winget-pkgs

winget-pkgs is the community-maintained package repository behind Windows Package Manager (winget). It is to Windows what Homebrew's formulae repo is to macOS: the catalog of installable software. You run "winget install firefox" and this repo is where that manifest lives.

Contributing a package means submitting a YAML manifest via pull request. Microsoft validates the installer (MSI, MSIX, EXE formats), runs automated checks, and merges it. The repo has thousands of packages and grows daily. If you maintain Windows software, getting your app into winget-pkgs is the easiest distribution channel Microsoft offers.

For Windows developers, winget is now the default. It ships with Windows 11 and Windows 10 (recent builds). Chocolatey and Scoop still have larger catalogs and more flexibility for power users, but winget has the advantage of being built into the OS. Most teams will end up using winget for standard installs and Chocolatey or Scoop for the long tail.

The catch: this is a manifest repo, not a tool you run. The value is indirect. And winget still lags behind Homebrew and apt in package count and community tooling. If you are on macOS or Linux, this is irrelevant to you.