.NET MAUI — Platform APIs Skill

Purpose

This skill provides agents with best practices, patterns, and cross-platform abstractions for using device capabilities in .NET MAUI applications. It covers permissions, sensors, file pickers, geolocation, camera access, notifications, and platform-specific APIs.

The goal is to ensure that all platform API usage is safe, consistent, and aligned with MAUI’s cross-platform architecture.

Core Principles

1. Permission-first design

Always request and check permissions before accessing device capabilities.

1. Cross-platform abstractions

Use MAUI Essentials APIs whenever possible.

1. Graceful degradation

If a capability is unavailable on a platform, handle it cleanly.

1. Separation of concerns

Wrap platform API calls in services and interfaces.

1. User transparency

Provide clear explanations when requesting permissions.

Supported Platform Capabilities

• Geolocation
• Camera & Media Picker
• File Picker
• Clipboard
• Vibration
• Flashlight
• Connectivity
• Sensors (accelerometer, compass, gyroscope)
• Notifications (local)
• Permissions

Recommended Folder Structure

Services
└─ Platform
   ├─ Implementations
   └─ Interfaces

Agent Usage Guidelines

• When generating code that uses device capabilities:

- Always check permissions first. - Use Permissions.RequestAsync<T>(). - Use MAUI Essentials APIs (e.g., Geolocation, MediaPicker). - Wrap logic in a service (e.g., IGeolocationService).

• When asked to “access the camera,” generate:

- A service abstraction - A platform-safe implementation - Permission checks

• When asked to “get the user’s location,” apply:

- Permission checks - Fallback handling - Cancellation tokens

Out of Scope

• Authentication (covered in maui-authentication)
• UI layout (covered in maui-ui-best-practices)
• Database storage (covered in maui-data-storage)