Add fully automated Winget publishing to build pipeline

[Copilot]

Enables distribution via winget install ScottHanselman.MaximizeToVirtualDesktop with fully automated publishing on every release.

How It Works

The release pipeline is fully automated — no manual steps after one-time setup:

Push tag v0.0.3
  → build.yml: build, sign, create GitHub release
  → build.yml (publish-winget job): submit manifest to winget-pkgs
  → Microsoft validates & merges
  → Users can run: winget install ScottHanselman.MaximizeToVirtualDesktop

Changes

Automation

• build.yml: Added publish-winget job that chains after the build job on tag pushes, using vedantmgoyal2009/winget-releaser to automatically submit manifests to winget-pkgs
• .github/workflows/winget-publish.yml: Manual-only fallback workflow (workflow_dispatch) for re-submitting a version if needed
• Requires WINGET_TOKEN secret (GitHub PAT with public_repo scope)

Documentation

• WINGET.md: Focused guide covering the automated pipeline, one-time setup (PAT + initial submission), and manual fallback
• README.md: Added Installation section with download instructions and winget preview

One-Time Setup Required

1. Create a GitHub PAT with public_repo scope and add it as repo secret WINGET_TOKEN
2. Submit the initial package version manually with wingetcreate new (winget-releaser handles updates, not first-time packages)

After initial approval, every tag push auto-publishes to winget.

Original prompt

How would I add this to Winget

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✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.

[iAmBipinPaul]

That was quick yay 🚀

[shanselman]

@copilot how do I make this automatically update with versions? do we need to change the github actions? I want this to be as automated as possible

[Copilot]

@copilot how do I make this automatically update with versions? do we need to change the github actions? I want this to be as automated as possible

Integrated winget publishing directly into build.yml as a chained job in 25287e4. The pipeline is now fully automated:

Tag push → build & sign → GitHub release → winget-pkgs PR — all in one workflow.

The original separate winget-publish.yml wouldn't have worked because GitHub Actions events created by GITHUB_TOKEN don't trigger other workflows. Moving it into build.yml as a needs: build job fixes that.

One-time setup needed:

1. Create a GitHub PAT with public_repo scope
2. Add it as repo secret WINGET_TOKEN
3. Do the initial manual submission with wingetcreate new (winget-releaser handles updates, not first-time packages)

After that, every tag push auto-publishes to winget. There's also a manual fallback workflow (Publish to Winget (Manual)) for re-submissions if needed.

Details in the streamlined WINGET.md.