.NET Community Toolkit 8.3: New features, NativeAOT and .NET 8

Microsoft is delighted to announce the release of .NET Community Toolkit 8.3! This new version brings exciting improvements, including support for .NET 8 and NativeAOT for all libraries. In addition, performance optimizations and numerous bug fixes have been implemented to provide developers with an even smoother user experience. 

What is the .NET Community Toolkit? 

The .NET Community Toolkit is a collection of powerful tools for developers, used in a wide variety of projects. Included libraries are: 

  • CommunityToolkit.Common 
  • CommunityToolkit.Mvvm (also known as "Microsoft MVVM Toolkit") 
  • CommunityToolkit.Diagnostics 
  • CommunityToolkit.HighPerformance 

 

These libraries are even used in important Windows applications such as the Microsoft Store and the Photos app. 

The most important new features in version 8.3 

Support for .NET 8 and NativeAOT 

The most significant improvement in version 8.3 is full compatibility with .NET 8 and NativeAOT. All APIs in the libraries have been adapted to enable seamless use with trimming and AOT (Ahead-of-Time Compilation). This results in improved performance and reduced memory consumption, especially in scenarios where these technologies are relevant. 

Another exciting new feature is support for the net8.0-windows10.0.17763.0 target, which is crucial for working with WinAppSDK (WinUI 3). This ensures that all necessary interop code is automatically generated for WinRT objects – without any additional effort for developers. 

Optimizations in the MVVM Toolkit 

The MVVM Toolkit has been further optimized to reduce unnecessary overhead costs. One of the biggest changes concerns support for INotifyPropertyChanging. If this feature is not needed, it can be disabled, which improves performance and cleans up the code.  

Further improvements  

In addition to .NET 8 support, there are numerous minor improvements and bug fixes. You can find the complete list of changes in the [link to changelog]. GitHub Changelog. 

Get started with the .NET Community Toolkit today! 

The toolkit is available as an open-source project and is supported by an active community. You can find the source code on GitHub, and comprehensive API references and documentation are available on Microsoft Learn.