Fixed AP custom hotkey issue

Signed-off-by: Shawn Yuan (from Dev Box) <shuaiyuan@microsoft.com>

.github/actions/spell-check/allow/code.txt

@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ OTP
 Yubi
 Yubico
 Perplexity
+Groq
 svgl
 
 # KEYS
@@ -328,3 +329,13 @@ FFF
 HHH
 riday
 YYY
+
+# GitHub issue/PR commands
+azp
+feedbackhub
+needinfo
+reportbug
+
+#ffmpeg
+crf
+nostdin

.github/actions/spell-check/expect.txt

@@ -141,8 +141,11 @@ BITSPIXEL
 bla
 BLACKFRAME
 BLENDFUNCTION
+blittable
 Blockquotes
 blt
+bluelightreduction
+bluelightreductionstate
 BLURBEHIND
 BLURREGION
 bmi
@@ -221,6 +224,7 @@ clientside
 CLIPBOARDUPDATE
 CLIPCHILDREN
 CLIPSIBLINGS
+CLITo
 closesocket
 clp
 CLSCTX
@@ -249,6 +253,7 @@ colorformat
 colorhistory
 colorhistorylimit
 COLORKEY
+colorref
 comctl
 comdlg
 comexp
@@ -728,9 +733,9 @@ HWNDPARENT
 HWNDPREV
 hyjiacan
 IAI
-icf
 ICONERROR
 ICONLOCATION
+icf
 IDCANCEL
 IDD
 idk
@@ -773,6 +778,7 @@ INITGUID
 INITTOLOGFONTSTRUCT
 INLINEPREFIX
 inlines
+Inno
 INPC
 inproc
 INPUTHARDWARE
@@ -1072,6 +1078,7 @@ MVVMTK
 MWBEx
 MYICON
 NAMECHANGE
+Notavailable
 namespaceanddescendants
 nao
 NCACTIVATE
@@ -1110,6 +1117,7 @@ NEWPLUSSHELLEXTENSIONWIN
 newrow
 nicksnettravels
 NIF
+nightlight
 NLog
 NLSTEXT
 NMAKE
@@ -1480,6 +1488,7 @@ rgh
 rgn
 rgs
 rguid
+rhk
 RIDEV
 RIGHTSCROLLBAR
 riid
@@ -1585,6 +1594,7 @@ SHGDNF
 SHGFI
 SHIL
 shinfo
+shk
 shlwapi
 shobjidl
 SHORTCUTATLEAST
@@ -1629,6 +1639,7 @@ SKIPOWNPROCESS
 sku
 SLGP
 sln
+slnx
 SMALLICON
 smartphone
 smileys
@@ -1794,6 +1805,7 @@ tlbimp
 tlc
 tmain
 TNP
+toolgood
 Toolhelp
 toolwindow
 TOPDOWNDIB
@@ -1842,18 +1854,23 @@ uitests
 UITo
 ULONGLONG
 ums
+UMax
+UMin
 uncompilable
 UNCPRIORITY
 UNDNAME
 UNICODETEXT
 unins
+Uninstaller
 uninstalls
 Uniquifies
 unitconverter
 unittests
 UNLEN
+Uninitializes
 UNORM
 unremapped
+Unsubscribes
 unvirtualized
 unwide
 unzoom

.pipelines/ESRPSigning_core.json

@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@
             "PowerToys.FancyZonesEditorCommon.dll",
             "PowerToys.FancyZonesModuleInterface.dll",
             "PowerToys.FancyZones.exe",
+            "FancyZonesCLI.exe",
+            "FancyZonesCLI.dll",
 
             "PowerToys.GcodePreviewHandler.dll",
             "PowerToys.GcodePreviewHandler.exe",
@@ -351,6 +353,11 @@
                 "Microsoft.SemanticKernel.Connectors.Ollama.dll",
                 "OllamaSharp.dll",
 
+                "boost_regex-vc143-mt-gd-x32-1_87.dll",
+                "boost_regex-vc143-mt-gd-x64-1_87.dll",
+                "boost_regex-vc143-mt-x32-1_87.dll",
+                "boost_regex-vc143-mt-x64-1_87.dll",
+
                 "UnitsNet.dll",
                 "UtfUnknown.dll",
                 "Wpf.Ui.dll"

.pipelines/v2/templates/job-build-project.yml

@@ -192,14 +192,14 @@ jobs:
     displayName: Verify XAML formatting
 
   - pwsh: |-
-      & '.pipelines/verifyNugetPackages.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\PowerToys.sln'
-    displayName: Verify Nuget package versions for PowerToys.sln
+      & '.pipelines/verifyNugetPackages.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\PowerToys.slnx'
+    displayName: Verify Nuget package versions for PowerToys.slnx
 
   - pwsh: |-
-      & '.pipelines/verifyArm64Configuration.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\PowerToys.sln'
+      & '.pipelines/verifyArm64Configuration.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\PowerToys.slnx'
       & '.pipelines/verifyArm64Configuration.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\tools\BugReportTool\BugReportTool.sln'
       & '.pipelines/verifyArm64Configuration.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\tools\StylesReportTool\StylesReportTool.sln'
-      & '.pipelines/verifyArm64Configuration.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\installer\PowerToysSetup.sln'
+      & '.pipelines/verifyArm64Configuration.ps1' -solution '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\installer\PowerToysSetup.slnx'
     displayName: Verify ARM64 configurations
 
   - ${{ if eq(parameters.enablePackageCaching, true) }}:
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ jobs:
     ${{ else }}:
       displayName: Build PowerToys main project
     inputs:
-      solution: 'PowerToys.sln'
+      solution: 'PowerToys.slnx'
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         -restore -graph
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ jobs:
     displayName: Generate DSC artifacts for ARM64
     condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['BuildPlatform'], 'arm64'))
     inputs:
-      solution: PowerToys.sln
+      solution: PowerToys.slnx
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         -restore

.pipelines/v2/templates/job-build-ui-tests.yml

@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ jobs:
       command: restore
       feedsToUse: config
       configPath: nuget.config
-      restoreSolution: PowerToys.sln
+      restoreSolution: PowerToys.slnx
       restoreDirectory: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)\packages'
 
   # Build all UI test projects if no specific modules are specified
@@ -129,4 +129,4 @@ jobs:
   - publish: $(JobOutputDirectory)
     artifact: $(JobOutputArtifactName)
     displayName: Publish UI Test artifacts
-    condition: always()
+    condition: always()

.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-installer-vnext.yml

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ steps:
   - task: VSBuild@1
     displayName: Build Shared Support DLLs
     inputs:
-      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.sln"
+      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.slnx"
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         /t:PowerToysSetupCustomActionsVNext;SilentFilesInUseBAFunction
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ steps:
   - task: VSBuild@1
     displayName: 💻 Build VNext MSI
     inputs:
-      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.sln"
+      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.slnx"
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         -restore
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ steps:
   - task: VSBuild@1
     displayName: 👤 Build VNext MSI
     inputs:
-      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.sln"
+      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.slnx"
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         /t:PowerToysInstallerVNext
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ steps:
   - task: VSBuild@1
     displayName: 💻 Build VNext Bootstrapper
     inputs:
-      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.sln"
+      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.slnx"
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         -restore
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ steps:
   - task: VSBuild@1
     displayName: 👤 Build VNext Bootstrapper
     inputs:
-      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.sln"
+      solution: "**/installer/PowerToysSetup.slnx"
       vsVersion: 17.0
       msbuildArgs: >-
         /t:PowerToysBootstrapperVNext

.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-update-winappsdk-and-restore-nuget.yml

@@ -54,4 +54,13 @@ steps:
     feedsToUse: 'config'
     nugetConfigPath: '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\nuget.config'
     restoreSolution: '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\**\*.sln'
-    includeNuGetOrg: false
+    includeNuGetOrg: false
+
+- task: NuGetCommand@2
+  displayName: 'Restore NuGet packages (slnx)'
+  inputs:
+    command: 'restore'
+    feedsToUse: 'config'
+    nugetConfigPath: '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\nuget.config'
+    restoreSolution: '$(build.sourcesdirectory)\**\*.slnx'
+    includeNuGetOrg: false

.pipelines/versionAndSignCheck.ps1

@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ $versionExceptions = @(
     "WyHash.dll",
     "Microsoft.Recognizers.Text.DataTypes.TimexExpression.dll",
     "ObjectModelCsProjection.dll",
-    "RendererCsProjection.dll") -join '|';
+    "RendererCsProjection.dll",
+    "Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.dll") -join '|';
 $nullVersionExceptions = @(
     "SkiaSharp.Views.WinUI.Native.dll",
     "libSkiaSharp.dll",
@@ -52,7 +53,12 @@ $nullVersionExceptions = @(
     "System.Diagnostics.EventLog.Messages.dll",
     "Microsoft.Windows.Widgets.dll",
     "AdaptiveCards.ObjectModel.WinUI3.dll",
-    "AdaptiveCards.Rendering.WinUI3.dll") -join '|';
+    "AdaptiveCards.Rendering.WinUI3.dll",
+    "boost_regex_vc143_mt_gd_x32_1_87.dll",
+    "boost_regex_vc143_mt_gd_x64_1_87.dll",
+    "boost_regex_vc143_mt_x32_1_87.dll",
+    "boost_regex_vc143_mt_x64_1_87.dll"
+    ) -join '|';
 $totalFailure = 0;
 
 Write-Host $DirPath;

COMMUNITY.md

@@ -121,6 +121,9 @@ PowerToys Awake is a tool to keep your computer awake.
 
 Randy contributed Registry Preview and some very early conversations about keyboard remapping.
 
+### [@cinnamon-msft](https://github.com/cinnamon-msft) - Kayla Cinnamon
+Kayla was a former lead for PowerToys and helped create multiple utilities, maintained the GitHub repo, and collaborated with the community to improve the overall product
+
 ### [@oldnewthing](https://github.com/oldnewthing) - Raymond Chen
 
 Find My Mouse is based on Raymond Chen's SuperSonar.
@@ -180,7 +183,6 @@ ZoomIt source code was originally implemented by [Sysinternals](https://sysinter
 
 ## PowerToys core team
 
-- [@cinnamon-msft](https://github.com/cinnamon-msft) - Kayla Cinnamon - Lead
 - [@craigloewen-msft](https://github.com/craigloewen-msft) - Craig Loewen - Product Manager
 - [@niels9001](https://github.com/niels9001/) - Niels Laute - Product Manager
 - [@dhowett](https://github.com/dhowett) - Dustin Howett - Dev Lead
@@ -209,6 +211,7 @@ ZoomIt source code was originally implemented by [Sysinternals](https://sysinter
 ## Former PowerToys core team members
 
 - [@indierawk2k2](https://github.com/indierawk2k2) - Mike Harsh - Product Manager
+- [@cinnamon-msft](https://github.com/cinnamon-msft) - Kayla Cinnamon - Product Manager
 - [@ethanfangg](https://github.com/ethanfangg) - Ethan Fang - Product Manager
 - [@plante-msft](https://github.com/plante-msft) - Connor Plante - Product Manager
 - [@joadoumie](https://github.com/joadoumie) - Jordi Adoumie - Product Manager

DATA_AND_PRIVACY.md

@@ -243,6 +243,10 @@ _If you want to find diagnostic data events in the source code, these two links
     <th>Event Name</th>
     <th>Description</th>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdNotFound_EnableCmdNotFound</td>
+    <td>Triggered when Command Not Found is enabled or disabled.</td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdNotFoundInstallEvent</td>
     <td>Triggered when a Command Not Found is installed.</td>
@@ -257,6 +261,62 @@ _If you want to find diagnostic data events in the source code, these two links
   </tr>  
 </table>
 
+### Command Palette
+<table style="width:100%">
+  <tr>
+    <th>Event Name</th>
+    <th>Description</th>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_BeginInvoke</td>
+    <td>Triggered when the Command Palette is launched by the user.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_ColdLaunch</td>
+    <td>Occurs when Command Palette starts for the first time (cold start).</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_OpenPage</td>
+    <td>Triggered when a page is opened within the Command Palette, tracking navigation depth.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_OpenUri</td>
+    <td>Occurs when a URI is opened through the Command Palette, including whether it's a web URL.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_ReactivateInstance</td>
+    <td>Triggered when an existing Command Palette instance is reactivated.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_RunCommand</td>
+    <td>Logs when a command is executed through the Command Palette, including admin elevation status.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPal_RunQuery</td>
+    <td>Triggered when a search query is performed, including result count and duration.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPalDismissedOnEsc</td>
+    <td>Occurs when the Command Palette is dismissed by pressing the Escape key.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPalDismissedOnLostFocus</td>
+    <td>Triggered when the Command Palette is dismissed due to losing focus.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPalHotkeySummoned</td>
+    <td>Logs when the Command Palette is summoned via hotkey, distinguishing between global and context-specific hotkeys.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPalInvokeResult</td>
+    <td>Records the result type of a Command Palette invocation.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.CmdPalProcessStarted</td>
+    <td>Triggered when the Command Palette process is started.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
 ### Crop And Lock
 <table style="width:100%">
   <tr>
@@ -735,6 +795,10 @@ _If you want to find diagnostic data events in the source code, these two links
     <th>Event Name</th>
     <th>Description</th>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.NewPlus_ChangedTemplateLocation</td>
+    <td>Triggered when the template folder location is changed.</td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.NewPlus_EventCopyTemplate</td>
     <td>Triggered when an item from New+ is created (copied to the current directory).</td>
@@ -743,6 +807,10 @@ _If you want to find diagnostic data events in the source code, these two links
     <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.NewPlus_EventCopyTemplateResult</td>
     <td>Logs the success of item creation (copying).</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.NewPlus_EventOpenTemplates</td>
+    <td>Triggered when the templates folder is opened.</td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.NewPlus_EventShowTemplateItems</td>
     <td>Triggered when the New+ context menu flyout is displayed.</td>
@@ -928,12 +996,8 @@ _If you want to find diagnostic data events in the source code, these two links
     <th>Description</th>
   </tr>
   <tr>
-    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.ShortcutGuide_EnableGuide</td>
-    <td>Triggered when Shortcut Guide is enabled.</td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.ShortcutGuide_HideGuide</td>
-    <td>Occurs when Shortcut Guide is hidden from view.</td>
+    <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.ShortcutGuide_GuideSession</td>
+    <td>Logs a Shortcut Guide session including duration and how it was closed.</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>Microsoft.PowerToys.ShortcutGuide_Settings</td>

Directory.Packages.props

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Data.Sqlite" Version="9.0.10" />
     <!-- Including Microsoft.Bcl.AsyncInterfaces to force version, since it's used by Microsoft.SemanticKernel. -->
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Bcl.AsyncInterfaces" Version="9.0.10" />
+    <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Graphics.Win2D" Version="1.3.2" />
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Windows.CppWinRT" Version="2.0.240111.5" />
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Diagnostics.Tracing.TraceEvent" Version="3.1.16" />
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Extensions.AI" Version="9.9.1" />
@@ -118,6 +119,7 @@
     <PackageVersion Include="System.Text.Encoding.CodePages" Version="9.0.10" />
     <PackageVersion Include="System.Text.Json" Version="9.0.10" />
     <PackageVersion Include="System.Text.RegularExpressions" Version="4.3.1" />
+    <PackageVersion Include="ToolGood.Words.Pinyin" Version="3.1.0.3" />
     <PackageVersion Include="UnicodeInformation" Version="2.6.0" />
     <PackageVersion Include="UnitsNet" Version="5.56.0" />
     <PackageVersion Include="UTF.Unknown" Version="2.6.0" />

NOTICE.md

@@ -75,6 +75,37 @@ OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 For more information, please refer to <http://unlicense.org/>
 ```
 
+### ToolGood.Words.Pinyin
+
+We use the ToolGood.Words.Pinyin NuGet package for converting Chinese characters to pinyin.
+
+**Source**: [https://github.com/toolgood/ToolGood.Words.Pinyin](https://github.com/toolgood/ToolGood.Words.Pinyin)
+
+```
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2020 ToolGood
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
+```
+
+
 ## Utility: Command Palette Built-in Extensions
 
 ### Calculator
@@ -1532,6 +1563,7 @@ SOFTWARE.
 - SkiaSharp.Views.WinUI
 - StreamJsonRpc
 - StyleCop.Analyzers
+- ToolGood.Words.Pinyin
 - UnicodeInformation
 - UnitsNet
 - UTF.Unknown

doc/devdocs/commands.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Issue/PR commands
+
+The PowerToys repository uses some special keywords to help manage issues and pull requests. Here is a list of the most important commands you can use in issue and PR descriptions or comments.
+
+| Command | Description |
+|---------|-------------|
+| `/azp run` | Triggers the Azure Pipelines CI build for the current PR. Useful if you want to re-run the build without creating a new commit. |
+| `/bugreport` / `/reportbug` | Adds a comment with a manual for the Bug Report Tool, which helps users collect logs and system information for debugging purposes. It requests to upload this file and adds the `Needs-Author-Feedback` label. |
+| `/feedbackhub` | Adds a comment with a link to the Feedback Hub app on Windows, where users can submit feedback about PowerToys. Closes the issue and adds the `Resolution-Please File on Feedback Hub` label. |
+| `/dup #...` / `/duplicate #...` / `/dup https://...` / `/duplicate https://...` | Marks the current issue as a duplicate of another issue. It closes the current issue and applies the `Resolution-Duplicate` label. Replace `#...` with the issue number or a link to the issue. |
+| `/needinfo` | Adds the `Needs-Author-Feedback` label to the issue or PR, indicating that more information is needed from the author. |
+| `/helped` | Closes the issue and adds the `Resolution-Helped User` label. Furthermore a comment is added with a link to the PowerToys user documentation. |
+| `/loc` | Adds a comment informing the user that the issue was forwarded to the localization team and will soon be fixed. It adds the `Loc-Sent To Team` label. |
+
+## Defining new commands
+
+Most of these commands are using the [Microsoft GitHub Policy Service](https://github.com/apps/microsoft-github-policy-service) bot. Its commands are defined in the [PowerToys policy configuration file](/.github/policies/resourceManagement.yml).
+
+## Other automated tasks
+
+### Automatic labeling
+
+The bot can automatically apply the correct `product-...` label for any opened issue.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> This feature is currently only available for the Workspaces module as a test.
+
+### The `Needs-Author-Feedback` label
+
+If an issue has this label and had no activity for 5 days, the bot will post a comment reminding the author to provide the needed information. It also adds the `Status-No recent activity` label. If no further activity occurs for another 5 days, the bot will close the issue.
+
+### Filtering users that want to contribute
+
+If a user utters their intention to contribute (e.g., by using the phrase "I want to contribute" in an issue or PR), the bot will add a comment with a link to the ["Would you like to contribute to PowerToys?" thread](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/28769).

doc/devdocs/core/installer.md

@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ If you prefer, you can alternatively build prerequisite projects for the install
 
 #### Locally compiling the installer
 
-1. Open `installer\PowerToysSetup.sln`
+1. Open `installer\PowerToysSetup.slnx`
 1. In Visual Studio, in the `Solutions Configuration` drop-down menu select `Release`
 1. From the `Build` menu choose `Build Solution`.
 
@@ -144,9 +144,9 @@ To build the installer from the command line, run `Developer Command Prompt for
 
