# WebView2Samples: three kinds of Microsoft Edge sample, and the gap between them > The WebView2Samples repository is not a library but a shelf of example projects for embedding the Edge WebView2 runtime in a native application, and it splits into three deliberately different kinds of artefact: completed tutorial projects, feature sample apps with menus, and deployment samples that show how to ship the runtime itself. The release history is old, which tells you how to treat it. **MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples** — Microsoft Edge WebView2 samples - Repository: https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples - Stars: 1,045 · Forks: 519 - Language: C++ - License: not declared - Published: 2026-10-19 · Updated: 2026-10-19 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/microsoftedge-webview2samples ## Three categories of sample, and why the distinction matters The repository is described as containing several types of samples for WebView2, and the README splits them into three named groups, each with its own documentation link. Reading the three groups together tells you what the repository is for and, just as usefully, what it is not. The first group is the Getting Started tutorial projects. These are completed Visual Studio projects that result from following the steps in the Getting Started tutorials, and the README compares them to Hello World basic apps. The important detail is that these are the finished results of a tutorial, not the tutorial itself, so they are complete, buildable, and deliberately minimal. If you want to see what a WebView2 host application looks like at its smallest, this is the group to open. The second group is the sample apps. These are WebView2 sample apps for various frameworks and platforms, as Visual Studio projects, and the distinguishing feature is that these samples have menus and demonstrate various APIs. So they are small applications with a user interface of their own, each one exercising a different corner of the WebView2 API surface, and you run them to see the API behave rather than to read how it works. The third group is the deployment samples, which demonstrate deploying the WebView2 Runtime. This is the one that solves a problem the other two do not, because embedding WebView2 on Windows means shipping or bootstrapping a browser runtime alongside your application, and that has a distribution story of its own. The deployment samples are about getting the runtime onto the user's machine, not about writing code against it. That third category is what makes this repository more than a code gallery. A developer who has only ever written a web application can easily underestimate what it takes to ship an embedded browser, and having a worked example of that is worth more than any amount of prose about it. ## The repository layout, and how it maps to the three categories The top level of the repository is small, and it maps cleanly onto the three categories in the README. There is a GettingStartedGuides/ directory, a SampleApps/ directory, a media/ directory, and the.github/ directory with the workflow and template files, plus.gitignore and README.md. That is the whole listing. The correspondence is direct. GettingStartedGuides/ holds the tutorial-shaped projects, SampleApps/ holds the applications with menus that demonstrate the various APIs, and media/ holds the images used in the documentation, which is why the README can show screenshots of each sample without the repository carrying a lot of binary weight in the source directories themselves. The absence of a top level source or src directory is itself informative. There is no library code here to depend on. This is a collection of complete, independent Visual Studio projects, and each one is meant to be opened, built and run. The top level has no package manifest and no build file of its own, which is consistent with a set of self-contained samples rather than a monorepo with a shared build. The Visual Studio framing is worth pausing on, because it tells you the platform assumptions. Every sample is described as a Visual Studio project, and the sample apps cover various frameworks and platforms. So the default entry point for a reader is the Windows development environment, and the frameworks covered are the ones that can host a WebView2 control, which is what the original project was designed for. The Windows identity of the runtime is the one thing you can be certain of from the README alone, since the deployment samples are specifically about deploying the WebView2 Runtime, and a runtime that ships with the operating system needs no deployment at all. The samples are also not a step in a tutorial sequence. The Getting Started projects are the tutorial results, the sample apps are API demonstrations, and the deployment samples are operational. Treating the three as one ordered course would be a mistake, and the README's structure is what stops you making it. ## The deployment samples, and the problem they actually solve The deployment category deserves its own look, because it is the one where a developer who is new to embedded browsers will get the most from a worked example. Embedding WebView2 in a Windows application means your application depends on a browser runtime being present on the user's machine. The samples in this group demonstrate deploying the WebView2 Runtime, and the README links them to a separate deployment samples documentation page. That link matters, because the mechanics of bootstrapping a runtime are not a matter of taste and there is a Microsoft prescribed way to do it. The category name tells you the concern. This is not about the WebView2 APIs, it is about the install. There is a difference between an application that requires the runtime to be already installed, an application that carries an installer for it, an application that uses a bootstrapper that fetches it on first run, and an application that ships a fixed version of it alongside itself. Each of those has a different size impact, a different update story and a different failure mode when the runtime is missing, and the offline mode of a WebView2 app is a decision with user visible consequences. That is why the samples are separate from the API demonstrations. A sample app that shows you a WebView2 setting is a five minute read. A deployment sample is a working answer to the question of what happens on the user's machine, and it is a question with no single right answer, which is why Microsoft provides several rather than one. For anyone evaluating WebView2 for a desktop product, the order that makes sense is to start with a getting started project to see the host application, then read the API samples for the specific features you need, and then spend the real time in the deployment samples. Most of the projects that decide against WebView2 do so on deployment grounds rather than on API grounds, and that is the ground the third group of samples covers. ## The release history, and how old these samples actually are The release