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WinStorePackager

Local-first Windows GUI & CLI tool for preparing Python desktop applications for Microsoft Store submission: AppxManifest, Store icons, project profiles, screenshots, and MSIX packaging

Quick Start • Features • Architecture • Lifecycle Flow • Governance & Invariants • Visual Showcase • Project Profiles • Installation • Unix Preflight • Local Data & Security • Sibling Tools • Comparison • Third-Party Licenses • Marketing & Personas • Documentation & License

Note

AI Agent & LLM Integration Notice: High-level repository structure and context boundaries are documented in llms.txt. LLM agents and automated tools can inspect package schemas via PROJECT_PROFILE_FORMAT.md and winstorepackager-project-v1.json.

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Quick Start

I want to...	Start with
Package a Python desktop app for the Microsoft Store	WindowsStorePublisher_3.py or START.bat on Windows
Run the SDK-free Unix (Linux/macOS) desktop preflight	unix_preflight.py
Share project metadata without local secrets	PROJECT_PROFILE_FORMAT.md
Dogfood the WinStorePackager Store profile	winstorepackager-project-v1.json
Check security, local-data, and privacy boundaries	SECURITY.md, PRIVACY_POLICY.md, and Local Data & Security

WinStorePackager is built for solo developers, indie hackers, and software teams that need a practical Python-to-Microsoft-Store workflow without setting up heavy Visual Studio projects for every app. It focuses on the repetitive pieces: Store manifest fields, required icon sizes, screenshot collection, profile exchange, and Windows SDK packaging commands.

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Features

Feature	Description
Manifest Generator	Automatically creates AppxManifest.xml from form inputs with XML schema validation and attribute escaping
Icon Generator	Generates all required Store sizes: 44×44, 50×50, 150×150, 310×310, 310×150 (Wide) with Lanczos resampling
6-Language GUI (i18n)	Full localization support (Tier 2 / P-006: DE, EN, ES, ZH, JA, RU) with runtime switching
Keyring Integration	Secure storage of certificate passwords via OS Keyring (no plaintext passwords on disk)
Screenshot Assistant	Captures app screenshots directly via pygetwindow for Microsoft Store listing assets
11 Store Categories	Predefined categories (Developer Tools, Productivity, Education, Utilities, ...)
Age Ratings	3+ to 18+ ratings with compliant manifest capabilities declaration
MSIX Build & Sign	Invokes makeappx.exe and signtool.exe from the Windows SDK with SHA-256 code signing
Settings Persistence	Host-local JSON configuration outside Git with atomic migration safety
SDK-Free Preflight	Cross-platform validation of manifests, profiles, and listings on Linux & macOS

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Architecture & Packaging Pipeline

flowchart TD
    subgraph Input["1. Application Input"]
        A["Python App Source & Entry Point"]
        B["Application Base Icon / PNG"]
        C["Store Listing & Metadata (v1.json)"]
    end

    subgraph Core["2. WinStorePackager Core"]
        D["WinStorePackager GUI / CLI"]
        E["AppxManifest.xml Templating & Schema Guard"]
        F["Pillow Multi-Scale Icon Builder (44..310px)"]
        G["Project Profile Redactor & Exporter"]
    end

    subgraph Build["3. Windows SDK Packaging & Signing"]
        H["Windows SDK makeappx.exe pack"]
        I["OS Keyring Cryptographic Password Retrieval"]
        J["Windows SDK signtool.exe sign (SHA-256)"]
    end

    subgraph Output["4. Release & Submission"]
        K["Signed MSIX / AppX Package"]
        L["Windows App Certification Kit (WACK) Preflight"]
        M["Microsoft Partner Center Store Submission"]
    end

    A & B & C --> D
    D --> E & F & G
    E & F --> H
    H --> K
    K --> J
    I --> J
    J --> L
    L --> M

    subgraph Unix["Cross-Platform Preflight (Linux / macOS)"]
        N["unix_preflight.py"] --> O["SDK-Free Validation of Manifests, Profiles & Assets"]
    end

