Wpf Visual Tree

WpfVisualTreeMcp

Let AI agents see, debug and drive running WPF apps. Snoop + Playwright for AI, exposed over the Model Context Protocol — visual tree, bindings, screenshots, mouse dragging, touch gestures, text input and keyboard. Inspect running apps without source changes; touch behavior depends on the application's input support.

*Drag-and-drop, move a canvas item, tap, hold, pan, pinch to zoom and rotate — then query controls, fill a form, select an item and diagnose a binding error. The gesture sequence records real WPF input through MCP, targets controls by AutomationId and checks the application's response, just like the automated tests.*

Watch the animated demo directly.

New in [v0.20.0](https://github.com/faze79/WPFVisualTreeMcp/releases/tag/v0.20.0): Verified support for WPF on .NET 9, .NET 10 and .NET Framework 4.8.1, on both x86 and x64. CI exercises automatic injection and self-hosting across all six supported target frameworks, plus the installed C# SDK from .NET 8, 9 and 10 test projects. The x86 injection helper can also use .NET 9 or 10 when .NET 8 is absent.

The WpfVisualTreeMcp.Automation C# SDK drives virtualized DataGrids/TreeViews, waits for controls, manages WPF windows and streams property changes. The 38-tool MCP server and CLI share the inspection and input engine, including direct AutomationId targeting.

Workflow recording/replay/xUnit export, aggregate diagnostics, full-content screenshots and .NET Framework 4.7.2 support remain available from v0.16.0. Thanks to @miloszkukla for the compatibility and screenshot work in PR #22.

Quickstart (60 seconds)

1. Download and extract WpfVisualTreeMcp-vX.Y.Z-win-x64.zip from the latest release (requires a .NET 8, 9 or 10 Desktop Runtime).
2. Register it in your MCP client — for Claude Code, add to .mcp.json:

   {

"mcpServers": { "wpf-visual-tree": { "command": "C:/path/to/WpfVisualTreeMcp.Server.exe", "args": [] } } }

3. Ask your agent: *"Look at my running WPF app and tell me why the Save button is disabled."*

Prefer the terminal? The same exe is a full CLI: WpfVisualTreeMcp.Server.exe help. From v0.14.0, run wpfinspect update (or WpfVisualTreeMcp.Server.exe update) to update the installation you launched. See updating. Using Codex? Follow the plugin installation to install the MCP configuration and skill together.

C# test SDK

WpfVisualTreeMcp.Automation exposes the inspection and input engine as C# objects, with direct process attachment and AutomationId locators. The package includes the injection payload and works without starting an MCP server or CLI.

The application and test project can use different frameworks: for example, a .NET 10 test can automate a .NET Framework 4.8.1 application. The SDK's net8.0 library works in .NET 9/10 test projects; it is not a .NET Framework test library. The compatibility matrix is exercised before release, including actual runtime-version checks. Framework 4.x target builds run on the installed 4.8.1 runtime, since those runtimes update in place.

dotnet add package WpfVisualTreeMcp.Automation --version 0.20.0

using WpfVisualTreeMcp.Automation;

await using var app = await WpfApplication.AttachAsync(processId); await app.ByAutomationId("LoadButton").ClickAsync(); await app.ByAutomationId("StatusTextBox").WaitForTextAsync( "loaded", timeout: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30)); await app.ByAutomationId("Canvas").PanAsync(100, 0); await app.ByAutomationId("Canvas").ZoomAsync(1.5);

Text waits compare the exact property value: not loaded does not match loaded. Timeouts throw with the expected and last observed values. Property predicates, cancellation, drag, touch, assertions, inspection and recording/replay are also available. Attached sessions leave the app running on disposal; launched sessions own and clean up their process by default.

await app.ByAutomationId("Orders").AsDataGrid()

.RowByKey("Id", "42").Cell("Quantity").SetTextAsync("7"); await app.ByAutomationId("Folders").AsTreeView().Node("Projects", "WPF").SelectAsync(); await app.ByAutomationId("Enabled").CheckAsync(); await using var changes = await app.ByAutomationId("StatusTextBox").ObservePropertyAsync("Text");

The SDK is a separate package from the MCP tool WpfVisualTreeMcp. See installation, API examples and requirements.

