:AppExtension> 
</uap3:Extension> 

Additional requirements

Both COM and URI-launched action providers must have package identity. Package identity is declared in the app package manifest file using the Identity element. For more information, see An overview of Package Identity in Windows apps.

COM-based action providers must be full trust apps which have an integrity level of mediumIL. This is declared in the app package manifest file by setting the *uap10:TrustLevel attribute to "mediumIL".

URI-launched action providers must also have a trust level of mediumIL. If a URI-launched action provider will return outputs, the app must implement the ability to be launched for results. For more information, see Launch an app for results. URI-launched action providers that return outputs must also instantiate the runtime.