 ```
 git clean -xfd  -e *exe -- .\installer\
-MSBuild -t:restore  .\installer\PowerToysSetup.sln -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true /p:Platform="x64" /p:Configuration=Release
-MSBuild -t:Restore -m .\installer\PowerToysSetup.sln /t:PowerToysInstallerVNext /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x64"
-MSBuild -t:Restore -m .\installer\PowerToysSetup.sln /t:PowerToysBootstrapperVNext /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x64" 
+MSBuild -t:restore  .\installer\PowerToysSetup.slnx -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true /p:Platform="x64" /p:Configuration=Release
+MSBuild -t:Restore -m .\installer\PowerToysSetup.slnx /t:PowerToysInstallerVNext /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x64"
+MSBuild -t:Restore -m .\installer\PowerToysSetup.slnx /t:PowerToysBootstrapperVNext /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x64" 
 ```
 
 ### Supported arguments for the .EXE Bootstrapper installer

doc/devdocs/core/settings/settings-implementation.md

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ For C# modules, the settings are accessed through the `SettingsUtils` class in t
 using Microsoft.PowerToys.Settings.UI.Library;
 
 // Read settings
-var settings = SettingsUtils.GetSettings<ModuleSettings>("ModuleName");
+var settings = SettingsUtils.Default.GetSettings<ModuleSettings>("ModuleName");
 bool enabled = settings.Enabled;
 ```
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ using Microsoft.PowerToys.Settings.UI.Library;
 
 // Write settings
 settings.Enabled = true;
-SettingsUtils.SaveSettings(settings.ToJsonString(), "ModuleName");
+SettingsUtils.Default.SaveSettings(settings.ToJsonString(), "ModuleName");
 ```
 
 ## Settings Handling in Modules

doc/devdocs/development/debugging.md

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ You can build the entire solution from the command line, which is sometimes fast
 2. Navigate to the repository root directory
 3. Run the following command(don't forget to set the correct platform):
    ```pwsh
-   msbuild -restore -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true -p:Platform=ARM64 -m PowerToys.sln /tl /p:NuGetInteractive="true"
+   msbuild -restore -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true -p:Platform=ARM64 -m PowerToys.slnx /tl /p:NuGetInteractive="true"
    ```
 4. This process should complete in approximately 13-14 minutes for a full build
 

doc/devdocs/development/dev-with-vscode.md

@@ -42,10 +42,10 @@ Or reach out to "tools\build\BUILD-GUIDELINES.md"
 ### Sample plain msbuild command
 ```powershell
 # Restore:
-msbuild powertoys.sln -t:restore -p:configuration=debug -p:platform=x64 -m
+msbuild powertoys.slnx -t:restore -p:configuration=debug -p:platform=x64 -m
 
-# Build powertoys sln
-msbuild powertoys.sln -p:configuration=debug -p:platform=x64 -m
+# Build powertoys slnx
+msbuild powertoys.slnx -p:configuration=debug -p:platform=x64 -m
 
 # dotnet project
 msbuild src\settings-ui\Settings.UI\PowerToys.Settings.csproj -p:Platform=x64 -p:Configuration=Debug -m
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ Similar for attach to managed code.
 
 | Task | Command / Action | Notes |
 |------|------------------|-------|
-| Clean | `git clean -xdf` (careful) or `msbuild /t:Clean PowerToys.sln` | Deep clean removes packages & build outputs |
+| Clean | `git clean -xdf` (careful) or `msbuild /t:Clean PowerToys.slnx` | Deep clean removes packages & build outputs |
 | Rebuild single project | `msbuild path\to\proj.vcxproj /t:Rebuild -p:Platform=x64 -p:Configuration=Debug` | Faster than whole solution |
 | Generate installer (rare in inner loop) | See `tools\build\build-installer.ps1` | Usually not needed for local debug |
-| Resource conversion errors | Re-run restore + build | Triggers custom PowerShell targets |
+| Resource conversion errors | Re-run restore + build | Triggers custom PowerShell targets |

doc/devdocs/development/ui-tests.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 - Exit PowerToys if it's running.
 
-- Open `PowerToys.sln` in Visual Studio and build the solution.
+- Open `PowerToys.slnx` in Visual Studio and build the solution.
 
 - Run tests in the Test Explorer (`Test > Test Explorer` or `Ctrl+E, T`).
 

doc/devdocs/localization.md

@@ -1,165 +0,0 @@
-# Localization
-
-> **NOTE**: THIS DOCUMENT IS OUTDATED.
-> Follow [issue 15243](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/15243) for updates.
-
-## Table of Contents
-1. [Localization on the pipeline (CDPX)](#localization-on-the-pipeline-cdpx)
-    1. [UWP Special case](#uwp-special-case)
-2. [Enabling localization on a new project](#enabling-localization-on-a-new-project)
-    1. [C++](#c)
-    2. [C#](#c-1)
-    3. [UWP](#uwp)
-3. [Lcl Files](#lcl-files)
-4. [Possible Issues in localization PRs (LEGO)](#possible-issues-in-localization-prs-lego)
-5. [Enabling localized MSI for a new project](#enabling-localized-msi-for-a-new-project)
-
-## Localization on the pipeline (CDPX)
-[The localization step](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/86d77103e9c69686c297490acb04775d43ef8b76/.pipelines/pipeline.user.windows.yml#L45-L52) is run on the pipeline before the solution is built. This step runs the [build-localization](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/.pipelines/build-localization.cmd) script, which generates resx files for all the projects with localization enabled using the `Localization.XLoc` package.
-
-The [`Localization.XLoc`](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/86d77103e9c69686c297490acb04775d43ef8b76/.pipelines/build-localization.cmd#L24-L25) tool is run on the repo root, and it checks for all occurrences of `LocProject.json`. Each localized project has a `LocProject.json` file in the project root, which contains the location of the English resx file, list of languages for localization, and the output path where the localized resx files are to be copied to. In addition to this, some other parameters can be set, such as whether the language ID should be added as a folder in the file path or in the file name. When the CDPX pipeline is run, the localization team is notified of changes in the English resx files. For each project with localization enabled, a `loc` folder (see [this](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/tree/main/src/modules/launcher/Microsoft.Launcher/loc) for example) is created in the same directory as the `LocProject.json` file. The folder contains language specific folders which in turn have a nested folder path equivalent to `OutputPath` in the `LocProject.json`. Each of these folders contain one `lcl` file. The `lcl` files contain the English resources along with their translation for that language. These are described in more detail in the [Lcl files section](#lcl-files). Once the `.resx` files are generated, they will be used during the `Build PowerToys` step for localized versions of the modules.
-
-Since the localization script requires certain nuget packages, the [`restore-localization`](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/.pipelines/restore-localization.cmd) script is run before running `build-localization` to install all the required packages. This script must [run in the `restore` step](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/86d77103e9c69686c297490acb04775d43ef8b76/.pipelines/pipeline.user.windows.yml#L37-L39) of pipeline because [the host is network isolated](https://onebranch.visualstudio.com/Pipeline/_wiki/wikis/Pipeline.wiki/2066/Consuming-Packages-in-a-CDPx-Pipeline?anchor=overview) at the `build` step. The [Toolset package source](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/86d77103e9c69686c297490acb04775d43ef8b76/.pipelines/pipeline.user.windows.yml#L23) is used for this.
-
-The process and variables that can be tweaked on the pipeline are described in more detail on [onebranch (account required) under Localization](https://onebranch.visualstudio.com/Pipeline/_wiki/wikis/Pipeline.wiki/290/Localization).
-
-The localized resource dlls for C# projects are added to the MSI only for build on the pipeline. This is done by checking if the [`IsPipeline` variable is defined](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/f92bd6ffd38014c228544bb8d68d0937ce4c2b6d/installer/PowerToysSetup/Product.wxs#L804-L805), which gets defined before [building the installer on the pipeline](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/f92bd6ffd38014c228544bb8d68d0937ce4c2b6d/.pipelines/build-installer.cmd#L4). This is done because the localized resx files are only present on the pipeline, and not having this check would result in the installer project failing to build locally.
-
-## Enabling localization on a new project
-To enable localization on a new project, the first step is to create a file `LocProject.json` in the project root.
-
-For example, for a project in the folder `src\path` where the resx file is present in `resources\Resources.resx`, the LocProject.json file will contain the following:
-```
-{
-    "Projects": [
-        {
-            "LanguageSet": "Azure_Languages",
-            "LocItems": [
-                {
-                    "SourceFile": "src\\path\\resources\\Resources.resx",
-                    "CopyOption": "LangIDOnName",
-                    "OutputPath": "src\\path\\resources"
-                }
-            ]
-        }
-    ]
-}
-```
-The rest of the steps depend on the project type and are covered in the sections below. The steps to add the localized files to the MSI can be found in [Enabling localized MSI for a new project](#Enabling-localized-MSI-for-a-new-project).
-
-### C++
-C++ projects do not support `resx` files, and instead use `rc` files along with `resource.h` files. The CDPX pipeline however doesn't support localizing `rc` files and the other alternative they support is directly translating the resources from the binary which makes it harder to maintain resources. To avoid this, a custom script has been added which expects a resx file and converts the entries to an rc file with a string table and adds resource declarations to a resource.h file so that the resources can be compiled with the C++ project.
-
-If you already have a .rc file, copy the string table to a separate txt file and run the [convert-stringtable-to-resx.ps1](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/tools/build/convert-stringtable-to-resx.ps1) script on it. This script is not very robust to input, and requires the data in a specific format, where `IDS_ResName L"ResourceValue"` and any number of spaces can be present in between. The script converts this file to the format expected by [`resgen`](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/tools/resgen-exe-resource-file-generator#Convert), which will convert it to resx. The resource names are changed from all uppercase to title case, and the `IDS_` prefix is removed. Escape characters might have to be manually replaced, for example .rc files would have escaped double quotes as `""`, so this should be replaced with just `"` before converting to the resx files.
-
-After generating the resx file, rename the existing rc and h files to ProjName.base.rc and resource.base.h. In the rc file remove the string table which is to be localized and in the .h file remove all `#define`s corresponding to localized resources. In the vcxproj of the C++ project, add the following build event:
-```
-<Target Name="GenerateResourceFiles" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
-    <Exec Command="powershell -NonInteractive -executionpolicy Unrestricted $(SolutionDir)tools\build\convert-resx-to-rc.ps1 $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) resource.base.h resource.h ProjName.base.rc ProjName.rc" />
-</Target>
-```
-
-This event runs a script which generates a resource.h and ProjName.rc in the `Generated Files` folder using the strings in all the resx files along with the existing information in resource.base.h and ProjName.base.rc. The script is [convert-resx-to-rc.ps1](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/tools/build/convert-resx-to-rc.ps1). The script uses [`resgen`](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/tools/resgen-exe-resource-file-generator#Convert) to convert the resx file to a string table expected in the .rc file format. When the resources are added to the rc file the `IDS_` prefix is added and resource names are in upper case (as it was originally). Any occurrences of `"` in the string resource is escaped as `""` to prevent build errors. The string tables are added to the rc file in the following format:
-```
-#if !defined(AFX_RESOURCE_DLL) || defined(AFX_TARG_ENU)
-LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
-
-STRINGTABLE
-BEGIN
-    strings
-END
-
-#endif
-```
-Since there is no API to identify the `AFX_TARG_*`, `LANG_*` or `SUBLANG_*` values from each langId from the pipeline, these are hardcoded in the script (for each language) as done in [lines 50-77 of `convert-resx-to-rc.ps1`](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/f92bd6ffd38014c228544bb8d68d0937ce4c2b6d/tools/build/convert-resx-to-rc.ps1#L50-L77). **If any other languages are added in the future, this script will have to be updated.** In order to determine what are the language codes, you can open the rc file in Resource View, right click the string table and press `Insert Copy` and choose the corresponding language. This autogenerates the required code and can be used to figure out the language codes. The files also add the resource declarations to a resource.h file, starting from 101 by default(this can be changed by an optional argument). Since the output files will be generated in `Generated Files`, any includes in these two files will require an additional `..\` and wherever resource.h is used, it will have to be included as `Generated Files\resource.h`. While adding `resource.base.h` and `ProjName.base.rc` to the vcxproj, these should be modified to not participate in the build to avoid build errors:
-```
-<None Include="Resources.resx" />
-```
-
-Some rc/resource.h files might be used in multiple projects (for example, KBM). To ensure the projects build for these cases, the build event can be added to the entire directory so that the rc files are generated before any project is built. See [Directory.Build.targets](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/src/modules/keyboardmanager/Directory.Build.targets) for an example.
-
-Check [this PR](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/pull/6104) for an example for making these changes for a C++ project.
-
-### C#
-Since C# projects natively support `resx` files, the only step required here is to include all the resx files in the build. For .NET Core projects this is done automatically and the .csproj does not need to be modified. For other projects, the following line needs to be added:
-```
-<EmbeddedResource Include="Properties\Resources.*.resx" />
-```
-
-**Note:** Building with localized resources may cause a build warning `Referenced assembly 'mscorlib.dll' targets a different processor` which is a VS bug. More details can be found in [PowerToys issue #7269](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/7269).
-
-**Note:** If a project needs to be migrated from XAML resources to resx, the easiest way to convert the resources would be to change to format to `=` separates resources by either manually (by Ctrl+H on a text editor), or by a script, and then running [`resgen`](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/tools/resgen-exe-resource-file-generator#Convert) on `Developer Command Prompt for VS` to convert it to resx format.
-```
-<system:String x:Key="wox_plugin_calculator_plugin_name">Calculator</system:String>
-<system:String x:Key="wox_plugin_calculator_plugin_description">Allows to do mathematical calculations.(Try 5*3-2 in Wox)</system:String>
-<system:String x:Key="wox_plugin_calculator_not_a_number">Not a number (NaN)</system:String>
-```
-to
-```
-wox_plugin_calculator_plugin_name=Calculator
-wox_plugin_calculator_plugin_description=Allows to do mathematical calculations.(Try 5*3-2 in Wox)
-wox_plugin_calculator_not_a_number=Not a number (NaN)
-```
-After adding the resx file to the project along with the resource generator, references to the strings will have to be replaced with `Properties.Resources.resName` rather than the custom APIs. Check [this PR](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/pull/6165) for an example of the changes required.
-
-### UWP
-UWP projects expect `resw` files rather than `resx` (the format is almost the same). Unlike other C# projects, the files are expected in the format `fullLangId\Resources.resw`. To include these files in the build, replace the following line in the csproj:
-```
-<PRIResource Include="Strings\en-us\Resources.resw" />
-```
-to
-```
-<PRIResource Include="Strings\*\Resources.resw" />
-```
-
-## Lcl Files
-Lcl files contain all the resources that are present in the English resx file, along with a translation if it has been added.
-
-For example, an entry for a resource in the lcl file looks like this:
-```
-<Item ItemId=";EditKeyboard_WindowName" ItemType="0;.resx" PsrId="211" Leaf="true">
-    <Str Cat="Text">
-        <Val><![CDATA[Remap keys]]></Val>
-        <Tgt Cat="Text" Stat="Loc" Orig="New">
-            <Val><![CDATA[Remapper des touches]]></Val>
-        </Tgt>
-    </Str>
-    <Disp Icon="Str" />
-</Item>
-```
-The `<Tgt>` element would not be present in the initial commits of the lcl files, as only the English version of the string would be present.
-
-**Note:** The CDPX Localization system has a fail-safe check on the lcl files, where if the English string value which is present inside `<Val><![CDATA[*]]></Val>` does not match the value present in the English Resources.resx file then the translated value will not be copied to the localized resx file. This is present so that obsolete translations would not be loaded when the English resource has changed, and the English string will be used rather than the obsolete translation.
-
-## Possible Issues in localization PRs (LEGO)
-Since the LEGO PRs update some of the strings in LCL files at a time, there can be multiple PRs which modify the same files, leading to merge conflicts. In most cases this would show up on GitHub as a merge conflict, but sometimes a bad git merge may occur, and the file could end up with incorrect formatting, such as two `<Tgt>` elements for a single resource. These can be fixed by ensuring the elements follow the format described in [this section](#lcl-files). To catch such errors, the build farm should be run for every LEGO PR and if any error occurs in the localization step, we should check the corresponding resx/lcl files for conflicts.
-
-## Enabling localized MSI for a new project
-For C++ and UWP projects no additional files are generated with localization that need to be added to the MSI. For C++ projects all the resources are added to the dll/exe, while for UWP projects they are added to the `resources.pri` file (which is present even for an unlocalized project). To verify if the localized resources are added to the `resources.pri` file the following steps can be done:
-- Open `Developer Command Prompt for VS`
-- After navigating to the folder containing the pri file, run the following command:
-
-        makepri.exe dump /if .\resources.pri
-- Check the contents of the `resources.pri.xml` file that is generated from the command. The last section of the file will contain the resources with the strings in all the languages:
-```
-<NamedResource name="GeneralSettings_RunningAsAdminText" uri="ms-resource://f4f787a5-f0ae-47a9-be89-5408b1dd2b47/Resources/GeneralSettings_RunningAsAdminText">
-    <Candidate qualifiers="Language-FR" type="String">
-        <Value>Running as administrator</Value>
-    </Candidate>
-    <Candidate qualifiers="Language-EN-US" isDefault="true" type="String">
-        <Value>Running as administrator</Value>
-    </Candidate>
-</NamedResource>
-```
-
-For C# projects, satellite dlls are generated when the project is built. For a project named `ProjName`, files are created in the format `langId\ProjName.resources.dll` where `langId` is in the same format as the lcl files. The satellite dlls need to be included with the MSI, but they must be added only if the solution is built from the build farm, as the localized resx files will not be present on local machines (and that could cause local builds of the installer to fail).
-This can be done by adding the directory name of the project to [Product.wxs near line 806](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/f92bd6ffd38014c228544bb8d68d0937ce4c2b6d/installer/PowerToysSetup/Product.wxs#L806) and a resource component for the project can be created in [Product.wxs near lines 845-847](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/f92bd6ffd38014c228544bb8d68d0937ce4c2b6d/installer/PowerToysSetup/Product.wxs#L845-L847) in this format:
-```
-<Component Id="ProjName_$(var.IdSafeLanguage)_Component" Directory="Resource$(var.IdSafeLanguage)ProjNameInstallFolder">
-    <File Id="ProjName_$(var.IdSafeLanguage)_File" Source="$(var.BinX64Dir)modules\ProjName\$(var.Language)\ProjName.resources.dll" />
-</Component>
-```
-
-We should also ensure the new dlls are signed by the pipeline. Currently all dlls of the form [`*.resources.dll` are signed](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/f92bd6ffd38014c228544bb8d68d0937ce4c2b6d/.pipelines/pipeline.user.windows.yml#L68).
-
-**Note:** The resource dlls should be added to the MSI project only after the initial commit with the lcl files has been done by the Localization team. Otherwise, the pipeline will fail as there wouldn't be any resx files to generate the dlls.

