C#: Windows Forms: VS Code

How to create Windows Forms in VS Code.

Overview

VS Code provides an alternative to Visual Studio Community Edition. Getting started with creating a GUI with Windows Forms requires using the PowerShell terminal.

Getting started

Install the C# extension in VS Code, and install .Net on the computer.

App folder

In your repo create a new folder or directory named ‘app’.

Navigate to the app folder:

cd app

Preview options available

dotnet new

The terminal will print something like:

The 'dotnet new' command creates a .NET project based on a template.

Common templates are:
Template Name        Short Name  Language    Tags
-------------------  ----------  ----------  -----------------------
Blazor Web App       blazor      [C#]        Web/Blazor/WebAssembly 
Class Library        classlib    [C#],F#,VB  Common/Library
Console App          console     [C#],F#,VB  Common/Console
MSTest Test Project  mstest      [C#],F#,VB  Test/MSTest/Desktop/Web
Windows Forms App    winforms    [C#],VB     Common/WinForms        
WPF Application      wpf         [C#],VB     Common/WPF

An example would be:
   dotnet new console

Create New Windows Forms project

Use winforms - the short name - to create a new Windows form project

dotnet new winforms

The terminal will print:

The template "Windows Forms App" was created successfully.

Directory structure

The initial directory structure will be created:

app/
├── bin/
├── obj/
├── app.csproj
├── app.csproj.user
├── Form1.cs
├── Form1.Designer.cs
├── Program.cs
└── ...

This includes a first, blank form, Form1.cs.

Inspect

Verify everything is working by running the project:

dotnet run

This will preview the first (blank) form.

QED

© Adam Heinz

22 March 2026