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Packaging Lifecycle Flow

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor Dev as Developer
    participant GUI as WinStorePackager GUI / CLI
    participant Profile as Project Profile (v1.json)
    participant Manifest as AppxManifest Generator
    participant Icons as Store Icon Builder (Pillow)
    participant SDK as Windows SDK (makeappx / signtool)
    participant Keyring as OS Keyring Storage
    participant Store as Microsoft Partner Center

    Dev->>GUI: Launch & Load Project / Profile
    GUI->>Profile: Validate schema & sanitize local paths
    Dev->>GUI: Configure App Identity, Version & Capabilities
    GUI->>Manifest: Build AppxManifest.xml with schema validation
    Dev->>GUI: Supply Base Icon / Image Asset
    GUI->>Icons: Generate 44x44, 50x50, 150x150, 310x310 & 310x150 assets
    Dev->>GUI: Trigger Build & Package
    GUI->>SDK: Invoke makeappx.exe pack /d payload /p package.msix
    GUI->>Keyring: Retrieve certificate password securely
    GUI->>SDK: Invoke signtool.exe sign /f cert.pfx /fd SHA256
    SDK-->>GUI: Signed MSIX Package ready
    GUI-->>Dev: Ready for local WACK testing & Store submission
    Dev->>Store: Upload MSIX to Microsoft Partner Center

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Governance & Runtime Invariants

WinStorePackager enforces 10 strict governance and runtime invariants across development, packaging, and execution:

Invariant ID	Rule & Principle	Enforcement Mechanism & Guarantee
INV-LOCAL-01	100% Local-First & Zero-Egress	All manifest compilation, icon rendering, packaging, and preflight checks run entirely offline. Zero outbound telemetry or cloud tracking.
INV-SEC-02	Cryptographic Password Protection & Non-Elevation	Signing certificate passwords reside exclusively in the OS Keyring (Windows Credential Vault). The app runs in user space (RunAsInvoker) without administrator elevation.
INV-STORE-03	Microsoft Store Manifest Compliance	Enforces strict XML schema validation, namespace handling, and attribute escaping compliant with Microsoft Partner Center guidelines.
INV-ASSET-04	Multi-Scale Asset Integrity	Deterministic high-quality Lanczos resampling generates exact Microsoft Store tile dimensions (44×44, 50×50, 150×150, 310×310, 310×150).
INV-PROFILE-05	Redacted Profile Portability	Shared project profiles (winstorepackager-project-v1.json) redact machine paths, Publisher IDs, certificate paths, and secrets for safe version-control sharing.
INV-CROSS-06	Cross-Platform Preflight Parity	unix_preflight.py executes full metadata, listing, and schema checks on Linux and macOS without requiring Windows SDK binaries.
INV-STATE-07	Host-Local State Isolation & Atomic Writes	Settings and rotating logs persist to %LOCALAPPDATA% outside git checkouts via atomic file replacement (os.replace) to prevent file corruption.
INV-WACK-08	Fail-Closed WACK Certification Evaluation	Deterministic parsing of Windows App Certification Kit reports with fail-closed rejection on errors or crashes (FAIL, FAILED, ERROR, CRASH).
INV-I18N-09	Universal 6-Language Localization	Complete Tier-2 multilingual GUI support (DE, EN, ES, ZH, JA, RU) with dynamic runtime switching and native umlauts.
INV-SLA-10	Vulnerability Floor & 48h Security SLA	Enforced minimum dependency floors (Pillow>=12.3.0, keyring>=25.0.0, pytest>=9.1.1), 48h initial security response SLA, and 5-day triage commitment.

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Visual Showcase & Store Assets

Store Feature	Visual Overview
Main Overview & Packaging Interactive desktop GUI for application identity, source paths, and Windows SDK toolchain setup.
Store Metadata & Ratings Predefined Store categories, age ratings, capabilities, support URLs, and localized privacy policies.
Multi-Resolution Icon Builder Automated generation and preview of all required Microsoft Store square and wide tile icon formats.
MSIX Packaging & Signing One-click MSIX package compilation, OS Keyring certificate authentication, and WACK preflight.