doc/devdocs/modules/alwaysontop.md

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ The module provides a user interface for configuring settings in the PowerToys S
 ### Building and Testing
 
 1. Clone the repository: `git clone https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys.git`
-2. Open PowerToys.sln in Visual Studio
+2. Open PowerToys.slnx in Visual Studio
 3. Select the Release configuration and build the solution
 4. Run PowerToys.exe from the output directory to test the module
 

doc/devdocs/modules/fancyzones.md

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ FancyZones is divided into several projects:
    ```
    git clone https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys.git
    ```
-2. Open `PowerToys.sln` in Visual Studio
+2. Open `PowerToys.slnx` in Visual Studio
 3. Select the Release configuration and build the solution
 4. If you encounter build errors, try deleting the x64 output folder and rebuild
 
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ UI tests are implemented using [Windows Application Driver](https://github.com/m
   
   - Exit PowerToys if it's running
   - Run WinAppDriver.exe from the installation directory. Skip this step if installed in the default directory (`C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Application Driver`); in this case, it'll be launched automatically during tests.
-  - Open `PowerToys.sln` in Visual Studio and build the solution.
+  - Open `PowerToys.slnx` in Visual Studio and build the solution.
   - Run tests in the Test Explorer (`Test > Test Explorer` or `Ctrl+E, T`). 
 
 >Note: notifications or other application windows, that are shown above the window under test, can disrupt the testing process.

doc/devdocs/modules/keyboardmanager/debug.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Keyboard Manager consists of two main components:
 ## Development Environment Setup
 
 1. Clone the PowerToys repository
-2. Open `PowerToys.sln` in Visual Studio
+2. Open `PowerToys.slnx` in Visual Studio
 3. Ensure all NuGet packages are restored
 4. Build the entire solution in Debug configuration
 
@@ -91,4 +91,4 @@ If you encounter issues with multiple instances, check the mutex logic in `Keybo
 
 To debug both the Editor and Engine:
 1. Launch the Engine first in debug mode
-2. Attach the debugger to the Editor process when it starts
+2. Attach the debugger to the Editor process when it starts

doc/devdocs/modules/lightswitch.md

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ The module’s settings are exposed in the PowerToys Settings UI. Options includ
 3. Build the solution:
 
    ```sh
-   msbuild -restore -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true -p:Platform=ARM64 -m PowerToys.sln
+   msbuild -restore -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true -p:Platform=ARM64 -m PowerToys.slnx
    ```
 
    > Note: This may take some time.

doc/devdocs/modules/screenruler.md

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ The Screen Ruler module consists of several components:
 
 ### Building
 
-1. Open PowerToys.sln in Visual Studio
+1. Open PowerToys.slnx in Visual Studio
 2. In the Solutions Configuration drop-down menu, select Release or Debug
 3. From the Build menu, choose Build Solution
 4. The executable app for Screen Ruler is named PowerToys.MeasureToolUI.exe

doc/devdocs/modules/shortcut_guide.md

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Shortcut Guide is a PowerToy that displays an overlay of available keyboard shor
 ## Build and Debug Instructions
 
 ### Build
-1. Open PowerToys.sln in Visual Studio
+1. Open PowerToys.slnx in Visual Studio
 2. Select Release or Debug in the Solutions Configuration drop-down menu
 3. From the Build menu, choose Build Solution
 4. The executable is named PowerToys.ShortcutGuide.exe

doc/devdocs/readme.md

@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ Welcome to the PowerToys developer documentation. This documentation provides in
 - [Update Process](processes/update-process.md) - How PowerToys updates work
 - [GPO Implementation](processes/gpo.md) - Group Policy Objects implementation details
 
+## Other Resources
+
+- [aka.ms links](akaLinks.md) - List of short links
+- [Issue/PR commands](commands.md) - Special commands for managing issues and pull requests
+
 ## Fork, Clone, Branch and Create your PR
 
 Once you've discussed your proposed feature/fix/etc. with a team member, and an approach or a spec has been written and approved, it's time to start development:
@@ -80,7 +85,7 @@ Once you've discussed your proposed feature/fix/etc. with a team member, and an
 
 ### Install Visual Studio dependencies
 
-1. Open the `PowerToys.sln` file.
+1. Open the `PowerToys.slnx` file.
 1. If you see a dialog that says `install extra components` in the solution explorer pane, click `install`
 
 ### Get Submodules to compile
@@ -93,7 +98,7 @@ We have submodules that need to be initialized before you can compile most parts
 
 ### Compiling Source Code
 
-- Open `PowerToys.sln` in Visual Studio.
+- Open `PowerToys.slnx` in Visual Studio.
 - In the `Solutions Configuration` drop-down menu select `Release` or `Debug`.
 - From the `Build` menu choose `Build Solution`, or press <kbd>Control</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>b</kbd> on your keyboard.
 - The build process may take several minutes depending on your computer's performance. Once it completes, the PowerToys binaries will be in your repo under `x64\Release\`.
@@ -107,10 +112,10 @@ Our installer is two parts, an EXE and an MSI.  The EXE (Bootstrapper) contains
 
 The installer can only be compiled in `Release` mode; steps 1 and 2 must be performed before the MSI can be compiled.
 
-1. Compile `PowerToys.sln`. Instructions are listed above.
+1. Compile `PowerToys.slnx`. Instructions are listed above.
 1. Compile `BugReportTool.sln` tool. Path from root: `tools\BugReportTool\BugReportTool.sln` (details listed below)
 1. Compile `StylesReportTool.sln` tool. Path from root: `tools\StylesReportTool\StylesReportTool.sln` (details listed below)
-1. Compile `PowerToysSetup.sln` Path from root: `installer\PowerToysSetup.sln` (details listed below)
+1. Compile `PowerToysSetup.slnx` Path from root: `installer\PowerToysSetup.slnx` (details listed below)
 
 See [Installer](core/installer.md) for more details on building and debugging the installer.
 

doc/thirdPartyRunPlugins.md

@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ Contact the developers of a plugin directly for assistance with a specific plugi
 | [RandomGen](https://github.com/ruslanlap/PowerToysRun-RandomGen) | [ruslanlap](https://github.com/ruslanlap) | 🎲 Generate random data instantly with a single keystroke. Perfect for developers, testers, designers, and anyone who needs quick access to random data. Features include secure passwords, PINs, names, business data, dates, numbers, GUIDs, color codes, and more. Especially useful for designers who need random color codes and placeholder content. |
 | [Open With Cursor](https://github.com/VictorNoxx/PowerToys-Run-Cursor/) | [VictorNoxx](https://github.com/VictorNoxx) | Open Visual Studio, VS Code recents with Cursor AI |
 | [CheatSheets](https://github.com/ruslanlap/PowerToysRun-CheatSheets) | [ruslanlap](https://github.com/ruslanlap) | 📚 Find cheat sheets and command examples instantly from tldr pages, cheat.sh, and devhints.io. Features include favorites system, categories, offline mode, and smart caching. |
+| [QuickAI](https://github.com/ruslanlap/PowerToysRun-QuickAi) | [ruslanlap](https://github.com/ruslanlap) | AI-powered assistance with instant, smart responses from multiple providers (Groq, Together, Fireworks, OpenRouter, Cohere) |
 
 ## Extending software plugins
 

installer/PowerToysSetup.sln

@@ -1,96 +0,0 @@
-Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
-# Visual Studio Version 17
-VisualStudioVersion = 17.1.32414.318
-MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1
-Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "spdlog", "..\src\logging\logging.vcxproj", "{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}"
-EndProject
-Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "logger", "..\src\common\logger\logger.vcxproj", "{D9B8FC84-322A-4F9F-BBB9-20915C47DDFD}"
-EndProject
-Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "Version", "..\src\common\version\version.vcxproj", "{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}"
-EndProject
-Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "EtwTrace", "..\src\common\Telemetry\EtwTrace\EtwTrace.vcxproj", "{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}"
-EndProject
-Project("{930C7802-8A8C-48F9-8165-68863BCCD9DD}") = "PowerToysInstallerVNext", "PowerToysSetupVNext\PowerToysInstallerVNext.wixproj", "{B6E94700-DF38-41F6-A3FD-18B69674AB1E}"
-EndProject
-Project("{930C7802-8A8C-48F9-8165-68863BCCD9DD}") = "PowerToysBootstrapperVNext", "PowerToysSetupVNext\PowerToysBootstrapperVNext.wixproj", "{DA4E9744-80BE-424C-B0F5-AFD8757DB575}"
-EndProject
-Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "PowerToysSetupCustomActionsVNext", "PowerToysSetupCustomActionsVNext\PowerToysSetupCustomActionsVNext.vcxproj", "{B3A354B0-1E54-4B55-A962-FB5AF9330C19}"
-EndProject
-Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "SilentFilesInUseBAFunction", "PowerToysSetupVNext\SilentFilesInUseBA\SilentFilesInUseBAFunction.vcxproj", "{F8B9F842-F5C3-4A2D-8C85-7F8B9E2B4F1D}"
-EndProject
-Global
-	GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
-		Debug|ARM64 = Debug|ARM64
-		Debug|x64 = Debug|x64
-		Release|ARM64 = Release|ARM64
-		Release|x64 = Release|x64
-	EndGlobalSection
-	GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Debug|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Debug|ARM64
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Debug|x64.ActiveCfg = Debug|x64
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Debug|x64.Build.0 = Debug|x64
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Release|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Release|ARM64
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Release|ARM64.Build.0 = Release|ARM64
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Release|x64.ActiveCfg = Release|x64
-		{7E1E3F13-2BD6-3F75-A6A7-873A2B55C60F}.Release|x64.Build.0 = Release|x64
-		{D9B8FC84-322A-4F9F-BBB9-20915C47DDFD}.Debug|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Debug|ARM64
-		{D9B8FC84-322A-4F9F-BBB9-20915C47DDFD}.Debug|x64.ActiveCfg = Debug|x64
-		{D9B8FC84-322A-4F9F-BBB9-20915C47DDFD}.Debug|x64.Build.0 = Debug|x64
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-		{D9B8FC84-322A-4F9F-BBB9-20915C47DDFD}.Release|x64.Build.0 = Release|x64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Debug|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Debug|ARM64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Debug|ARM64.Build.0 = Debug|ARM64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Debug|x64.ActiveCfg = Debug|x64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Debug|x64.Build.0 = Debug|x64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Release|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Release|ARM64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Release|ARM64.Build.0 = Release|ARM64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Release|x64.ActiveCfg = Release|x64
-		{CC6E41AC-8174-4E8A-8D22-85DD7F4851DF}.Release|x64.Build.0 = Release|x64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Debug|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Debug|ARM64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Debug|ARM64.Build.0 = Debug|ARM64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Debug|x64.ActiveCfg = Debug|x64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Debug|x64.Build.0 = Debug|x64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Release|ARM64.ActiveCfg = Release|ARM64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Release|ARM64.Build.0 = Release|ARM64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Release|x64.ActiveCfg = Release|x64
-		{8F021B46-362B-485C-BFBA-CCF83E820CBD}.Release|x64.Build.0 = Release|x64
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-		{B6E94700-DF38-41F6-A3FD-18B69674AB1E}.Debug|x64.Build.0 = Debug|x64
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-	GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
-		HideSolutionNode = FALSE
-	EndGlobalSection
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-	EndGlobalSection
-EndGlobal

installer/PowerToysSetup.slnx

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<Solution>
+  <Configurations>
+    <Platform Name="ARM64" />
+    <Platform Name="x64" />
+  </Configurations>
+  <Project Path="../src/common/logger/logger.vcxproj" Id="d9b8fc84-322a-4f9f-bbb9-20915c47ddfd">
+    <Build Solution="Debug|ARM64" Project="false" />
+  </Project>
+  <Project Path="../src/common/Telemetry/EtwTrace/EtwTrace.vcxproj" Id="8f021b46-362b-485c-bfba-ccf83e820cbd" />
+  <Project Path="../src/common/version/version.vcxproj" Id="cc6e41ac-8174-4e8a-8d22-85dd7f4851df" />
+  <Project Path="../src/logging/logging.vcxproj" Id="7e1e3f13-2bd6-3f75-a6a7-873a2b55c60f">
+    <Build Solution="Debug|ARM64" Project="false" />
+  </Project>
+  <Project Path="PowerToysSetupCustomActionsVNext/PowerToysSetupCustomActionsVNext.vcxproj" Id="b3a354b0-1e54-4b55-a962-fb5af9330c19">
+    <Build Solution="Debug|ARM64" Project="false" />
+  </Project>
+  <Project Path="PowerToysSetupVNext/PowerToysBootstrapperVNext.wixproj" Type="b7dd6f7e-def8-4e67-b5b7-07ef123db6f0" />
+  <Project Path="PowerToysSetupVNext/PowerToysInstallerVNext.wixproj" Type="b7dd6f7e-def8-4e67-b5b7-07ef123db6f0" />
+  <Project Path="PowerToysSetupVNext/SilentFilesInUseBA/SilentFilesInUseBAFunction.vcxproj" Id="f8b9f842-f5c3-4a2d-8c85-7f8b9e2b4f1d">
+    <Build Solution="Debug|ARM64" Project="false" />
+  </Project>
+</Solution>

installer/PowerToysSetupVNext/Product.wxs

@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
       <Custom Action="SetBundleInstallLocation" After="InstallFiles" Condition="NOT Installed OR WIX_UPGRADE_DETECTED" />
       <Custom Action="ApplyModulesRegistryChangeSets" After="InstallFiles" Condition="NOT Installed" />
       <Custom Action="InstallCmdPalPackage" After="InstallFiles" Condition="NOT Installed" />
-      <Custom Action="InstallPackageIdentityMSIX" After="InstallFiles" Condition="NOT Installed" />
+      <Custom Action="InstallPackageIdentityMSIX" After="InstallFiles" Condition="NOT Installed AND WINDOWSBUILDNUMBER &gt;= 22000" />
       <Custom Action="override Wix4CloseApplications_$(sys.BUILDARCHSHORT)" Before="RemoveFiles" />
       <Custom Action="RemovePowerToysSchTasks" After="RemoveFiles" />
       <!-- TODO: Use to activate embedded MSIX -->

src/common/ManagedCsWin32/CLSID.cs

@@ -16,4 +16,5 @@ public static partial class CLSID
     public static readonly Guid CollatorDataSource = new Guid("9E175B8B-F52A-11D8-B9A5-505054503030");
     public static readonly Guid ApplicationActivationManager = new Guid("45BA127D-10A8-46EA-8AB7-56EA9078943C");
     public static readonly Guid VirtualDesktopManager = new("aa509086-5ca9-4c25-8f95-589d3c07b48a");
+    public static readonly Guid DesktopWallpaper = new("C2CF3110-460E-4FC1-B9D0-8A1C0C9CC4BD");
 }

src/common/ManagedCsWin32/Ole32.cs

@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ public static partial class Ole32
         CLSCTX dwClsContext,
         ref Guid riid,
         out IntPtr rReturnedComObject);
+
+    [LibraryImport("ole32.dll")]
+    internal static partial int CoInitializeEx(nint pvReserved, uint dwCoInit);
+
+    [LibraryImport("ole32.dll")]
+    internal static partial void CoUninitialize();
 }
 