tags are the most important thing to check before you copy any of this code, and they are not recent. The three listed releases are v1.0.1466-prerelease from 2023-01-09, 1.0.902-prerelease from 2021-07-15, and 1.0.818.41-testing-3 from 2021-04-26, whose title describes it as updating launch.json with corrected paths. Every one of those is a prerelease or a testing tag. There is no stable release tag in the list. So the version history here is not a sequence of shipped releases that you can pin to, it is a series of snapshots taken at particular moments, and the most recent of them is from January 2023. The repository itself is not abandoned. The last push was on 2026-10-14, so something is still landing on the branch, and the default branch is main. But a repository that receives occasional maintenance commits while carrying no release tags since 2023 is in a specific state, and you should read it in those terms. The samples are probably still largely correct as illustrations of how a WebView2 host application is put together, and they may be behind the current SDK in details, and the two are different risks. The correction to launch.json in the oldest tag is a small example of the category of problem that a dated sample has. That file configures the debugger launch of a Visual Studio project, and a path that was correct at one point in the SDK layout is not correct at another, which is the kind of breakage that costs an afternoon and produces no error message that points at the real cause. The practical rule is simple. Use these samples to understand the shape of a WebView2 application and to see the API demonstrated, and check every specific API call against the current documentation on Microsoft Learn, which the README links to for each of the three categories. Treat the code as a starting point to be brought up to date rather than as a reference to be copied wholesale. ## Contributions, the CLA bot, and the trademark clause The contribution process is described in a way that is worth reading carefully if you plan to send a pull request, because the mechanism is automated and the consequence is a legal agreement. The project welcomes contributions and suggestions, and most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement, a CLA, declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant the rights to use your contribution. When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot automatically determines whether you need to provide one and decorates the PR appropriately with a status check or a comment, and the instructions say to simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You only need to do this once across all repos using the CLA. That is the standard Microsoft open source contribution flow, and the detail that catches contributors out is the bot decoration. A pull request can sit with a status check pending rather than a review, and the fix is not to chase a reviewer but to follow the bot's link. The code of conduct is the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct, with a FAQ page and an email address given for additional questions or comments. The trademark section is the one that matters for anyone reusing this code, and it is unusually explicit. The project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products or services, and authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow the Microsoft Trademark and Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third parties' policies. Three things follow from that paragraph. The samples ship with Microsoft branding, so a modified version of one still carries that branding and you have to make sure it does not read as an official Microsoft product. The sample apps have menus and icons, and those are the assets the clause is about. And the third-party clause is the one that bites in a port: if you lift a sample to another platform and it carries a third party logo or icon, that use is governed by the third party's terms and not by Microsoft's. The licence itself is not recorded in the repository metadata, which lists it as unknown, and there is no LICENSE file among the top level entries. The legal terms therefore are not stated anywhere in the repository, so check with Microsoft before shipping anything derived from these samples. That is a real gap for an organisation that needs to know precisely what it is licensing when it copies a sample, and it is worth resolving before you ship anything derived from these projects. ## Conclusion WebView2Samples fits a developer who has just decided to embed WebView2 in a native Windows application and wants a working project to look at rather than a reference manual, and who can find the current API documentation on Microsoft Learn instead. It is the wrong source if you need up to date sample code, because the newest release tag is a prerelease from January 2023 and the last push was on 2026-10-14, so the samples may not reflect the current SDK. Before copying anything from it, check the sample against the current WebView2 SDK documentation, and read the trademark section, since the samples carry Microsoft branding and the licence terms are not recorded in the repository metadata. ## FAQ ### What kinds of samples are in the WebView2Samples repository? Three groups. Getting Started tutorial projects, which are completed Visual Studio projects resulting from the tutorials and are like Hello World basic apps. Sample apps for various frameworks and platforms, which have menus and demonstrate various APIs. And deployment samples, which demonstrate deploying the WebView2 Runtime. ### Are the WebView2 samples up to date? The newest release tag is v1.0.1466-prerelease from 2023-01-09, and the list contains only prerelease and testing tags with no stable release. The last push was on 2026-10-14, so the repository is still receiving commits, but the samples should be checked against the current WebView2 SDK documentation before you rely on them. ### What do I need to do to contribute to WebView2Samples? Most contributions require agreeing to a Contributor License Agreement declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant the rights to use your contribution. When you submit a pull request a CLA bot determines whether you need to provide one and decorates the PR, and you only need to do this once across all repos using the CLA. ### Can I reuse the Microsoft branding in the WebView2 samples? Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to the Microsoft Trademark and Brand Guidelines, and use of them in modified versions must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos in the samples is subject to those third parties' own policies. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples/issues) - [MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples on GitHub](https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples) - [README](https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Samples/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/microsoftedge-webview2samples