.NET MAUI setup on macOS — build once, run everywhere

Getting started with .NET MAUI on macOS is straight forward once you know the tooling you need. With a single installation you can build and debug on iOS, Android, macOS.

Install the .NET MAUI workload

First install the .NET SDK via the installer or with Homebrew:

brew install dotnet-sdk

Then add the MAUI workload:

dotnet workload install maui

This command downloads all of the MAUI templates and the underlying platform libraries.

Install Xcode

To build and run iOS or Mac Catalyst apps you need Apple’s build tools. Install Xcode from the App Store and run it once to accept the license agreement. MAUI will use Xcode’s toolchain for compiling and deploying to iOS simulators or devices.

Install Android Studio

MAUI relies on Android SDKs and emulators from Android Studio. Download Android Studio and during the setup, install the latest Android SDK and create a device emulator. The MAUI templates reference the Android tooling automatically once it is installed.

Ready to build

After installing the MAUI workload, Xcode and Android Studio you are ready to create your first project:

dotnet new maui -n MyFirstMauiApp
cd MyFirstMauiApp
dotnet run

This launches a build for the default platform. You can target iOS or Android specifically using the -f flag (net8.0-ios, net8.0-android, etc.).

That's it! With these three components installed on macOS you can start building and debugging .NET MAUI applications across all supported platforms.

Windows

To test your MAUI app on Windows, you can use a VM or dual-boot setup with Windows.