 [Flags]

src/common/UITestAutomation/ScreenRecording.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,399 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Diagnostics;
+using System.Drawing;
+using System.Drawing.Imaging;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Provides methods for recording the screen during UI tests.
+    /// Requires FFmpeg to be installed and available in PATH.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal class ScreenRecording : IDisposable
+    {
+        private readonly string outputDirectory;
+        private readonly string framesDirectory;
+        private readonly string outputFilePath;
+        private readonly List<string> capturedFrames;
+        private readonly SemaphoreSlim recordingLock = new(1, 1);
+        private readonly Stopwatch recordingStopwatch = new();
+        private readonly string? ffmpegPath;
+        private CancellationTokenSource? recordingCancellation;
+        private Task? recordingTask;
+        private bool isRecording;
+        private int frameCount;
+
+        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
+        private static extern IntPtr GetDC(IntPtr hWnd);
+
+        [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
+        private static extern int GetDeviceCaps(IntPtr hdc, int nIndex);
+
+        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
+        private static extern IntPtr ReleaseDC(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hDC);
+
+        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
+        private static extern bool GetCursorInfo(out ScreenCapture.CURSORINFO pci);
+
+        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
+        private static extern bool DrawIconEx(IntPtr hdc, int x, int y, IntPtr hIcon, int cx, int cy, int istepIfAniCur, IntPtr hbrFlickerFreeDraw, int diFlags);
+
+        private const int CURSORSHOWING = 0x00000001;
+        private const int DESKTOPHORZRES = 118;
+        private const int DESKTOPVERTRES = 117;
+        private const int DINORMAL = 0x0003;
+        private const int TargetFps = 15; // 15 FPS for good balance of quality and size
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="ScreenRecording"/> class.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="outputDirectory">Directory where the recording will be saved.</param>
+        public ScreenRecording(string outputDirectory)
+        {
+            this.outputDirectory = outputDirectory;
+            string timestamp = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss");
+            framesDirectory = Path.Combine(outputDirectory, $"frames_{timestamp}");
+            outputFilePath = Path.Combine(outputDirectory, $"recording_{timestamp}.mp4");
+            capturedFrames = new List<string>();
+            frameCount = 0;
+
+            // Check if FFmpeg is available
+            ffmpegPath = FindFfmpeg();
+            if (ffmpegPath == null)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine("FFmpeg not found. Screen recording will be disabled.");
+                Console.WriteLine("To enable video recording, install FFmpeg: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html");
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets a value indicating whether screen recording is available (FFmpeg found).
+        /// </summary>
+        public bool IsAvailable => ffmpegPath != null;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Starts recording the screen.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <returns>A task representing the asynchronous operation.</returns>
+        public async Task StartRecordingAsync()
+        {
+            await recordingLock.WaitAsync();
+            try
+            {
+                if (isRecording || !IsAvailable)
+                {
+                    return;
+                }
+
+                // Create frames directory
+                Directory.CreateDirectory(framesDirectory);
+
+                recordingCancellation = new CancellationTokenSource();
+                isRecording = true;
+                recordingStopwatch.Start();
+
+                // Start the recording task
+                recordingTask = Task.Run(() => RecordFrames(recordingCancellation.Token));
+
+                Console.WriteLine($"Started screen recording at {TargetFps} FPS");
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine($"Failed to start recording: {ex.Message}");
+                isRecording = false;
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                recordingLock.Release();
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Stops recording and encodes video.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <returns>A task representing the asynchronous operation.</returns>
+        public async Task StopRecordingAsync()
+        {
+            await recordingLock.WaitAsync();
+            try
+            {
+                if (!isRecording || recordingCancellation == null)
+                {
+                    return;
+                }
+
+                // Signal cancellation
+                recordingCancellation.Cancel();
+
+                // Wait for recording task to complete
+                if (recordingTask != null)
+                {
+                    await recordingTask;
+                }
+
+                recordingStopwatch.Stop();
+                isRecording = false;
+
+                double duration = recordingStopwatch.Elapsed.TotalSeconds;
+                Console.WriteLine($"Recording stopped. Captured {capturedFrames.Count} frames in {duration:F2} seconds");
+
+                // Encode to video
+                await EncodeToVideoAsync();
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine($"Error stopping recording: {ex.Message}");
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                Cleanup();
+                recordingLock.Release();
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Records frames from the screen.
+        /// </summary>
+        private void RecordFrames(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                int frameInterval = 1000 / TargetFps;
+                var frameTimer = Stopwatch.StartNew();
+
+                while (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+                {
+                    var frameStart = frameTimer.ElapsedMilliseconds;
+
+                    try
+                    {
+                        CaptureFrame();
+                    }
+                    catch (Exception ex)
+                    {
+                        Console.WriteLine($"Error capturing frame: {ex.Message}");
+                    }
+
+                    // Sleep for remaining time to maintain target FPS
+                    var frameTime = frameTimer.ElapsedMilliseconds - frameStart;
+                    var sleepTime = Math.Max(0, frameInterval - (int)frameTime);
+
+                    if (sleepTime > 0)
+                    {
+                        Thread.Sleep(sleepTime);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            catch (OperationCanceledException)
+            {
+                // Expected when stopping
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine($"Error during recording: {ex.Message}");
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Captures a single frame.
+        /// </summary>
+        private void CaptureFrame()
+        {
+            IntPtr hdc = GetDC(IntPtr.Zero);
+            int screenWidth = GetDeviceCaps(hdc, DESKTOPHORZRES);
+            int screenHeight = GetDeviceCaps(hdc, DESKTOPVERTRES);
+            ReleaseDC(IntPtr.Zero, hdc);
+
+            Rectangle bounds = new Rectangle(0, 0, screenWidth, screenHeight);
+            using (Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(bounds.Width, bounds.Height, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb))
+            {
+                using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
+                {
+                    g.CopyFromScreen(bounds.Location, Point.Empty, bounds.Size);
+
+                    ScreenCapture.CURSORINFO cursorInfo;
+                    cursorInfo.CbSize = Marshal.SizeOf<ScreenCapture.CURSORINFO>();
+                    if (GetCursorInfo(out cursorInfo) && cursorInfo.Flags == CURSORSHOWING)
+                    {
+                        IntPtr hdcDest = g.GetHdc();
+                        DrawIconEx(hdcDest, cursorInfo.PTScreenPos.X, cursorInfo.PTScreenPos.Y, cursorInfo.HCursor, 0, 0, 0, IntPtr.Zero, DINORMAL);
+                        g.ReleaseHdc(hdcDest);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                string framePath = Path.Combine(framesDirectory, $"frame_{frameCount:D6}.jpg");
+                bitmap.Save(framePath, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
+                capturedFrames.Add(framePath);
+                frameCount++;
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Encodes captured frames to video using ffmpeg.
+        /// </summary>
+        private async Task EncodeToVideoAsync()
+        {
+            if (capturedFrames.Count == 0)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine("No frames captured");
+                return;
+            }
+
+            try
+            {
+                // Build ffmpeg command with proper non-interactive flags
+                string inputPattern = Path.Combine(framesDirectory, "frame_%06d.jpg");
+
+                // -y: overwrite without asking
+                // -nostdin: disable interaction
+                // -loglevel error: only show errors
+                // -stats: show encoding progress
+                string args = $"-y -nostdin -loglevel error -stats -framerate {TargetFps} -i \"{inputPattern}\" -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 23 \"{outputFilePath}\"";
+
+                Console.WriteLine($"Encoding {capturedFrames.Count} frames to video...");
+
+                var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
+                {
+                    FileName = ffmpegPath!,
+                    Arguments = args,
+                    UseShellExecute = false,
+                    RedirectStandardOutput = true,
+                    RedirectStandardError = true,
+                    RedirectStandardInput = true, // Important: redirect stdin to prevent hanging
+                    CreateNoWindow = true,
+                };
+
+                using var process = Process.Start(startInfo);
+                if (process != null)
+                {
+                    // Close stdin immediately to ensure FFmpeg doesn't wait for input
+                    process.StandardInput.Close();
+
+                    // Read output streams asynchronously to prevent deadlock
+                    var outputTask = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEndAsync();
+                    var errorTask = process.StandardError.ReadToEndAsync();
+
+                    // Wait for process to exit
+                    await process.WaitForExitAsync();
+
+                    // Get the output
+                    string stdout = await outputTask;
+                    string stderr = await errorTask;
+
+                    if (process.ExitCode == 0 && File.Exists(outputFilePath))
+                    {
+                        var fileInfo = new FileInfo(outputFilePath);
+                        Console.WriteLine($"Video created: {outputFilePath} ({fileInfo.Length / 1024 / 1024:F1} MB)");
+                    }
+                    else
+                    {
+                        Console.WriteLine($"FFmpeg encoding failed with exit code {process.ExitCode}");
+                        if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(stderr))
+                        {
+                            Console.WriteLine($"FFmpeg error: {stderr}");
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine($"Error encoding video: {ex.Message}");
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Finds ffmpeg executable.
+        /// </summary>
+        private static string? FindFfmpeg()
+        {
+            // Check if ffmpeg is in PATH
+            var pathDirs = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH")?.Split(Path.PathSeparator) ?? Array.Empty<string>();
+
+            foreach (var dir in pathDirs)
+            {
+                var ffmpegPath = Path.Combine(dir, "ffmpeg.exe");
+                if (File.Exists(ffmpegPath))
+                {
+                    return ffmpegPath;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Check common installation locations
+            var commonPaths = new[]
+            {
+                @"C:\.tools\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe",
+                @"C:\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe",
+                @"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe",
+                @"C:\Program Files (x86)\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe",
+                @$"{Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData)}\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\ffmpeg.exe",
+            };
+
+            foreach (var path in commonPaths)
+            {
+                if (File.Exists(path))
+                {
+                    return path;
+                }
+            }
+
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets the path to the recorded video file.
+        /// </summary>
+        public string OutputFilePath => outputFilePath;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets the directory containing recordings.
+        /// </summary>
+        public string OutputDirectory => outputDirectory;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Cleans up resources.
+        /// </summary>
+        private void Cleanup()
+        {
+            recordingCancellation?.Dispose();
+            recordingCancellation = null;
+            recordingTask = null;
+
+            // Clean up frames directory if it exists
+            try
+            {
+                if (Directory.Exists(framesDirectory))
+                {
+                    Directory.Delete(framesDirectory, true);
+                }
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                Console.WriteLine($"Failed to cleanup frames directory: {ex.Message}");
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Disposes resources.
+        /// </summary>
+        public void Dispose()
+        {
+            if (isRecording)
+            {
+                StopRecordingAsync().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
+            }
+
+            Cleanup();
+            recordingLock.Dispose();
+            GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
+        }
+    }
+}

src/common/UITestAutomation/SessionHelper.cs

@@ -130,9 +130,13 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="appPath">The path to the application executable.</param>
         /// <param name="args">Optional command line arguments to pass to the application.</param>
-        public void StartExe(string appPath, string[]? args = null)
+        public void StartExe(string appPath, string[]? args = null, string? enableModules = null)
         {
             var opts = new AppiumOptions();
+            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(enableModules))
+            {
+                opts.AddAdditionalCapability("enableModules", enableModules);
+            }
 
             if (scope == PowerToysModule.PowerToysSettings)
             {
@@ -169,27 +173,66 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
 
         private void TryLaunchPowerToysSettings(AppiumOptions opts)
         {
-            try
+            if (opts.ToCapabilities().HasCapability("enableModules"))
             {
-                var runnerProcessInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
+                var modulesString = (string)opts.ToCapabilities().GetCapability("enableModules");
+                var modulesArray = modulesString.Split(',', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries | StringSplitOptions.TrimEntries);
+                SettingsConfigHelper.ConfigureGlobalModuleSettings(modulesArray);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                SettingsConfigHelper.ConfigureGlobalModuleSettings();
+            }
+
+            const int maxTries = 3;
+            const int delayMs = 5000;
+            const int maxRetries = 3;
+
+            for (int tryCount = 1; tryCount <= maxTries; tryCount++)
+            {
+                try
                 {
-                    FileName = locationPath + runnerPath,
-                    Verb = "runas",
-                    Arguments = "--open-settings",
-                };
+                    var runnerProcessInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
+                    {
+                        FileName = locationPath + runnerPath,
+                        Verb = "runas",
+                        Arguments = "--open-settings",
+                    };
 
-                ExitExe(runnerProcessInfo.FileName);
-                runner = Process.Start(runnerProcessInfo);
+                    ExitExe(runnerProcessInfo.FileName);
 
-                WaitForWindowAndSetCapability(opts, "PowerToys Settings", 5000, 5);
+                    // Verify process was killed
+                    string exeName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(runnerProcessInfo.FileName);
+                    var remainingProcesses = Process.GetProcessesByName(exeName);
 
-                // Exit CmdPal UI before launching new process if use installer for test
-                ExitExeByName("Microsoft.CmdPal.UI");
-            }
-            catch (Exception ex)
-            {
-                throw new InvalidOperationException($"Failed to launch PowerToys Settings: {ex.Message}", ex);
+                    runner = Process.Start(runnerProcessInfo);
+
+                    if (WaitForWindowAndSetCapability(opts, "PowerToys Settings", delayMs, maxRetries))
+                    {
+                        // Exit CmdPal UI before launching new process if use installer for test
+                        ExitExeByName("Microsoft.CmdPal.UI");
+                        return;
+                    }
+
+                    // Window not found, kill all PowerToys processes and retry
+                    if (tryCount < maxTries)
+                    {
+                        KillPowerToysProcesses();
+                    }
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    if (tryCount == maxTries)
+                    {
+                        throw new InvalidOperationException($"Failed to launch PowerToys Settings after {maxTries} attempts: {ex.Message}", ex);
+                    }
+
+                    // Kill processes and retry
+                    KillPowerToysProcesses();
+                }
             }
+
+            throw new InvalidOperationException($"Failed to launch PowerToys Settings: Window not found after {maxTries} attempts.");
         }
 
         private void TryLaunchCommandPalette(AppiumOptions opts)
@@ -211,7 +254,10 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
                 var process = Process.Start(processStartInfo);
                 process?.WaitForExit();
 
-                WaitForWindowAndSetCapability(opts, "Command Palette", 5000, 10);
+                if (!WaitForWindowAndSetCapability(opts, "Command Palette", 5000, 10))
+                {
+                    throw new TimeoutException("Failed to find Command Palette window after multiple attempts.");
+                }
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
             {
@@ -219,7 +265,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
             }
         }
 
