A free, open-source alternative Microsoft Store client for Windows
Raven is a modern, native Windows application that serves as a fully-featured alternative to the Microsoft Store. It can do everything the official store does — search, download, install, and update apps — while also adding powerful capabilities like sideloading external UWP/MSIX packages, exporting Store apps for offline use, and bandwidth-saving delta downloads.
Built with WinUI 3 and .NET 10, Raven delivers a clean, fluent UI that feels right at home on Windows 10 and 11.
- Store Search — search the Microsoft Store catalog directly from the title bar with real-time auto-suggest (including app icons and titles).
- Advanced Search — filter and query apps with more granular control over results.
- App Details — full app detail pages with descriptions, screenshots, version info, and dependency listings.
- Market & Language Selection — browse the Store as it appears in any region/language combination.
- Download Store Apps — download any app package directly from Microsoft's CDN for offline installation or archival.
- Delta Downloads — save bandwidth with intelligent block-level delta downloads. Only changed blocks are fetched using BlockMap diffing, drastically reducing download sizes for updates.
- Export Packages — download
.appx,.msix,.appxbundle, and.msixbundlefiles for external use, backup, or redistribution to other machines. - Download Manager — a full download queue with progress tracking, pause/resume, and status animations.
- Install Store Apps — install downloaded packages directly, just like the Microsoft Store.
- Sideload External Packages — install
.appx,.msix,.appxbundle, or.msixbundlefiles from anywhere — not just the Store. Drag-and-drop or browse to select. - Dependency Resolution — automatic detection and installation of required framework dependencies.
- Force Install — option to forcibly reinstall or downgrade packages when a newer version is already present.
- Update Checking — scans all installed Store-signed packaged apps and compares them against the latest available versions.
- Delta Updates — applies block-level differential updates to minimize download sizes.
- Batch & Individual Updates — update all apps at once or pick and choose which ones to update.
- Version Comparison — intelligently determines the latest available version per architecture and OS build.
- Unpackaged Deployment — runs as a standalone
.exewithout requiring MSIX packaging or Windows App Installer. - Theme Support — light, dark, and system-default themes with seamless switching.
- Structured Logging — separate log files for runtime events, installations, and crashes via Serilog.
- Localization-Ready — UI strings use a resource-based localization system (
x:Uid). - Self-Update Check — checks GitHub for newer releases of Raven itself.
- Windows 10 version 1809+
- .NET 10
- Windows App SDK Runtime
- Install all system requirements
- Download the latest version of Raven from releases according to your system architecture.
- If you encounter a false antivirus positive, install
RavenCert.ceror useauto_install_cert(extractauto_install_cert.zipand run the.batfile). - Extract the contents of the zip file to a folder and run
raven.exe. - Enjoy!
Raven follows the MVVM pattern and uses dependency injection via Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting.
Raven.sln
├── Raven/ # WinUI 3 Application (UI layer)
│ ├── Views/ # XAML pages: Shell, Search, App Details,
│ │ # Downloads, Installations, Updates, Settings
│ ├── ViewModels/ # MVVM view models (CommunityToolkit.Mvvm)
│ ├── Services/ # App-level services: navigation, downloads,
│ │ # package installation, update checking
│ ├── Helpers/ # Utilities: delta downloads, BlockMap parsing,
│ │ # download URL resolution, version comparison
│ ├── Models/ # Data models: AppInfo, DownloadItem, UpdateItem
│ ├── Contracts/ # Service interfaces
│ ├── Layouts/ # Custom WinUI layouts (VirtualGridLayout)
│ ├── Styles/ # XAML resource dictionaries
│ └── Strings/ # Localized string resources (en-us)
│
├── Raven.Updater/ # Self-update helper executable
│ └── Program.cs # Copies update payload and relaunches Raven
│
└── StoreListings/ # Git submodule — Microsoft Store API wrapper
└── StoreListings.Library/
├── StoreEdgeFDProduct.cs # Store product queries
├── DCATPackage.cs # Dependency catalog lookups
└── FE3Handler.cs # Package download link resolution
| Package | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Microsoft.WindowsAppSDK | WinUI 3 framework |
| CommunityToolkit.Mvvm | MVVM source generators & helpers |
| CommunityToolkit.WinUI | WinUI media controls & effects |
| Downloader | Multi-part file download engine |
| WinUIEx | Window management extensions |
| Serilog | Structured logging |
| StoreListings | Microsoft Store API wrapper (submodule) |
- .NET 10 SDK
- Visual Studio 2026 with the following workloads:
- .NET Desktop Development
- Windows App SDK / WinUI Development
- Windows 10 SDK (26100)
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/mjishnu/Raven.git
cd RavenIf you've already cloned without
--recurse-submodules, initialize the submodule manually:git submodule update --init --recursive
From Visual Studio:
- Open
Raven.sln - Set
Ravenas the startup project - Select your target platform (
x64,x86, orarm64) - Press F5 to build and run
From the command line:
dotnet build Raven.sln -c Debug -p:Platform=x64
dotnet run --project Raven -c Debug| Architecture | Status |
|---|---|
| x64 | ✅ Supported |
| x86 | ✅ Supported |
| ARM64 | ✅ Supported |
Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:
- Fork the repository
- Create a branch for your feature or fix (
git checkout -b feature/my-feature) - Commit your changes (
git commit -m "Add my feature") - Push to your branch (
git push origin feature/my-feature) - Open a Pull Request
- Use
x:Uid-based localized strings in XAML — no hardcoded text - Follow existing MVVM patterns and DI conventions
- StoreListings for the Microsoft Store API wrapper.
- Alt App Installer the predecessor to this project.
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 — see the LICENSE file for details.