Rebuild the curated Microsoft Store screenshot set at any time with:

python generate_store_screenshots.py

The generator writes four 1920x1080 PNGs to releases/windowsstore/screenshots/ and uses only neutral demo metadata without exposing private paths, credentials, or Publisher IDs.

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Project Profiles

WinStorePackager ships with a shared project profile format: PROJECT_PROFILE_FORMAT.md. The desktop app can import and export winstorepackager-project-v1.json so that Store metadata can be prepared outside Windows without exposing local Publisher IDs, SDK paths, certificate paths, or passwords.

This repository includes its own dogfooding profile, winstorepackager-project-v1.json. Load it in the desktop app to package WinStorePackager with WinStorePackager, or validate it without the Windows SDK:

python unix_preflight.py --project-root . --profile-path winstorepackager-project-v1.json

The profile intentionally keeps Partner Center Publisher IDs, certificate paths, SDK paths, and passwords out of Git. Add those values only in local settings before building or signing an MSIX.

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Prerequisites & Installation

• Python 3.9–3.13+
• Windows 10/11 (for MSIX build and signing) or Linux/macOS (for preflight validation)
• Windows SDK (for makeappx.exe and signtool.exe)
• Microsoft Store developer account (for submission)

git clone https://github.com/file-bricks/WinStorePackager.git
cd WinStorePackager
pip install -r requirements.txt
python WindowsStorePublisher_3.py

Or on Windows, double-click START.bat.

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SDK-Free Unix Preflight

For Linux/macOS workstations or CI runs without the Windows SDK, the repository includes a metadata-only preflight:

python unix_preflight.py --project-root .
python unix_preflight.py --project-root . --profile-path ./winstorepackager-project-v1.json

The Unix preflight checks project structure, store_package.json, README, privacy policy, Store listing, screenshot/icon artifacts, and exported project profiles without building MSIX packages or requiring Windows binaries.

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Local Data and Security

WinStorePackager operates on local project files only:

• Host-Local Runtime Directories: Machine-specific settings and rotating logs live outside the source checkout in %LOCALAPPDATA%\WinStorePackager (Windows), ~/Library/Application Support/WinStorePackager (macOS), or ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/winstorepackager (Linux).
• Keyring Cryptographic Storage: Certificate passwords remain in the operating-system Keyring and are never written to disk or JSON files.
• Git Hygiene: Generated MSIX packages, EXE builds, temporary staging folders, certificates, and release bundles are strictly ignored by Git.

Template for machine-specific runtime settings (settings_store_packager.json):

{
  "app_name": "MyApp",
  "publisher": "CN=YOUR-PUBLISHER-ID",
  "publisher_display": "Your Name",
  "version": "1.0.0.0",
  "makeappx_path": "C:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/10/App Certification Kit/makeappx.exe",
  "signtool_path": "C:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/10/App Certification Kit/signtool.exe"
}

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Sibling Tools & Ecosystem

WinStorePackager is part of the file-bricks and open-bricks open-source software family:

Tool	Ecosystem	Purpose
ProSync	file-bricks	Local-first file synchronization & SQLite WAL consistency guard
CleanMarkdown	doc-bricks	Markdown sanitization, whitespace repair & document formatting
DokuZen	doc-bricks	Fast, local-first technical documentation & knowledge organizer
UniversalDocsGrabber	doc-bricks	Universal document ingestion, OCR conversion & search engine
ellmos-filecommander-mcp	ellmos-ai	Local MCP server for safe file management, OCR & search
open-bricks	open-bricks	Umbrella organization for modular desktop & developer tools

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Comparison with Alternatives