-        private void WaitForWindowAndSetCapability(AppiumOptions opts, string windowName, int delayMs, int maxRetries)
+        private bool WaitForWindowAndSetCapability(AppiumOptions opts, string windowName, int delayMs, int maxRetries)
         {
             for (int attempt = 1; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++)
             {
@@ -230,18 +276,16 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
                 {
                     var hexHwnd = window[0].HWnd.ToString("x");
                     opts.AddAdditionalCapability("appTopLevelWindow", hexHwnd);
-                    return;
+                    return true;
                 }
 
                 if (attempt < maxRetries)
                 {
                     Thread.Sleep(delayMs);
                 }
-                else
-                {
-                    throw new TimeoutException($"Failed to find {windowName} window after multiple attempts.");
-                }
             }
+
+            return false;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -292,17 +336,17 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
             catch (Exception ex)
             {
                 // Handle exceptions if needed
-                Debug.WriteLine($"Exception during Cleanup: {ex.Message}");
+                Console.WriteLine($"Exception during Cleanup: {ex.Message}");
             }
         }
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Restarts now exe and takes control of it.
         /// </summary>
-        public void RestartScopeExe()
+        public void RestartScopeExe(string? enableModules = null)
         {
             ExitScopeExe();
-            StartExe(locationPath + sessionPath, this.commandLineArgs);
+            StartExe(locationPath + sessionPath, commandLineArgs, enableModules);
         }
 
         public WindowsDriver<WindowsElement> GetRoot()
@@ -327,5 +371,31 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
             this.ExitExe(winAppDriverProcessInfo.FileName);
             SessionHelper.appDriver = Process.Start(winAppDriverProcessInfo);
         }
+
+        private void KillPowerToysProcesses()
+        {
+            var powerToysProcessNames = new[] { "PowerToys", "Microsoft.CmdPal.UI" };
+
+            foreach (var processName in powerToysProcessNames)
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    var processes = Process.GetProcessesByName(processName);
+
+                    foreach (var process in processes)
+                    {
+                        process.Kill();
+                        process.WaitForExit();
+                    }
+
+                    // Verify processes are actually gone
+                    var remainingProcesses = Process.GetProcessesByName(processName);
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    Console.WriteLine($"[KillPowerToysProcesses] Failed to kill process {processName}: {ex.Message}");
+                }
+            }
+        }
     }
 }

src/common/UITestAutomation/SettingsConfigHelper.cs

@@ -21,19 +21,18 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
     public class SettingsConfigHelper
     {
         private static readonly JsonSerializerOptions IndentedJsonOptions = new() { WriteIndented = true };
-        private static readonly SettingsUtils SettingsUtils = new SettingsUtils();
+        private static readonly SettingsUtils SettingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Configures global PowerToys settings to enable only specified modules and disable all others.
         /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="modulesToEnable">Array of module names to enable (e.g., "Peek", "FancyZones"). All other modules will be disabled.</param>
-        /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">Thrown when modulesToEnable is null.</exception>
+        /// <param name="modulesToEnable">Array of module names to enable (e.g., "Peek", "FancyZones"). All other modules will be disabled. If null or empty, all modules will be disabled.</param>
         /// <exception cref="InvalidOperationException">Thrown when settings file operations fail.</exception>
         [UnconditionalSuppressMessage("Trimming", "IL2026", Justification = "This is test code and will not be trimmed")]
         [UnconditionalSuppressMessage("AOT", "IL3050", Justification = "This is test code and will not be AOT compiled")]
-        public static void ConfigureGlobalModuleSettings(params string[] modulesToEnable)
+        public static void ConfigureGlobalModuleSettings(params string[]? modulesToEnable)
         {
-            ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(modulesToEnable);
+            modulesToEnable ??= Array.Empty<string>();
 
             try
             {

src/common/UITestAutomation/UITestBase.cs

@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
 
         public string? ScreenshotDirectory { get; set; }
 
+        public string? RecordingDirectory { get; set; }
+
         public static MonitorInfoData.ParamsWrapper MonitorInfoData { get; set; } = new MonitorInfoData.ParamsWrapper() { Monitors = new List<MonitorInfoData.MonitorInfoDataWrapper>() };
 
         private readonly PowerToysModule scope;
@@ -36,6 +38,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
         private readonly string[]? commandLineArgs;
         private SessionHelper? sessionHelper;
         private System.Threading.Timer? screenshotTimer;
+        private ScreenRecording? screenRecording;
 
         public UITestBase(PowerToysModule scope = PowerToysModule.PowerToysSettings, WindowSize size = WindowSize.UnSpecified, string[]? commandLineArgs = null)
         {
@@ -65,12 +68,35 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
             CloseOtherApplications();
             if (IsInPipeline)
             {
-                ScreenshotDirectory = Path.Combine(this.TestContext.TestResultsDirectory ?? string.Empty, "UITestScreenshots_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString());
+                string baseDirectory = this.TestContext.TestResultsDirectory ?? string.Empty;
+                ScreenshotDirectory = Path.Combine(baseDirectory, "UITestScreenshots_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString());
                 Directory.CreateDirectory(ScreenshotDirectory);
 
+                RecordingDirectory = Path.Combine(baseDirectory, "UITestRecordings_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString());
+                Directory.CreateDirectory(RecordingDirectory);
+
                 // Take screenshot every 1 second
                 screenshotTimer = new System.Threading.Timer(ScreenCapture.TimerCallback, ScreenshotDirectory, TimeSpan.Zero, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1000));
 
+                // Start screen recording (requires FFmpeg)
+                try
+                {
+                    screenRecording = new ScreenRecording(RecordingDirectory);
+                    if (screenRecording.IsAvailable)
+                    {
+                        _ = screenRecording.StartRecordingAsync();
+                    }
+                    else
+                    {
+                        screenRecording = null;
+                    }
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    Console.WriteLine($"Failed to start screen recording: {ex.Message}");
+                    screenRecording = null;
+                }
+
                 // Escape Popups before starting
                 System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.SendWait("{ESC}");
             }
@@ -88,15 +114,36 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
             if (IsInPipeline)
             {
                 screenshotTimer?.Change(Timeout.Infinite, Timeout.Infinite);
-                Dispose();
+
+                // Stop screen recording
+                if (screenRecording != null)
+                {
+                    try
+                    {
+                        screenRecording.StopRecordingAsync().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
+                    }
+                    catch (Exception ex)
+                    {
+                        Console.WriteLine($"Failed to stop screen recording: {ex.Message}");
+                    }
+                }
+
                 if (TestContext.CurrentTestOutcome is UnitTestOutcome.Failed
                     or UnitTestOutcome.Error
                     or UnitTestOutcome.Unknown)
                 {
                     Task.Delay(1000).Wait();
                     AddScreenShotsToTestResultsDirectory();
+                    AddRecordingsToTestResultsDirectory();
                     AddLogFilesToTestResultsDirectory();
                 }
+                else
+                {
+                    // Clean up recording if test passed
+                    CleanupRecordingDirectory();
+                }
+
+                Dispose();
             }
 
             this.Session.Cleanup();
@@ -106,6 +153,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
         public void Dispose()
         {
             screenshotTimer?.Dispose();
+            screenRecording?.Dispose();
             GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
         }
 
@@ -600,6 +648,47 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
             }
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Adds screen recordings to test results directory when test fails.
+        /// </summary>
+        protected void AddRecordingsToTestResultsDirectory()
+        {
+            if (RecordingDirectory != null && Directory.Exists(RecordingDirectory))
+            {
+                // Add video files (MP4)
+                var videoFiles = Directory.GetFiles(RecordingDirectory, "*.mp4");
+                foreach (string file in videoFiles)
+                {
+                    this.TestContext.AddResultFile(file);
+                    var fileInfo = new FileInfo(file);
+                    Console.WriteLine($"Added video recording: {Path.GetFileName(file)} ({fileInfo.Length / 1024 / 1024:F1} MB)");
+                }
+
+                if (videoFiles.Length == 0)
+                {
+                    Console.WriteLine("No video recording available (FFmpeg not found). Screenshots are still captured.");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Cleans up recording directory when test passes.
+        /// </summary>
+        private void CleanupRecordingDirectory()
+        {
+            if (RecordingDirectory != null && Directory.Exists(RecordingDirectory))
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    Directory.Delete(RecordingDirectory, true);
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    Console.WriteLine($"Failed to cleanup recording directory: {ex.Message}");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Copies PowerToys log files to test results directory when test fails.
         /// Renames files to include the directory structure after \PowerToys.
@@ -689,11 +778,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.PowerToys.UITest
         /// <summary>
         /// Restart scope exe.
         /// </summary>
-        public void RestartScopeExe()
+        public Session RestartScopeExe(string? enableModules = null)
         {
-            this.sessionHelper!.RestartScopeExe();
+            this.sessionHelper!.RestartScopeExe(enableModules);
             this.Session = new Session(this.sessionHelper.GetRoot(), this.sessionHelper.GetDriver(), this.scope, this.size);
-            return;
+            return Session;
         }
 
         /// <summary>

src/common/utils/registry.h

@@ -16,9 +16,54 @@
 
 namespace registry
 {
+    namespace detail
+    {
+        struct on_exit
+        {
+            std::function<void()> f;
+
+            on_exit(std::function<void()> f) :
+                f{ std::move(f) } {}
+            ~on_exit() { f(); }
+        };
+
+        template<class... Ts>
+        struct overloaded : Ts...
+        {
+            using Ts::operator()...;
+        };
+
+        template<class... Ts>
+        overloaded(Ts...) -> overloaded<Ts...>;
+
+        inline const wchar_t* getScopeName(HKEY scope)
+        {
+            if (scope == HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
+            {
+                return L"HKLM";
+            }
+            else if (scope == HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
+            {
+                return L"HKCU";
+            }
+            else if (scope == HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT)
+            {
+                return L"HKCR";
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                return L"HK??";
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     namespace install_scope
     {
         const wchar_t INSTALL_SCOPE_REG_KEY[] = L"Software\\Classes\\powertoys\\";
+        const wchar_t UNINSTALL_REG_KEY[] = L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall";
+        
+        // Bundle UpgradeCode from PowerToys.wxs (with braces as stored in registry)
+        const wchar_t BUNDLE_UPGRADE_CODE[] = L"{6341382D-C0A9-4238-9188-BE9607E3FAB2}";
 
         enum class InstallScope
         {
@@ -26,8 +71,67 @@ namespace registry
             PerUser,
         };
 
+        // Helper function to find PowerToys bundle in Windows Uninstall registry by BundleUpgradeCode
+        inline bool find_powertoys_bundle_in_uninstall_registry(HKEY rootKey)
+        {
+            HKEY uninstallKey{};
+            if (RegOpenKeyExW(rootKey, UNINSTALL_REG_KEY, 0, KEY_READ, &uninstallKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+            detail::on_exit closeUninstallKey{ [uninstallKey] { RegCloseKey(uninstallKey); } };
+
+            DWORD index = 0;
+            wchar_t subKeyName[256];
+
+            // Enumerate all subkeys under Uninstall
+            while (RegEnumKeyW(uninstallKey, index++, subKeyName, 256) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
+            {
+                HKEY productKey{};
+                if (RegOpenKeyExW(uninstallKey, subKeyName, 0, KEY_READ, &productKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
+                {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                detail::on_exit closeProductKey{ [productKey] { RegCloseKey(productKey); } };
+
+                // Check BundleUpgradeCode value (specific to WiX Bundle installations)
+                wchar_t bundleUpgradeCode[256]{};
+                DWORD bundleUpgradeCodeSize = sizeof(bundleUpgradeCode);
+
+                if (RegQueryValueExW(productKey, L"BundleUpgradeCode", nullptr, nullptr,
+                                    reinterpret_cast<LPBYTE>(bundleUpgradeCode), &bundleUpgradeCodeSize) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
+                {
+                    if (_wcsicmp(bundleUpgradeCode, BUNDLE_UPGRADE_CODE) == 0)
+                    {
+                        return true;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
+            return false;
+        }
+
         inline const InstallScope get_current_install_scope()
         {
+            // 1. Check HKCU Uninstall registry first (user-level bundle)
+            // Note: MSI components are always in HKLM regardless of install scope,
+            // but the Bundle entry will be in HKCU for per-user installations
+            if (find_powertoys_bundle_in_uninstall_registry(HKEY_CURRENT_USER))
+            {
+                Logger::info(L"Found user-level PowerToys bundle via BundleUpgradeCode in HKCU");
+                return InstallScope::PerUser;
+            }
+
+            // 2. Check HKLM Uninstall registry (machine-level bundle)
+            if (find_powertoys_bundle_in_uninstall_registry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE))
+            {
+                Logger::info(L"Found machine-level PowerToys bundle via BundleUpgradeCode in HKLM");
+                return InstallScope::PerMachine;
+            }
+
+            // 3. Fallback to legacy custom registry key detection
+            Logger::info(L"PowerToys bundle not found in Uninstall registry, falling back to legacy detection");
+
             // Open HKLM key
             HKEY perMachineKey{};
             if (RegOpenKeyExW(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
@@ -45,6 +149,7 @@ namespace registry
                                   &perUserKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
                 {
                     // both keys are missing
+                    Logger::warn(L"No PowerToys installation detected, defaulting to PerMachine");
                     return InstallScope::PerMachine;
                 }
                 else
@@ -96,47 +201,6 @@ namespace registry
     template<class>
     inline constexpr bool always_false_v = false;
 
-    namespace detail
-    {
-        struct on_exit
-        {
-            std::function<void()> f;
-
-            on_exit(std::function<void()> f) :
-                f{ std::move(f) } {}
-            ~on_exit() { f(); }
-        };
-
-        template<class... Ts>
-        struct overloaded : Ts...
-        {
-            using Ts::operator()...;
-        };
-
-        template<class... Ts>
-        overloaded(Ts...) -> overloaded<Ts...>;
-
-        inline const wchar_t* getScopeName(HKEY scope)
-        {
-            if (scope == HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
-            {
-                return L"HKLM";
-            }
-            else if (scope == HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
-            {
-                return L"HKCU";
-            }
-            else if (scope == HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT)
-            {
-                return L"HKCR";
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                return L"HK??";
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     struct ValueChange
     {
         using value_t = std::variant<DWORD, std::wstring>;

src/dsc/v3/PowerToys.DSC.UnitTests/SettingsResourceTests/SettingsResourceModuleTest`1.cs

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ namespace PowerToys.DSC.UnitTests.SettingsResourceTests;
 public abstract class SettingsResourceModuleTest<TSettingsConfig> : BaseDscTest
     where TSettingsConfig : ISettingsConfig, new()
 {
-    private readonly SettingsUtils _settingsUtils = new();
+    private readonly SettingsUtils _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
     private TSettingsConfig _originalSettings;
 
     protected TSettingsConfig DefaultSettings => new();

src/dsc/v3/PowerToys.DSC/Models/FunctionData/SettingsFunctionData`1.cs

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ namespace PowerToys.DSC.Models.FunctionData;
 public sealed class SettingsFunctionData<TSettingsConfig> : BaseFunctionData, ISettingsFunctionData
     where TSettingsConfig : ISettingsConfig, new()
 {
-    private static readonly SettingsUtils _settingsUtils = new();
+    private static readonly SettingsUtils _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
     private static readonly TSettingsConfig _settingsConfig = new();
 
     private readonly SettingsResourceObject<TSettingsConfig> _input;

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste.UnitTests/ConvertersTests/HexColorToColorConverterTests.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using AdvancedPaste.Converters;
+using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
+using Windows.UI;
+
+namespace AdvancedPaste.UnitTests.ConvertersTests;
+
+[TestClass]
+public sealed class HexColorToColorConverterTests
+{
+    [TestMethod]
+    public void TestConvert_ValidSixDigitHex_ReturnsColor()
+    {
+        Color? result = HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb("#FFBFAB");
+        Assert.IsNotNull(result);
+
+        var color = (Windows.UI.Color)result;
+        Assert.AreEqual(255, color.R);
+        Assert.AreEqual(191, color.G);
+        Assert.AreEqual(171, color.B);
+        Assert.AreEqual(255, color.A);
+    }
+
+    [TestMethod]
+    public void TestConvert_ValidThreeDigitHex_ReturnsColor()
+    {
+        Color? result = HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb("#abc");
+        Assert.IsNotNull(result);
+
+        var color = (Windows.UI.Color)result;
+
+        // #abc should expand to #aabbcc
+        Assert.AreEqual(170, color.R); // 0xaa
+        Assert.AreEqual(187, color.G); // 0xbb
+        Assert.AreEqual(204, color.B); // 0xcc
+        Assert.AreEqual(255, color.A);
+    }
+
+    [TestMethod]
+    public void TestConvert_NullOrEmpty_ReturnsNull()
+    {
+        Assert.IsNull(HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb(null));
+        Assert.IsNull(HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb(string.Empty));
+        Assert.IsNull(HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb("   "));
+    }
+
+    [TestMethod]
+    public void TestConvert_InvalidHex_ReturnsNull()
+    {
+        Assert.IsNull(HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb("#GGGGGG"));
+        Assert.IsNull(HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb("#12345"));
+    }
+}

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste.UnitTests/HelpersTests/ClipboardItemHelperTests.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using AdvancedPaste.Helpers;
+using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
+
+namespace AdvancedPaste.UnitTests.HelpersTests;
+
+[TestClass]
+public sealed class ClipboardItemHelperTests
+{
+    [TestMethod]
+    [DataRow("#FFBFAB", true)]
+    [DataRow("#000000", true)]
+    [DataRow("#FFFFFF", true)]
+    [DataRow("#fff", true)]
+    [DataRow("#abc", true)]
+    [DataRow("#123456", true)]
+    [DataRow("#AbCdEf", true)]
+    [DataRow("FFBFAB", false)] // Missing #
+    [DataRow("#GGGGGG", false)] // Invalid hex characters
+    [DataRow("#12345", false)] // Wrong length
+    [DataRow("#1234567", false)] // Too long
+    [DataRow("", false)]
+    [DataRow(null, false)]
+    [DataRow("  #FFF  ", true)] // Whitespace should be trimmed
+    [DataRow("Not a color", false)]
+    [DataRow("#", false)]
+    [DataRow("##FFFFFF", false)]
+    public void TestIsRgbHexColor(string input, bool expected)
+    {
+        bool result = ClipboardItemHelper.IsRgbHexColor(input);
+        Assert.AreEqual(expected, result, $"IsRgbHexColor(\"{input}\") should return {expected}");
+    }
+}

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPasteXAML/Controls/ClipboardHistoryItemPreviewControl.xaml

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     mc:Ignorable="d">
     <UserControl.Resources>
         <converters:DateTimeToFriendlyStringConverter x:Key="DateTimeToFriendlyStringConverter" />
+        <converters:HexColorToBrushConverter x:Key="HexColorToBrushConverter" />
         <tkconverters:BoolToVisibilityConverter x:Name="BoolToVisibilityConverter" />
     </UserControl.Resources>
     <Grid ColumnSpacing="12">
@@ -25,6 +26,26 @@
                     Source="{x:Bind ClipboardItem.Image, Mode=OneWay}"
                     Stretch="UniformToFill"
                     Visibility="{x:Bind HasImage, Mode=OneWay, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
+                <!--  Color preview with text  -->
+                <Grid Visibility="{x:Bind HasColor, Mode=OneWay, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}">
+                    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
+                        <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
+                        <ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
+                    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
+                    <Ellipse
+                        Grid.Column="0"
+                        Width="8"
+                        Height="8"
+                        Margin="8,0,8,0"
+                        Fill="{x:Bind ClipboardItem.Content, Mode=OneWay, Converter={StaticResource HexColorToBrushConverter}}" />
+                    <TextBlock
+                        Grid.Column="1"
+                        VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                        FontSize="10"
+                        Foreground="{ThemeResource TextFillColorSecondaryBrush}"
+                        Text="{x:Bind ClipboardItem.Content, Mode=OneWay}"
+                        TextWrapping="NoWrap" />
+                </Grid>
                 <!--  Text preview  -->
                 <TextBlock
                     Margin="8,0,0,0"