Overview

WpfVisualTreeMcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI coding agents (Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) to inspect and interact with running WPF applications. Think of it as giving your AI assistant the same capabilities as tools like Snoop WPF or Visual Studio's Live Visual Tree.

Why This Matters

Debugging WPF UI issues traditionally requires manual inspection with specialized tools. This project bridges that gap by exposing WPF inspection capabilities through MCP, enabling AI agents to:

• Understand UI structure during code reviews
• Diagnose binding errors automatically
• Suggest fixes for layout issues
• Assist with UI refactoring tasks
• Analyze visual tree hierarchies in real-time

Features

Core Inspection

• Process Discovery - List all running WPF applications available for inspection
• Visual Tree Navigation - Traverse the complete visual tree hierarchy
• Logical Tree Access - Navigate the logical tree structure
• Property Inspection - Read all dependency properties of any UI element

Binding & Resources

• Binding Analysis - Inspect bindings with converter, StringFormat, FallbackValue, MultiBinding support
• DataContext Inspection - View DataContext type, properties, INPC status, and inheritance chain
• Binding Error Detection - Automatically capture and report binding errors with classification
• Resource Enumeration - Browse resource dictionaries at any scope
• Style Inspection - View applied styles and templates

Search & Monitoring

• Element Search - Find elements by type, name, or property values
• Deep Search - Search entire tree including AdornerLayer and Popup elements
• Property Watching - Monitor property changes in real-time

Interaction & Export

• Touch Gestures *(v0.13.0)* - wpf_touch_gesture / CLI touch: native tap, long press, swipe, pinch and rotation with one or two contacts. Includes an interactive demo and WPF compatibility guidance.
• Mouse Drag - wpf_drag / CLI drag: drag between visual-tree elements or by a local displacement, with left/right/middle buttons, configurable duration and local start/end points. Supports slider thumbs, splitters and drag-and-drop. See the parameters and examples.
• Screenshot Capture - Current source uses auto capture for native hosted content and reports the selected mode; explicit render rejects unsupported native areas. Capture window/element screenshots visible to AI agents; full_content=true / CLI --full-content captures scrollable content, including virtualized lists, and restores the original scroll position
• Element Highlighting - Visually highlight elements in the running app
• Control Click *(v0.4.0)* - Click elements via UI Automation (Invoke/Toggle/Select/ExpandCollapse) or a real OS mouse click
• Set Text *(new in v0.5.0)* - Fill a TextBox/ComboBox/PasswordBox via UI Automation IValueProvider.SetValue, with a TextBox.Text / PasswordBox.Password / reflected-Text fallback, or physical=true to type via OS keyboard input (full Unicode BMP)
• Send Keys *(new in v0.5.0)* - Send keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+S, Alt+F4, F5, Enter, Ctrl+Shift+F, ...) to an element or the focused window via OS keyboard input
• Layout Information - Get detailed layout metrics
• Tree Export - Export visual tree to XAML or JSON format
• Auto-Injection - Inject Inspector into running WPF processes (no source changes needed); multi-architecture since v0.6.0 — a 64-bit server can inject into 32-bit WPF apps via a bundled WpfInjectorHelper.exe

Dual-Mode CLI *(new in v0.4.0)*

The same WpfVisualTreeMcp.Server.exe runs as either an MCP stdio server (no arguments, default) or as a one-shot CLI (any recognised subcommand). Useful when the MCP server isn't connected, for scripting, and for verifying the pipeline manually. Run WpfVisualTreeMcp.Server.exe help for the full command list. Output is JSON on stdout; diagnostics go to stderr.

How it compares

vs. the general tool categories:

vs. other WPF MCP servers. Most WPF MCP servers are built on UI Automation (FlaUI): they read the *accessibility* tree, and can only reach WPF internals — bindings, DataContext, ViewModel state — if you install their in-process probe into the app you want to inspect. This server takes the Snoop route instead: it injects at runtime, so it reads the *real* visual tree and diagnoses binding errors and DataContext with zero changes to the target app — nothing to add to your build, nothing to ship into production.

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