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AvaloniaUI Native AOT Deployment on Windows

#wpf #ui #avalonia

Introduction

Deploying an AvaloniaUI application with Native AOT (Ahead-Of-Time compilation) on Windows can significantly improve startup performance and reduce the size of your application. However, due to Avalonia's reliance on reflection-based bindings, Native AOT can cause runtime errors if not properly configured.

This guide provides a step-by-step approach to resolving trimming issues and ensuring a successful Native AOT deployment for AvaloniaUI applications.

Common Issues and Fixes

1. XAML Views Not Reachable via Runtime Loader

If you encounter the following error:

Avalonia: XAML resource "avares://YourApp/Views/MainWindow.axaml" won't be reachable via runtime loader, as no public constructor was found.
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✅ Fix: Ensure Your Views Have a Public Constructor

Each view must have a public parameterless constructor in its .axaml.cs file. Example:

public partial class MainWindow : Window { public MainWindow() { InitializeComponent(); } }
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2. Ensure XAML Files Are Embedded Properly

If your UI does not load or throws missing resource errors, check your XAML file properties.

✅ Fix: Set Build Action to AvaloniaResource

  • Open Visual Studio.
  • Right-click your .axaml file → Select Properties.
  • Set Build Action to AvaloniaResource.

3. Fixing PublishTrimmed and Trimming Issues

Since Native AOT automatically enables trimming, Avalonia's reflection-based UI bindings might get stripped out.

✅ Fix: Add TrimmerRootAssembly in .csproj

To prevent Avalonia's essential assemblies from being trimmed, modify your .csproj file:

<ItemGroup> <TrimmerRootAssembly Include="Avalonia.Controls" /> <TrimmerRootAssembly Include="Avalonia.Base" /> <TrimmerRootAssembly Include="Avalonia.Markup.Xaml" /> </ItemGroup>
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4. Project Configuration 

<PropertyGroup> <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType> <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework> <Nullable>enable</Nullable> <PublishReadyToRun>true</PublishReadyToRun> <PublishAot>true</PublishAot> <EventSourceSupport>true</EventSourceSupport> <IsAotCompatible>true</IsAotCompatible> <!-- Recommended Avalonia trimming settings for Native AOT --> <!-- <BuiltInComInteropSupport>false</BuiltInComInteropSupport>--> <!-- <IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract>true</IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract>--> <TrimMode>partial</TrimMode> <ApplicationManifest>app.manifest</ApplicationManifest> <StripSymbols>false</StripSymbols> <AvaloniaUseCompiledBindingsByDefault>true</AvaloniaUseCompiledBindingsByDefault> <AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>false</AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath> </PropertyGroup>
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Building and Publishing for Native AOT

Run the following command to publish your Avalonia app with Native AOT:

dotnet publish -r win-x64 -c Release --self-contained true -p:PublishAot=true
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Final Checklist for Native AOT Deployment ✅

✔ Ensure all views have a public constructor
✔ Set XAML files to AvaloniaResource
✔ Prevent trimming of required Avalonia assemblies (TrimmerRootAssembly)
✔ Use rd.xml to preserve Avalonia reflection-based types
✔ Properly initialize Avalonia in App.axaml.cs
✔ Publish using dotnet publish -p:PublishAot=true

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can successfully deploy AvaloniaUI applications using Native AOT on Windows without breaking essential functionality. This ensures a smaller, faster application while avoiding common pitfalls with Avalonia’s reflection-heavy UI framework.

For further details, refer to the official documentation:

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