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPasteXAML/Controls/ClipboardHistoryItemPreviewControl.xaml.cs

@@ -38,9 +38,11 @@ namespace AdvancedPaste.Controls
 
         public bool HasImage => ContentImage is not null;
 
-        public bool HasText => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ContentText) && !HasImage;
+        public bool HasText => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ContentText) && !HasImage && !HasColor;
 
-        public bool HasGlyph => !HasImage && !HasText && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(IconGlyph);
+        public bool HasGlyph => !HasImage && !HasText && !HasColor && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(IconGlyph);
+
+        public bool HasColor => ClipboardItemHelper.IsRgbHexColor(ContentText);
 
         public ClipboardHistoryItemPreviewControl()
         {

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPasteXAML/Converters/HexColorConverterHelper.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace AdvancedPaste.Converters
+{
+    public static class HexColorConverterHelper
+    {
+        public static Windows.UI.Color? ConvertHexColorToRgb(string hexColor)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                // Remove # if present
+                var cleanHex = hexColor.TrimStart('#');
+
+                // Expand 3-digit hex to 6-digit (#ABC -> #AABBCC)
+                if (cleanHex.Length == 3)
+                {
+                    cleanHex = $"{cleanHex[0]}{cleanHex[0]}{cleanHex[1]}{cleanHex[1]}{cleanHex[2]}{cleanHex[2]}";
+                }
+
+                if (cleanHex.Length == 6)
+                {
+                    var r = System.Convert.ToByte(cleanHex.Substring(0, 2), 16);
+                    var g = System.Convert.ToByte(cleanHex.Substring(2, 2), 16);
+                    var b = System.Convert.ToByte(cleanHex.Substring(4, 2), 16);
+
+                    return Windows.UI.Color.FromArgb(255, r, g, b);
+                }
+            }
+            catch
+            {
+                // Invalid color format - return null
+            }
+
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+}

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPasteXAML/Converters/HexColorToBrushConverter.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System;
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Data;
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Media;
+
+namespace AdvancedPaste.Converters
+{
+    public sealed partial class HexColorToBrushConverter : IValueConverter
+    {
+        public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
+            => throw new NotSupportedException();
+
+        public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
+        {
+            if (value is not string hexColor || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(hexColor))
+            {
+                return null;
+            }
+
+            Windows.UI.Color? color = HexColorConverterHelper.ConvertHexColorToRgb(hexColor);
+
+            return color != null ? new SolidColorBrush((Windows.UI.Color)color) : null;
+        }
+    }
+}

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPasteXAML/Pages/MainPage.xaml.cs

@@ -198,20 +198,14 @@ namespace AdvancedPaste.Pages
             }
         }
 
-        private async void ClipboardHistory_ItemInvoked(ItemsView sender, ItemsViewItemInvokedEventArgs args)
+        private void ClipboardHistory_ItemInvoked(ItemsView sender, ItemsViewItemInvokedEventArgs args)
         {
-            if (args.InvokedItem is ClipboardItem item)
+            if (args.InvokedItem is ClipboardItem item && item.Item is not null)
             {
                 PowerToysTelemetry.Log.WriteEvent(new Telemetry.AdvancedPasteClipboardItemClicked());
-                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(item.Content))
-                {
-                    ClipboardHelper.SetTextContent(item.Content);
-                }
-                else if (item.Image is not null)
-                {
-                    RandomAccessStreamReference image = await item.Item.Content.GetBitmapAsync();
-                    ClipboardHelper.SetImageContent(image);
-                }
+
+                // Use SetHistoryItemAsContent to set the clipboard content without creating a new history entry
+                Clipboard.SetHistoryItemAsContent(item.Item);
             }
         }
     }

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPaste/Helpers/ClipboardItemHelper.cs

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 // See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
 
 using System;
+using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using AdvancedPaste.Models;
 using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Media.Imaging;
@@ -10,8 +11,11 @@ using Windows.ApplicationModel.DataTransfer;
 
 namespace AdvancedPaste.Helpers
 {
-    internal static class ClipboardItemHelper
+    internal static partial class ClipboardItemHelper
     {
+        // Compiled regex for better performance when checking multiple clipboard items
+        private static readonly Regex HexColorRegex = HexColorCompiledRegex();
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Creates a ClipboardItem from current clipboard data.
         /// </summary>
@@ -55,6 +59,31 @@ namespace AdvancedPaste.Helpers
             return clipboardItem;
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Checks if text is a valid RGB hex color (e.g., #FFBFAB or #fff).
+        /// </summary>
+        public static bool IsRgbHexColor(string text)
+        {
+            if (text == null)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            string trimmedText = text.Trim();
+            if (trimmedText.Length > 7)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(trimmedText))
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            // Match #RGB or #RRGGBB format (case-insensitive)
+            return HexColorRegex.IsMatch(trimmedText);
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Creates a BitmapImage from clipboard data.
         /// </summary>
@@ -80,5 +109,8 @@ namespace AdvancedPaste.Helpers
 
             return null;
         }
+
+        [GeneratedRegex(@"^#([0-9A-Fa-f]{3}|[0-9A-Fa-f]{6})$")]
+        private static partial Regex HexColorCompiledRegex();
     }
 }

src/modules/AdvancedPaste/AdvancedPasteModuleInterface/dllmain.cpp

@@ -312,13 +312,39 @@ private:
         return false;
     }
 
-        void read_settings(PowerToysSettings::PowerToyValues& settings)
+    void read_settings(PowerToysSettings::PowerToyValues& settings)
     {
         const auto settingsObject = settings.get_raw_json();
 
         // Migrate Paste As Plain text shortcut
         Hotkey old_paste_as_plain_hotkey;
         bool old_data_migrated = migrate_data_and_remove_data_file(old_paste_as_plain_hotkey);
+
+        if (settingsObject.GetView().Size())
+        {
+            const auto propertiesObject = settingsObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_PROPERTIES);
+
+            m_is_advanced_ai_enabled = has_advanced_ai_provider(propertiesObject);
+
+            if (propertiesObject.HasKey(JSON_KEY_IS_AI_ENABLED))
+            {
+                m_is_ai_enabled = propertiesObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_IS_AI_ENABLED).GetNamedBoolean(JSON_KEY_VALUE, false);
+            }
+            else if (propertiesObject.HasKey(JSON_KEY_IS_OPEN_AI_ENABLED))
+            {
+                m_is_ai_enabled = propertiesObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_IS_OPEN_AI_ENABLED).GetNamedBoolean(JSON_KEY_VALUE, false);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                m_is_ai_enabled = false;
+            }
+
+            if (propertiesObject.HasKey(JSON_KEY_SHOW_CUSTOM_PREVIEW))
+            {
+                m_preview_custom_format_output = propertiesObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_SHOW_CUSTOM_PREVIEW).GetNamedBoolean(JSON_KEY_VALUE);
+            }
+        }
+
         if (old_data_migrated)
         {
             m_paste_as_plain_hotkey = old_paste_as_plain_hotkey;
@@ -405,31 +431,6 @@ private:
                 }
             }
         }
-
-        if (settingsObject.GetView().Size())
-        {
-            const auto propertiesObject = settingsObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_PROPERTIES);
-
-            m_is_advanced_ai_enabled = has_advanced_ai_provider(propertiesObject);
-
-            if (propertiesObject.HasKey(JSON_KEY_IS_AI_ENABLED))
-            {
-                m_is_ai_enabled = propertiesObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_IS_AI_ENABLED).GetNamedBoolean(JSON_KEY_VALUE, false);
-            }
-            else if (propertiesObject.HasKey(JSON_KEY_IS_OPEN_AI_ENABLED))
-            {
-                m_is_ai_enabled = propertiesObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_IS_OPEN_AI_ENABLED).GetNamedBoolean(JSON_KEY_VALUE, false);
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                m_is_ai_enabled = false;
-            }
-
-            if (propertiesObject.HasKey(JSON_KEY_SHOW_CUSTOM_PREVIEW))
-            {
-                m_preview_custom_format_output = propertiesObject.GetNamedObject(JSON_KEY_SHOW_CUSTOM_PREVIEW).GetNamedBoolean(JSON_KEY_VALUE);
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     // Load the settings file.

src/modules/Hosts/Hosts/Settings/UserSettings.cs

@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ namespace Hosts.Settings
 
         public UserSettings()
         {
-            _settingsUtils = new SettingsUtils();
+            _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
             var defaultSettings = new HostsProperties();
             ShowStartupWarning = defaultSettings.ShowStartupWarning;
             LoopbackDuplicates = defaultSettings.LoopbackDuplicates;

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchModuleInterface/dllmain.cpp

@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ enum class ScheduleMode
     Off,
     FixedHours,
     SunsetToSunrise,
+    FollowNightLight,
     // add more later
 };
 
@@ -61,6 +62,8 @@ inline std::wstring ToString(ScheduleMode mode)
         return L"SunsetToSunrise";
     case ScheduleMode::FixedHours:
         return L"FixedHours";
+    case ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight:
+        return L"FollowNightLight";
     default:
         return L"Off";
     }
@@ -72,6 +75,8 @@ inline ScheduleMode FromString(const std::wstring& str)
         return ScheduleMode::SunsetToSunrise;
     if (str == L"FixedHours")
         return ScheduleMode::FixedHours;
+    if (str == L"FollowNightLight")
+        return ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight;
     return ScheduleMode::Off;
 }
 
@@ -167,7 +172,9 @@ public:
             ToString(g_settings.m_scheduleMode),
             { { L"Off", L"Disable the schedule" },
               { L"FixedHours", L"Set hours manually" },
-              { L"SunsetToSunrise", L"Use sunrise/sunset times" } });
+              { L"SunsetToSunrise", L"Use sunrise/sunset times" },
+              { L"FollowNightLight", L"Follow Windows Night Light state" }
+            });
 
         // Integer spinners
         settings.add_int_spinner(

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/LightSwitchService.cpp

@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@
 #include <utils/logger_helper.h>
 #include "LightSwitchStateManager.h"
 #include <LightSwitchUtils.h>
+#include <NightLightRegistryObserver.h>
 
 SERVICE_STATUS g_ServiceStatus = {};
 SERVICE_STATUS_HANDLE g_StatusHandle = nullptr;
 HANDLE g_ServiceStopEvent = nullptr;
+static LightSwitchStateManager* g_stateManagerPtr = nullptr;
 
 VOID WINAPI ServiceMain(DWORD argc, LPTSTR* argv);
 VOID WINAPI ServiceCtrlHandler(DWORD dwCtrl);
@@ -168,7 +170,15 @@ static void DetectAndHandleExternalThemeChange(LightSwitchStateManager& stateMan
     }
 
     // Use shared helper (handles wraparound logic)
-    bool shouldBeLight = ShouldBeLight(nowMinutes, effectiveLight, effectiveDark);
+    bool shouldBeLight = false;
+    if (s.scheduleMode == ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight)
+    {
+        shouldBeLight = !IsNightLightEnabled();
+    } 
+    else
+    {
+        shouldBeLight = ShouldBeLight(nowMinutes, effectiveLight, effectiveDark);
+    }
 
     // Compare current system/apps theme
     bool currentSystemLight = GetCurrentSystemTheme();
@@ -199,15 +209,40 @@ DWORD WINAPI ServiceWorkerThread(LPVOID lpParam)
     // Initialization
     // ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     static LightSwitchStateManager stateManager;
+    g_stateManagerPtr = &stateManager;
 
     LightSwitchSettings::instance().InitFileWatcher();
 
     HANDLE hManualOverride = OpenEventW(SYNCHRONIZE | EVENT_MODIFY_STATE, FALSE, L"POWERTOYS_LIGHTSWITCH_MANUAL_OVERRIDE");
     HANDLE hSettingsChanged = LightSwitchSettings::instance().GetSettingsChangedEvent();
 
+    static std::unique_ptr<NightLightRegistryObserver> g_nightLightWatcher;
+
     LightSwitchSettings::instance().LoadSettings();
     const auto& settings = LightSwitchSettings::instance().settings();
 
+    // after loading settings:
+    bool nightLightNeeded = (settings.scheduleMode == ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight);
+
+    if (nightLightNeeded && !g_nightLightWatcher)
+    {
+        Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchService] Starting Night Light registry watcher...");
+
+        g_nightLightWatcher = std::make_unique<NightLightRegistryObserver>(
+            HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
+            NIGHT_LIGHT_REGISTRY_PATH,
+            []() {
+                if (g_stateManagerPtr)
+                    g_stateManagerPtr->OnNightLightChange();
+            });
+    }
+    else if (!nightLightNeeded && g_nightLightWatcher)
+    {
+        Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchService] Stopping Night Light registry watcher...");
+        g_nightLightWatcher->Stop();
+        g_nightLightWatcher.reset();
+    }
+
     SYSTEMTIME st;
     GetLocalTime(&st);
     int nowMinutes = st.wHour * 60 + st.wMinute;
@@ -274,6 +309,31 @@ DWORD WINAPI ServiceWorkerThread(LPVOID lpParam)
             ResetEvent(hSettingsChanged);
             LightSwitchSettings::instance().LoadSettings();
             stateManager.OnSettingsChanged();
+
+            const auto& settings = LightSwitchSettings::instance().settings();
+            bool nightLightNeeded = (settings.scheduleMode == ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight);
+
+            if (nightLightNeeded && !g_nightLightWatcher)
+            {
+                Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchService] Starting Night Light registry watcher...");
+
+                g_nightLightWatcher = std::make_unique<NightLightRegistryObserver>(
+                    HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
+                    NIGHT_LIGHT_REGISTRY_PATH,
+                    []() {
+                        if (g_stateManagerPtr)
+                            g_stateManagerPtr->OnNightLightChange();
+                    });
+
+                stateManager.OnNightLightChange();
+            }
+            else if (!nightLightNeeded && g_nightLightWatcher)
+            {
+                Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchService] Stopping Night Light registry watcher...");
+                g_nightLightWatcher->Stop();
+                g_nightLightWatcher.reset();
+            }
+
             continue;
         }
     }
@@ -285,6 +345,11 @@ DWORD WINAPI ServiceWorkerThread(LPVOID lpParam)
         CloseHandle(hManualOverride);
     if (hParent)
         CloseHandle(hParent);
+    if (g_nightLightWatcher)
+    {
+        g_nightLightWatcher->Stop();
+        g_nightLightWatcher.reset();
+    }
 
     Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchService] Worker thread exiting cleanly.");
     return 0;

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/LightSwitchService.vcxproj

@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
     <ClCompile Include="LightSwitchService.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="LightSwitchSettings.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="LightSwitchStateManager.cpp" />
+    <ClCompile Include="NightLightRegistryObserver.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="SettingsConstants.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="ThemeHelper.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="ThemeScheduler.cpp" />
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@
     <ClInclude Include="LightSwitchSettings.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="LightSwitchStateManager.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="LightSwitchUtils.h" />
+    <ClInclude Include="NightLightRegistryObserver.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="SettingsConstants.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="SettingsObserver.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="ThemeHelper.h" />

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/LightSwitchService.vcxproj.filters

@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
     <ClCompile Include="LightSwitchStateManager.cpp">
       <Filter>Source Files</Filter>
     </ClCompile>
+    <ClCompile Include="NightLightRegistryObserver.cpp">
+      <Filter>Source Files</Filter>
+    </ClCompile>
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <ClInclude Include="ThemeScheduler.h">
@@ -62,6 +65,9 @@
     <ClInclude Include="LightSwitchUtils.h">
       <Filter>Header Files</Filter>
     </ClInclude>
+    <ClInclude Include="NightLightRegistryObserver.h">
+      <Filter>Header Files</Filter>
+    </ClInclude>
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <Natvis Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\natvis\wil.natvis" />

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/LightSwitchSettings.h

@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ enum class ScheduleMode
 {
     Off,
     FixedHours,
-    SunsetToSunrise
+    SunsetToSunrise,
+    FollowNightLight,
     // Add more in the future
 };
 
@@ -31,6 +32,8 @@ inline std::wstring ToString(ScheduleMode mode)
         return L"FixedHours";
     case ScheduleMode::SunsetToSunrise:
         return L"SunsetToSunrise";
+    case ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight:
+        return L"FollowNightLight";
     default:
         return L"Off";
     }
@@ -42,6 +45,8 @@ inline ScheduleMode FromString(const std::wstring& str)
         return ScheduleMode::SunsetToSunrise;
     if (str == L"FixedHours")
         return ScheduleMode::FixedHours;
+    if (str == L"FollowNightLight")
+        return ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight;
     else
         return ScheduleMode::Off;
 }

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/LightSwitchStateManager.cpp

@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ void LightSwitchStateManager::OnSettingsChanged()
 void LightSwitchStateManager::OnTick(int currentMinutes)
 {
     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_stateMutex);
-    EvaluateAndApplyIfNeeded();
+    if (_state.lastAppliedMode != ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight)
+    {
+        EvaluateAndApplyIfNeeded();
+    }
 }
 
 // Called when manual override is triggered
@@ -49,8 +52,38 @@ void LightSwitchStateManager::OnManualOverride()
         _state.isAppsLightActive = GetCurrentAppsTheme();
 