Feature	WinStorePackager	MSIX Packaging Tool	Visual Studio	Advanced Installer
GUI	✅	⚠️	✅	✅
Python Focus	✅	❌	❌	❌
Auto-Icons (All Sizes)	✅	❌	⚠️	✅
Manifest Generator	✅	❌	✅	✅
Free / Open Source	✅	✅	⚠️	❌
Screenshot Assistant	✅	❌	❌	❌
Keyring Security	✅	❌	❌	❌
6-Language Localization	✅	❌	⚠️	⚠️
Cross-Platform Preflight	✅	❌	❌	❌

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Third-Party Licenses & Transparency

WinStorePackager is audited to ensure 100% license transparency and zero-egress compliance:

• Complete Inventory: Detailed upstream package listings, licenses, and notices are maintained in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md and THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt.
• Runtime Packages: Includes Pillow (HPND-sell-variant), keyring (MIT), and pygetwindow (BSD-3-Clause) with strict vulnerability floors.
• Build & Packaging: PyInstaller (GPL-2.0-or-later WITH Bootloader-exception), pyinstaller-hooks-contrib (Apache-2.0), and packaging (Apache-2.0 OR BSD-2-Clause).
• Quality Assurance & Testing: pytest (MIT, >=9.1.1), pluggy (MIT), and ruff (MIT OR Apache-2.0).
• Standard Library: Python Software Foundation License (PSFL-2.0). External Windows SDK binaries are proprietary to Microsoft and called via standard unprivileged sub-process execution.

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Marketing & Target Personas

WinStorePackager is optimized for discoverability and targeted towards four core developer segments:

Target Personas

1. Solo Python Desktop Developers & Indie Hackers: Need an effortless pathway from standalone Python scripts (Tkinter, PyQt, PySide, CustomTkinter) to Microsoft Store distribution without setting up Visual Studio or learning complex XML schema specifications.
2. Enterprise & Commercial Python ISVs: Require reproducible, scriptable packaging pipelines, strict OS Keyring credential protection for proprietary code signing certificates, and fail-closed WACK validation.
3. Open-Source Maintainers & Multi-OS Teams: Develop primarily on Linux or macOS and demand SDK-free preflight validation in CI workflows before touching Windows deployment machines.
4. Privacy-Conscious & Local-First Desktop Builders: Require 100% offline packaging, zero telemetry, non-elevation RunAsInvoker security, and redacted project profiles.

High-Intent Search Phrases

• WinStorePackager Python Microsoft Store MSIX
• file-bricks WinStorePackager
• Python AppxManifest generator
• local-first MSIX packaging tool
• Microsoft Store packaging GUI for Python apps
• MSIX packaging tool without Visual Studio
• Python desktop app Windows Store submission helper
• AppxManifest XML generator Python

See MARKETING-LOG.txt for full keyword rankings, persona pain-point analyses, and competitive positioning data.

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Documentation & License

• 📄 Security Policy: SECURITY.md — Bilingual vulnerability disclosure & local-first guarantees
• 📝 Changelog: CHANGELOG.md — Version history and release notes
• 🤖 LLM Reference: llms.txt — Machine-readable architectural guide
• 📦 Profile Format: PROJECT_PROFILE_FORMAT.md — Portable project profile specification
• 📜 Third-Party Licenses: THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md & THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt
• 📊 Marketing Log: MARKETING-LOG.txt — Persona and discoverability registry

License & Liability

Dieses Projekt steht unter der MIT License.

Dieses Projekt ist eine unentgeltliche Open-Source-Schenkung im Sinne der §§ 516 ff. BGB. Die Haftung des Urhebers ist gemäß § 521 BGB auf Vorsatz und grobe Fahrlässigkeit beschränkt. Ergänzend gilt der Haftungsausschluss der MIT License.

Nutzung auf eigenes Risiko. Keine Wartungszusage, keine Verfügbarkeitsgarantie, keine Gewähr für Fehlerfreiheit oder Eignung für einen bestimmten Zweck.

This project is an unpaid open-source donation. Liability is limited to intent and gross negligence (§ 521 German Civil Code). Use at your own risk. No warranty, no maintenance guarantee, no fitness-for-purpose assumed.