xonsh-winget

Build system for creating a winget package for the xonsh shell. No administrator privileges required — the installer is user-scoped and installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\xonsh.

The pipeline bundles xonsh into a portable Python distribution (via the official Python embeddable package + Inno Setup) and generates multi-file winget manifest YAML ready for submission to microsoft/winget-pkgs.

Install xonsh

Download installer from Releases page.

Build

Prerequisites

First of all to build Xonsh WinGet install Git, Python 3.11+ and Inno Setup 6 (Download / All releases).

Then install all Python dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/xonsh/xonsh-winget
cd xonsh-winget
pip install -e .

Use build tool

# Check system info
xonsh build.xsh info

# Full pipeline — builds distribution, creates installer, generates manifests
xonsh build.xsh all --version 0.22.8  # Build release.
xonsh build.xsh all --git  # Build latest commit from xonsh/xonsh repository.

# Or step by step:
xonsh build.xsh build     --version 0.22.8          # Python embed + xonsh
xonsh build.xsh installer --version 0.22.8          # Inno Setup
xonsh build.xsh manifest  --version 0.22.8          # winget YAML
xonsh build.xsh validate  --version 0.22.8          # winget validate

Commands

build

Builds a xonsh distribution based on the Python embeddable package.

xonsh build.xsh build [--version VER] [--arch x64|x86] [--python-version PYVER]

• Downloads the official Python embeddable zip from python.org
• Enables site-packages and installs pip via get-pip.py
• Installs xonsh[full] (with prompt_toolkit, pygments, etc.)
• Output: build/<ver>-<arch>/dist/xonsh/ — a self-contained Python+xonsh directory

The result is a fully functional Python environment. After installation users can run xpip install <package> to add Python packages.

If --version is omitted, the latest version is fetched from PyPI.

installer

Creates a Windows installer using Inno Setup.

xonsh build.xsh installer --version VER [--arch x64|x86]

• Generates an Inno Setup .iss script from a Jinja2 template
• Compiles it with ISCC.exe
• Installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\xonsh (user-scoped, no admin required)
• Supports silent mode (/VERYSILENT), adds Scripts\ to user PATH
• Output: dist/xonsh-<ver>-win-<arch>-setup.exe

Requires Inno Setup 6 to be installed. The script auto-detects ISCC.exe in standard locations.

manifest

Generates winget manifest files in multi-file format.

xonsh build.xsh manifest --version VER [--arch x64|x86] [--installer-path FILE] [--url URL]

• Produces three YAML files (version, defaultLocale, installer) under manifests/x/xonsh/xonsh/<ver>/
• Computes SHA256 of the installer automatically
• --url defaults to https://github.com/xonsh/xonsh/releases/download/<ver>/xonsh-<ver>-win-<arch>-setup.exe

validate

Validates generated manifests against the winget schema.

xonsh build.xsh validate --version VER

Runs winget validate on the manifest directory. Requires the winget CLI.

all

Full pipeline: build -> installer -> manifest -> validate.

xonsh build.xsh all [--version VER] [--arch x64|x86] [--url URL]

clean

Removes all build artifacts (build/, dist/, manifests/).

xonsh build.xsh clean

info

Shows build environment and checks prerequisites.

xonsh build.xsh info

What each step does

1. build — Downloads the Python embeddable package, enables site-packages, installs pip and xonsh[full]. The result is a real Python environment where xpip install works.

2. installer — Wraps the build output in an Inno Setup installer. The resulting .exe:

   • Installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\xonsh (no admin needed)
   • Supports silent install: /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /SP-
   • Adds Scripts\ to user PATH (xonsh, pip, xpip are there)
   • Registers in Add/Remove Programs

3. manifest — Generates the three YAML files required by winget-pkgs:

   • Xonsh.Xonsh.yaml (version)
   • Xonsh.Xonsh.locale.en-US.yaml (metadata, tags, description)
   • Xonsh.Xonsh.installer.yaml (download URL, SHA256, install switches)

What the user gets after winget install xonsh

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\xonsh\
├── python.exe                  # Embedded Python
├── python3XX.dll
├── python3XX._pth
├── Lib\site-packages\          # Full site-packages (writable)
│   ├── xonsh\
│   ├── prompt_toolkit\
│   ├── pygments\
│   ├── pip\
│   └── ...
├── Scripts\                    # Entry points (on PATH)
│   ├── xonsh.exe               # <-- user runs this
│   ├── pip.exe
│   └── ...
└── license.txt

xpip install lolcat works because Lib\site-packages\ is writable.

See also

winget documentation

• Windows Package Manager overview
• Create your package manifest
• Submit your manifest to the repository
• winget validate command
• Manifest schema reference (version)
• Manifest schema reference (installer)
• Manifest schema reference (locale)

winget-pkgs repository

• microsoft/winget-pkgs — community package repository
• winget-pkgs contribution guide
• Manifest schema docs

winget tools

• microsoft/winget-create — manifest creation tool
• microsoft/winget-cli — winget CLI source

Build tools

• Inno Setup — Windows installer creator
• Inno Setup documentation
• Python embeddable package — official minimal Python distribution
• get-pip.py — pip bootstrap installer