         Logger::debug(L"[LightSwitchStateManager] Synced internal theme state to current system theme ({}) and apps theme ({}).",
-                     (_state.isSystemLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark"),
-                     (_state.isAppsLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark"));
+                      (_state.isSystemLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark"),
+                      (_state.isAppsLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark"));
+    }
+
+    EvaluateAndApplyIfNeeded();
+}
+
+// Runs with the registry observer detects a change in Night Light settings.
+void LightSwitchStateManager::OnNightLightChange()
+{
+    std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_stateMutex);
+
+    bool newNightLightState = IsNightLightEnabled();
+
+    // In Follow Night Light mode, treat a Night Light toggle as a boundary
+    if (_state.lastAppliedMode == ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight && _state.isManualOverride)
+    {
+        Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchStateManager] Night Light changed while manual override active; "
+                     L"treating as a boundary and clearing manual override.");
+        _state.isManualOverride = false;
+    }
+
+    if (newNightLightState != _state.isNightLightActive)
+    {
+        Logger::info(L"[LightSwitchStateManager] Night Light toggled to {}",
+                     newNightLightState ? L"ON" : L"OFF");
+
+        _state.isNightLightActive = newNightLightState;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        Logger::debug(L"[LightSwitchStateManager] Night Light change event fired, but no actual change.");
     }
 
     EvaluateAndApplyIfNeeded();
@@ -77,9 +110,9 @@ void LightSwitchStateManager::SyncInitialThemeState()
     _state.isSystemLightActive = GetCurrentSystemTheme();
     _state.isAppsLightActive = GetCurrentAppsTheme();
     Logger::debug(L"[LightSwitchStateManager] Synced initial state to current system theme ({})",
-                 _state.isSystemLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark");
+                  _state.isSystemLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark");
     Logger::debug(L"[LightSwitchStateManager] Synced initial state to current apps theme ({})",
-                 _state.isAppsLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark");
+                  _state.isAppsLightActive ? L"light" : L"dark");
 }
 
 static std::pair<int, int> update_sun_times(auto& settings)
@@ -194,7 +227,15 @@ void LightSwitchStateManager::EvaluateAndApplyIfNeeded()
 
     _state.lastAppliedMode = _currentSettings.scheduleMode;
 
-    bool shouldBeLight = ShouldBeLight(now, _state.effectiveLightMinutes, _state.effectiveDarkMinutes);
+    bool shouldBeLight = false;
+    if (_currentSettings.scheduleMode == ScheduleMode::FollowNightLight)
+    {
+        shouldBeLight = !_state.isNightLightActive;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        shouldBeLight = ShouldBeLight(now, _state.effectiveLightMinutes, _state.effectiveDarkMinutes);
+    }
 
     bool appsNeedsToChange = _currentSettings.changeApps && (_state.isAppsLightActive != shouldBeLight);
     bool systemNeedsToChange = _currentSettings.changeSystem && (_state.isSystemLightActive != shouldBeLight);
@@ -227,6 +268,3 @@ void LightSwitchStateManager::EvaluateAndApplyIfNeeded()
 
     _state.lastTickMinutes = now;
 }
-
-
-

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/LightSwitchStateManager.h

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ struct LightSwitchState
     bool isManualOverride = false;
     bool isSystemLightActive = false;
     bool isAppsLightActive = false;
+    bool isNightLightActive = false;
     int lastEvaluatedDay = -1;
     int lastTickMinutes = -1;
 
@@ -32,6 +33,9 @@ public:
     // Called when manual override is toggled (via shortcut or system change).
     void OnManualOverride();
 
+    // Called when night light changes in windows settings
+    void OnNightLightChange();
+
     // Initial sync at startup to align internal state with system theme
     void SyncInitialThemeState();
 

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/NightLightRegistryObserver.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include "NightLightRegistryObserver.h"

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/NightLightRegistryObserver.h

@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+#pragma once
+#include <wtypes.h>
+#include <string>
+#include <functional>
+#include <thread>
+#include <atomic>
+#include <mutex>
+
+class NightLightRegistryObserver
+{
+public:
+    NightLightRegistryObserver(HKEY root, const std::wstring& subkey, std::function<void()> callback) :
+        _root(root), _subkey(subkey), _callback(std::move(callback)), _stop(false)
+    {
+        _thread = std::thread([this]() { this->Run(); });
+    }
+
+    ~NightLightRegistryObserver()
+    {
+        Stop();
+    }
+
+    void Stop()
+    {
+        _stop = true;
+
+        {
+            std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+            if (_event)
+                SetEvent(_event);
+        }
+
+        if (_thread.joinable())
+            _thread.join();
+
+        std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+        if (_hKey)
+        {
+            RegCloseKey(_hKey);
+            _hKey = nullptr;
+        }
+
+        if (_event)
+        {
+            CloseHandle(_event);
+            _event = nullptr;
+        }
+    }
+
+
+private:
+    void Run()
+    {
+        {
+            std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+            if (RegOpenKeyExW(_root, _subkey.c_str(), 0, KEY_NOTIFY, &_hKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
+                return;
+
+            _event = CreateEventW(nullptr, TRUE, FALSE, nullptr);
+            if (!_event)
+            {
+                RegCloseKey(_hKey);
+                _hKey = nullptr;
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+
+        while (!_stop)
+        {
+            HKEY hKeyLocal = nullptr;
+            HANDLE eventLocal = nullptr;
+
+            {
+                std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+                if (_stop)
+                    break;
+
+                hKeyLocal = _hKey;
+                eventLocal = _event;
+            }
+
+            if (!hKeyLocal || !eventLocal)
+                break;
+
+            if (_stop)
+                break;
+
+            if (RegNotifyChangeKeyValue(hKeyLocal, FALSE, REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_SET, eventLocal, TRUE) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
+                break;
+
+            DWORD wait = WaitForSingleObject(eventLocal, INFINITE);
+            if (_stop || wait == WAIT_FAILED)
+                break;
+
+            ResetEvent(eventLocal);
+
+            if (!_stop && _callback)
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    _callback();
+                }
+                catch (...)
+                {
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        {
+            std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+            if (_hKey)
+            {
+                RegCloseKey(_hKey);
+                _hKey = nullptr;
+            }
+
+            if (_event)
+            {
+                CloseHandle(_event);
+                _event = nullptr;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+
+    HKEY _root;
+    std::wstring _subkey;
+    std::function<void()> _callback;
+    HANDLE _event = nullptr;
+    HKEY _hKey = nullptr;
+    std::thread _thread;
+    std::atomic<bool> _stop;
+    std::mutex _mutex;
+};

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/SettingsConstants.h

@@ -11,4 +11,7 @@ enum class SettingId
     Sunset_Offset,
     ChangeSystem,
     ChangeApps
-};
+};
+
+constexpr wchar_t PERSONALIZATION_REGISTRY_PATH[] = L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize";
+constexpr wchar_t NIGHT_LIGHT_REGISTRY_PATH[] = L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\CloudStore\\Store\\DefaultAccount\\Current\\default$windows.data.bluelightreduction.bluelightreductionstate\\windows.data.bluelightreduction.bluelightreductionstate";

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/ThemeHelper.cpp

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <logger/logger.h>
 #include <utils/logger_helper.h>
 #include "ThemeHelper.h"
+#include <SettingsConstants.h>
 
 // Controls changing the themes.
 
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ static void ResetColorPrevalence()
 {
     HKEY hKey;
     if (RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                     L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize",
+                     PERSONALIZATION_REGISTRY_PATH,
                      0,
                      KEY_SET_VALUE,
                      &hKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ void SetAppsTheme(bool mode)
 {
     HKEY hKey;
     if (RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                     L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize",
+                     PERSONALIZATION_REGISTRY_PATH,
                      0,
                      KEY_SET_VALUE,
                      &hKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ void SetSystemTheme(bool mode)
 {
     HKEY hKey;
     if (RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                     L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize",
+                     PERSONALIZATION_REGISTRY_PATH,
                      0,
                      KEY_SET_VALUE,
                      &hKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ bool GetCurrentSystemTheme()
     DWORD size = sizeof(value);
 
     if (RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                     L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize",
+                     PERSONALIZATION_REGISTRY_PATH,
                      0,
                      KEY_READ,
                      &hKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ bool GetCurrentAppsTheme()
     DWORD size = sizeof(value);
 
     if (RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
-                     L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Themes\\Personalize",
+                     PERSONALIZATION_REGISTRY_PATH,
                      0,
                      KEY_READ,
                      &hKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
@@ -109,3 +110,30 @@ bool GetCurrentAppsTheme()
 
     return value == 1; // true = light, false = dark
 }
+
+bool IsNightLightEnabled()
+{
+    HKEY hKey;
+    const wchar_t* path = NIGHT_LIGHT_REGISTRY_PATH;
+
+    if (RegOpenKeyExW(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, path, 0, KEY_READ, &hKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
+        return false;
+
+    // RegGetValueW will set size to the size of the data and we expect that to be at least 25 bytes (we need to access bytes 23 and 24)
+    DWORD size = 0;
+    if (RegGetValueW(hKey, nullptr, L"Data", RRF_RT_REG_BINARY, nullptr, nullptr, &size) != ERROR_SUCCESS || size < 25)
+    {
+        RegCloseKey(hKey);
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    std::vector<BYTE> data(size);
+    if (RegGetValueW(hKey, nullptr, L"Data", RRF_RT_REG_BINARY, nullptr, data.data(), &size) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
+    {
+        RegCloseKey(hKey);
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    RegCloseKey(hKey);
+    return data[23] == 0x10 && data[24] == 0x00;
+}

src/modules/LightSwitch/LightSwitchService/ThemeHelper.h

@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ void SetSystemTheme(bool dark);
 void SetAppsTheme(bool dark);
 bool GetCurrentSystemTheme();
 bool GetCurrentAppsTheme();
+bool IsNightLightEnabled();

src/modules/MeasureTool/MeasureToolUI/Settings.cs

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ namespace MeasureToolUI
 {
     public sealed class Settings
     {
-        private static readonly SettingsUtils ModuleSettings = new();
+        private static readonly SettingsUtils ModuleSettings = SettingsUtils.Default;
 
         public MeasureToolMeasureStyle DefaultMeasureStyle
         {

src/modules/MouseUtils/MouseJumpUI/Helpers/SettingsHelper.cs

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ internal sealed class SettingsHelper
         lock (this.LockObject)
         {
             {
-                var settingsUtils = new SettingsUtils();
+                var settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
 
                 // set this to 1 to disable retries
                 var remainingRetries = 5;

src/modules/MouseUtils/MouseUtils.UITests/FindMyMouseTests.cs

@@ -617,6 +617,8 @@ namespace MouseUtils.UITests
 
         private void LaunchFromSetting(bool reload = false, bool launchAsAdmin = false)
         {
+            Session = RestartScopeExe("FindMyMouse,MouseHighlighter,MouseJump,MousePointerCrosshairs,CursorWrap");
+
             // this.Session.Attach(PowerToysModule.PowerToysSettings);
             this.Session.SetMainWindowSize(WindowSize.Large);
 

src/modules/MouseWithoutBorders/App/Class/Setting.cs

@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ namespace MouseWithoutBorders.Class
 
         internal Settings()
         {
-            _settingsUtils = new SettingsUtils();
+            _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
 
             _watcher = SettingsHelper.GetFileWatcher("MouseWithoutBorders", "settings.json", () =>
             {

src/modules/PowerOCR/PowerOCR/Settings/UserSettings.cs

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ namespace PowerOCR.Settings
         [ImportingConstructor]
         public UserSettings(Helpers.IThrottledActionInvoker throttledActionInvoker)
         {
-            _settingsUtils = new SettingsUtils();
+            _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
             ActivationShortcut = new SettingItem<string>(DefaultActivationShortcut);
             PreferredLanguage = new SettingItem<string>(string.Empty);
 

src/modules/Workspaces/WorkspacesEditor/Utils/Settings.cs

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ namespace WorkspacesEditor.Utils
     public class Settings
     {
         private const string WorkspacesModuleName = "Workspaces";
-        private static readonly SettingsUtils _settingsUtils = new();
+        private static readonly SettingsUtils _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
 
         public static WorkspacesSettings ReadSettings()
         {

src/modules/Workspaces/WorkspacesEditor/ViewModels/MainViewModel.cs

@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ namespace WorkspacesEditor.ViewModels
                 _orderByIndex = value;
                 OnPropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs(nameof(WorkspacesView)));
                 settings.Properties.SortBy = (WorkspacesProperties.SortByProperty)value;
-                settings.Save(new SettingsUtils());
+                settings.Save(SettingsUtils.Default);
             }
         }
 

src/modules/awake/Awake/Core/Manager.cs

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ namespace Awake.Core
         {
             _tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
             _stateQueue = [];
-            ModuleSettings = new SettingsUtils();
+            ModuleSettings = SettingsUtils.Default;
         }
 
         internal static void StartMonitor()

src/modules/awake/Awake/Program.cs

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ namespace Awake
 
         private static async Task<int> Main(string[] args)
         {
-            _settingsUtils = new SettingsUtils();
+            _settingsUtils = SettingsUtils.Default;
 
             LockMutex = new Mutex(true, Core.Constants.AppName, out bool instantiated);
 

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/CommandItemViewModel.cs

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ using Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Messages;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Models;
 using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions;
 using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions.Toolkit;
+using Windows.ApplicationModel.DataTransfer;
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels;
 
@@ -16,6 +17,8 @@ public partial class CommandItemViewModel : ExtensionObjectViewModel, ICommandBa
 {
     public ExtensionObject<ICommandItem> Model => _commandItemModel;
 
+    private ExtensionObject<IExtendedAttributesProvider>? ExtendedAttributesProvider { get; set; }
+
     private readonly ExtensionObject<ICommandItem> _commandItemModel = new(null);
     private CommandContextItemViewModel? _defaultCommandContextItemViewModel;
 
@@ -65,6 +68,8 @@ public partial class CommandItemViewModel : ExtensionObjectViewModel, ICommandBa
 
     public bool ShouldBeVisible => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Name);
 
+    public DataPackageView? DataPackage { get; private set; }
+
     public List<IContextItemViewModel> AllCommands
     {
         get
@@ -157,6 +162,13 @@ public partial class CommandItemViewModel : ExtensionObjectViewModel, ICommandBa
         // will never be able to load Hotkeys & aliases
         UpdateProperty(nameof(IsInitialized));
 
+        if (model is IExtendedAttributesProvider extendedAttributesProvider)
+        {
+            ExtendedAttributesProvider = new ExtensionObject<IExtendedAttributesProvider>(extendedAttributesProvider);
+            var properties = extendedAttributesProvider.GetProperties();
+            UpdateDataPackage(properties);
+        }
+
         Initialized |= InitializedState.Initialized;
     }
 
@@ -379,6 +391,9 @@ public partial class CommandItemViewModel : ExtensionObjectViewModel, ICommandBa
                 UpdateProperty(nameof(SecondaryCommandName));
                 UpdateProperty(nameof(HasMoreCommands));
 
+                break;
+            case nameof(DataPackage):
+                UpdateDataPackage(ExtendedAttributesProvider?.Unsafe?.GetProperties());
                 break;
         }
 
@@ -431,6 +446,16 @@ public partial class CommandItemViewModel : ExtensionObjectViewModel, ICommandBa
         UpdateProperty(nameof(Icon));
     }
 
+    private void UpdateDataPackage(IDictionary<string, object?>? properties)
+    {
+        DataPackage =
+            properties?.TryGetValue(WellKnownExtensionAttributes.DataPackage, out var dataPackageView) == true &&
+            dataPackageView is DataPackageView view
+                ? view
+                : null;
+        UpdateProperty(nameof(DataPackage));
+    }
+
     protected override void UnsafeCleanup()
     {
         base.UnsafeCleanup();

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/DetailsViewModel.cs

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ public partial class DetailsViewModel(IDetails _details, WeakReference<IPageCont
 
     public string Body { get; private set; } = string.Empty;
 
+    public ContentSize? Size { get; private set; } = ContentSize.Small;
+
     // Metadata is an array of IDetailsElement,
     //   where IDetailsElement = {IDetailsTags, IDetailsLink, IDetailsSeparator}
     public List<DetailsElementViewModel> Metadata { get; private set; } = [];
@@ -40,6 +42,21 @@ public partial class DetailsViewModel(IDetails _details, WeakReference<IPageCont
         UpdateProperty(nameof(Body));
         UpdateProperty(nameof(HeroImage));
 
+        if (model is IExtendedAttributesProvider provider)
+        {
+            if (provider.GetProperties()?.TryGetValue("Size", out var rawValue) == true)
+            {
+                if (rawValue is int sizeAsInt)
+                {
+                    Size = (ContentSize)sizeAsInt;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        Size ??= ContentSize.Small;
+
+        UpdateProperty(nameof(Size));
+
         var meta = model.Metadata;
         if (meta is not null)
         {

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/IconDataViewModel.cs

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Models;
 using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions;
+using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions.Toolkit;
 using Windows.Storage.Streams;
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels;
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ public partial class IconDataViewModel : ObservableObject, IIconData
             // because each call to GetProperties() is a cross process hop, and if you
             // marshal-by-value the property set, then you don't want to throw it away and
             // re-marshal it for every property. MAKE SURE YOU CACHE IT.
-            if (props?.TryGetValue("FontFamily", out var family) ?? false)
+            if (props?.TryGetValue(WellKnownExtensionAttributes.FontFamily, out var family) ?? false)
             {
                 FontFamily = family as string;
             }

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/ListItemViewModel.cs

@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ public partial class ListItemViewModel : CommandItemViewModel
 
     public string Section { get; private set; } = string.Empty;
 
+    public bool IsSectionOrSeparator { get; private set; }
+
     public DetailsViewModel? Details { get; private set; }
 
     [MemberNotNullWhen(true, nameof(Details))]
@@ -82,14 +84,18 @@ public partial class ListItemViewModel : CommandItemViewModel
         }
 
         UpdateTags(li.Tags);
-
         Section = li.Section ?? string.Empty;
-
-        UpdateProperty(nameof(Section));
+        IsSectionOrSeparator = IsSeparator(li);
+        UpdateProperty(nameof(Section), nameof(IsSectionOrSeparator));
 
         UpdateAccessibleName();
     }
 
+    private bool IsSeparator(IListItem item)
+    {
+        return item.Command is null;
+    }
+
     public override void SlowInitializeProperties()
     {
         base.SlowInitializeProperties();
@@ -104,8 +110,7 @@ public partial class ListItemViewModel : CommandItemViewModel
         {
             Details = new(extensionDetails, PageContext);
             Details.InitializeProperties();
-            UpdateProperty(nameof(Details));
-            UpdateProperty(nameof(HasDetails));
+            UpdateProperty(nameof(Details), nameof(HasDetails));
         }
 
         AddShowDetailsCommands();
@@ -135,14 +140,18 @@ public partial class ListItemViewModel : CommandItemViewModel
                 break;
             case nameof(model.Section):
                 Section = model.Section ?? string.Empty;
-                UpdateProperty(nameof(Section));
+                IsSectionOrSeparator = IsSeparator(model);
+                UpdateProperty(nameof(Section), nameof(IsSectionOrSeparator));
                 break;
-            case nameof(model.Details):
+            case nameof(model.Command):
+                IsSectionOrSeparator = IsSeparator(model);
+                UpdateProperty(nameof(IsSectionOrSeparator));
+                break;
+            case nameof(Details):
                 var extensionDetails = model.Details;
                 Details = extensionDetails is not null ? new(extensionDetails, PageContext) : null;
                 Details?.InitializeProperties();
-                UpdateProperty(nameof(Details));
-                UpdateProperty(nameof(HasDetails));
+                UpdateProperty(nameof(Details), nameof(HasDetails));
                 UpdateShowDetailsCommand();
                 break;
             case nameof(model.MoreCommands):
@@ -194,8 +203,7 @@ public partial class ListItemViewModel : CommandItemViewModel
                 MoreCommands.Add(showDetailsContextItemViewModel);
             }
 
-            UpdateProperty(nameof(MoreCommands));
-            UpdateProperty(nameof(AllCommands));
+            UpdateProperty(nameof(MoreCommands), nameof(AllCommands));
         }
     }
 
@@ -227,8 +235,7 @@ public partial class ListItemViewModel : CommandItemViewModel
             showDetailsContextItemViewModel.SlowInitializeProperties();
             MoreCommands.Add(showDetailsContextItemViewModel);
 
-            UpdateProperty(nameof(MoreCommands));
-            UpdateProperty(nameof(AllCommands));
+            UpdateProperty(nameof(MoreCommands), nameof(AllCommands));
         }
     }
 

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/Messages/DismissMessage.cs

@@ -4,6 +4,4 @@
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Messages;
 
-public record DismissMessage()
-{
-}
+public record DismissMessage(bool ForceGoHome = false);

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/Messages/NavigateBackMessage.cs

@@ -4,6 +4,4 @@
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Messages;
 
-public record NavigateBackMessage(bool FromBackspace = false)
-{
-}
+public record NavigateBackMessage(bool FromBackspace = false);

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/Messages/NavigateLeftCommand.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Messages;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Used to navigate left in a grid view when pressing the Left arrow key in the SearchBox.
+/// </summary>
+public record NavigateLeftCommand;

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/Messages/NavigateRightCommand.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Messages;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Used to navigate right in a grid view when pressing the Right arrow key in the SearchBox.
+/// </summary>
+public record NavigateRightCommand;

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/SeparatorViewModel.cs

@@ -3,13 +3,14 @@
 // See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
 
 using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
-using Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels;
 using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions;
+using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions.Toolkit;
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels;
 
 [DynamicallyAccessedMembers(DynamicallyAccessedMemberTypes.All)]
 public partial class SeparatorViewModel() :
+    CommandItem,
     IContextItemViewModel,
     IFilterItemViewModel,
     ISeparatorContextItem,

src/modules/cmdpal/Core/Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels/ShellViewModel.cs

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions;
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels;
 
 public partial class ShellViewModel : ObservableObject,
+    IDisposable,
     IRecipient<PerformCommandMessage>,
     IRecipient<HandleCommandResultMessage>
 {
@@ -378,7 +379,7 @@ public partial class ShellViewModel : ObservableObject,
                 {
                     // Reset the palette to the main page and dismiss
                     GoHome(withAnimation: false, focusSearch: false);
-                    WeakReferenceMessenger.Default.Send<DismissMessage>();
+                    WeakReferenceMessenger.Default.Send(new DismissMessage());
                     break;
                 }
 
@@ -398,7 +399,7 @@ public partial class ShellViewModel : ObservableObject,
             case CommandResultKind.Hide:
                 {
                     // Keep this page open, but hide the palette.
-                    WeakReferenceMessenger.Default.Send<DismissMessage>();
+                    WeakReferenceMessenger.Default.Send(new DismissMessage());
                     break;
                 }
 
@@ -460,4 +461,12 @@ public partial class ShellViewModel : ObservableObject,
     {
         _navigationCts?.Cancel();
     }
+
+    public void Dispose()
+    {
+        _handleInvokeTask?.Dispose();
+        _navigationCts?.Dispose();
+
+        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
+    }
 }

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/AppearanceSettingsViewModel.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,390 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.Input;
+using CommunityToolkit.WinUI;
+using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
+using Microsoft.UI;
+using Microsoft.UI.Dispatching;
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml;
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Media;
+using Windows.UI;
+using Windows.UI.ViewManagement;
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
+
+public sealed partial class AppearanceSettingsViewModel : ObservableObject, IDisposable
+{
+    private static readonly ObservableCollection<Color> WindowsColorSwatches = [
+
+        // row 0
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 185, 0), // #ffb900
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 140, 0), // #ff8c00
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 247, 99, 12), // #f7630c
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 80, 16), // #ca5010
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 218, 59, 1), // #da3b01
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 239, 105, 80), // #ef6950
+
+        // row 1
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 209, 52, 56), // #d13438
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 67, 67), // #ff4343
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 231, 72, 86), // #e74856
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 232, 17, 35), // #e81123
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 234, 0, 94), // #ea005e
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 195, 0, 82), // #c30052
+
+        // row 2
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 227, 0, 140), // #e3008c
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 191, 0, 119), // #bf0077
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 194, 57, 179), // #c239b3
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 154, 0, 137), // #9a0089
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 120, 212), // #0078d4
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 99, 177), // #0063b1
+
+        // row 3
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 142, 140, 216), // #8e8cd8
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 107, 105, 214), // #6b69d6
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 135, 100, 184), // #8764b8
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 116, 77, 169), // #744da9
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 177, 70, 194), // #b146c2
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 136, 23, 152), // #881798
+
+        // row 4
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 153, 188), // #0099bc
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 45, 125, 154), // #2d7d9a
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 183, 195), // #00b7c3
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 3, 131, 135), // #038387
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 178, 148), // #00b294
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 1, 133, 116), // #018574
+
+        // row 5
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 204, 106), // #00cc6a
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 16, 137, 62), // #10893e
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 122, 117, 116), // #7a7574
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 93, 90, 88), // #5d5a58
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 104, 118, 138), // #68768a
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 81, 92, 107), // #515c6b
+
+        // row 6
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 86, 124, 115), // #567c73
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 72, 104, 96), // #486860
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 73, 130, 5), // #498205
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 16, 124, 16), // #107c10
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 118, 118, 118), // #767676
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 76, 74, 72), // #4c4a48
+
+        // row 7
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 105, 121, 126), // #69797e
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 74, 84, 89), // #4a5459
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 100, 124, 100), // #647c64
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 82, 94, 84), // #525e54
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 132, 117, 69), // #847545
+        Color.FromArgb(255, 126, 115, 95), // #7e735f
+    ];
+
+    private readonly SettingsModel _settings;
+    private readonly UISettings _uiSettings;
+    private readonly IThemeService _themeService;
+    private readonly DispatcherQueueTimer _saveTimer = DispatcherQueue.GetForCurrentThread().CreateTimer();
+    private readonly DispatcherQueue _uiDispatcher = DispatcherQueue.GetForCurrentThread();
+
+    private ElementTheme? _elementThemeOverride;
+    private Color _currentSystemAccentColor;
+
+    public ObservableCollection<Color> Swatches => WindowsColorSwatches;
+
+    public int ThemeIndex
+    {
+        get => (int)_settings.Theme;
+        set => Theme = (UserTheme)value;
+    }
+
+    public UserTheme Theme
+    {
+        get => _settings.Theme;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.Theme != value)
+            {
+                _settings.Theme = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(ThemeIndex));
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public ColorizationMode ColorizationMode
+    {
+        get => _settings.ColorizationMode;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.ColorizationMode != value)
+            {
+                _settings.ColorizationMode = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(ColorizationModeIndex));
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsCustomTintVisible));
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsCustomTintIntensityVisible));
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsBackgroundControlsVisible));
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsNoBackgroundVisible));
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsAccentColorControlsVisible));
+
+                if (value == ColorizationMode.WindowsAccentColor)
+                {
+                    ThemeColor = _currentSystemAccentColor;
+                }
+
+                IsColorizationDetailsExpanded = value != ColorizationMode.None;
+
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int ColorizationModeIndex
+    {
+        get => (int)_settings.ColorizationMode;
+        set => ColorizationMode = (ColorizationMode)value;
+    }
+
+    public Color ThemeColor
+    {
+        get => _settings.CustomThemeColor;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.CustomThemeColor != value)
+            {
+                _settings.CustomThemeColor = value;
+
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+
+                if (ColorIntensity == 0)
+                {
+                    ColorIntensity = 100;
+                }
+
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int ColorIntensity
+    {
+        get => _settings.CustomThemeColorIntensity;
+        set
+        {
+            _settings.CustomThemeColorIntensity = value;
+            OnPropertyChanged();
+            Save();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public string BackgroundImagePath
+    {
+        get => _settings.BackgroundImagePath ?? string.Empty;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.BackgroundImagePath != value)
+            {
+                _settings.BackgroundImagePath = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+
+                if (BackgroundImageOpacity == 0)
+                {
+                    BackgroundImageOpacity = 100;
+                }
+
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int BackgroundImageOpacity
+    {
+        get => _settings.BackgroundImageOpacity;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.BackgroundImageOpacity != value)
+            {
+                _settings.BackgroundImageOpacity = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int BackgroundImageBrightness
+    {
+        get => _settings.BackgroundImageBrightness;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.BackgroundImageBrightness != value)
+            {
+                _settings.BackgroundImageBrightness = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int BackgroundImageBlurAmount
+    {
+        get => _settings.BackgroundImageBlurAmount;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.BackgroundImageBlurAmount != value)
+            {
+                _settings.BackgroundImageBlurAmount = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public BackgroundImageFit BackgroundImageFit
+    {
+        get => _settings.BackgroundImageFit;
+        set
+        {
+            if (_settings.BackgroundImageFit != value)
+            {
+                _settings.BackgroundImageFit = value;
+                OnPropertyChanged();
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(BackgroundImageFitIndex));
+                Save();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int BackgroundImageFitIndex
+    {
+        // Naming between UI facing string and enum is a bit confusing, but the enum fields
+        // are based on XAML Stretch enum values. So I'm choosing to keep the confusion here, close
+        // to the UI.
+        // - BackgroundImageFit.Fill corresponds to "Stretch"
+        // - BackgroundImageFit.UniformToFill corresponds to "Fill"
+        get => BackgroundImageFit switch
+        {
+            BackgroundImageFit.Fill => 1,
+            _ => 0,
+        };
+        set => BackgroundImageFit = value switch
+        {
+            1 => BackgroundImageFit.Fill,
+            _ => BackgroundImageFit.UniformToFill,
+        };
+    }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial bool IsColorizationDetailsExpanded { get; set; }
+
+    public bool IsCustomTintVisible => _settings.ColorizationMode is ColorizationMode.CustomColor or ColorizationMode.Image;
+
+    public bool IsCustomTintIntensityVisible => _settings.ColorizationMode is ColorizationMode.CustomColor or ColorizationMode.WindowsAccentColor or ColorizationMode.Image;
+
+    public bool IsBackgroundControlsVisible => _settings.ColorizationMode is ColorizationMode.Image;
+
+    public bool IsNoBackgroundVisible => _settings.ColorizationMode is ColorizationMode.None;
+
+    public bool IsAccentColorControlsVisible => _settings.ColorizationMode is ColorizationMode.WindowsAccentColor;
+
+    public AcrylicBackdropParameters EffectiveBackdrop { get; private set; } = new(Colors.Black, Colors.Black, 0.5f, 0.5f);
+
+    public ElementTheme EffectiveTheme => _elementThemeOverride ?? _themeService.Current.Theme;
+
+    public Color EffectiveThemeColor => ColorizationMode switch
+    {
+        ColorizationMode.WindowsAccentColor => _currentSystemAccentColor,
+        ColorizationMode.CustomColor or ColorizationMode.Image => ThemeColor,
+        _ => Colors.Transparent,
+    };
+
+    // Since the blur amount is absolute, we need to scale it down for the preview (which is smaller than full screen).
+    public int EffectiveBackgroundImageBlurAmount => (int)Math.Round(BackgroundImageBlurAmount / 4f);
+
+    public double EffectiveBackgroundImageBrightness => BackgroundImageBrightness / 100.0;
+
+    public ImageSource? EffectiveBackgroundImageSource =>
+        ColorizationMode is ColorizationMode.Image
+        && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(BackgroundImagePath)
+        && Uri.TryCreate(BackgroundImagePath, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out var uri)
+            ? new Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage(uri)
+            : null;
+
+    public AppearanceSettingsViewModel(IThemeService themeService, SettingsModel settings)
+    {
+        _themeService = themeService;
+        _themeService.ThemeChanged += ThemeServiceOnThemeChanged;
+        _settings = settings;
+
+        _uiSettings = new UISettings();
+        _uiSettings.ColorValuesChanged += UiSettingsOnColorValuesChanged;
+        UpdateAccentColor(_uiSettings);
+
+        Reapply();
+
+        IsColorizationDetailsExpanded = _settings.ColorizationMode != ColorizationMode.None;
+    }
+
+    private void UiSettingsOnColorValuesChanged(UISettings sender, object args) => _uiDispatcher.TryEnqueue(() => UpdateAccentColor(sender));
+
+    private void UpdateAccentColor(UISettings sender)
+    {
+        _currentSystemAccentColor = sender.GetColorValue(UIColorType.Accent);
+        if (ColorizationMode == ColorizationMode.WindowsAccentColor)
+        {
+            ThemeColor = _currentSystemAccentColor;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void ThemeServiceOnThemeChanged(object? sender, ThemeChangedEventArgs e)
+    {
+        _saveTimer.Debounce(Reapply, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(200));
+    }
+
+    private void Save()
+    {
+        SettingsModel.SaveSettings(_settings);
+        _saveTimer.Debounce(Reapply, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(200));
+    }
+
+    private void Reapply()
+    {
+        // Theme services recalculates effective color and opacity based on current settings.
+        EffectiveBackdrop = _themeService.Current.BackdropParameters;
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveBackdrop));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveBackgroundImageBrightness));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveBackgroundImageSource));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveThemeColor));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveBackgroundImageBlurAmount));
+
+        // LOAD BEARING:
+        // We need to cycle through the EffectiveTheme property to force reload of resources.
+        _elementThemeOverride = ElementTheme.Light;
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveTheme));
+        _elementThemeOverride = ElementTheme.Dark;
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveTheme));
+        _elementThemeOverride = null;
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EffectiveTheme));
+    }
+
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void ResetBackgroundImageProperties()
+    {
+        BackgroundImageBrightness = 0;
+        BackgroundImageBlurAmount = 0;
+        BackgroundImageFit = BackgroundImageFit.UniformToFill;
+        BackgroundImageOpacity = 100;
+        ColorIntensity = 0;
+    }
+
+    public void Dispose()
+    {
+        _uiSettings.ColorValuesChanged -= UiSettingsOnColorValuesChanged;
+        _themeService.ThemeChanged -= ThemeServiceOnThemeChanged;
+    }
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/BackgroundImageFit.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
+
+public enum BackgroundImageFit
+{
+    Fill,
+    UniformToFill,
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/ColorizationMode.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
+
+public enum ColorizationMode
+{
+    None,
+    WindowsAccentColor,
+    CustomColor,
+    Image,
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Commands/MainListPage.cs

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ using Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.ViewModels.Messages;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.Apps;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.Apps.Programs;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.Apps.State;
+using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Commands;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Messages;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Properties;
 using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions;
@@ -44,6 +45,9 @@ public partial class MainListPage : DynamicListPage,
     private List<Scored<IListItem>>? _filteredItems;
     private List<Scored<IListItem>>? _filteredApps;
     private List<Scored<IListItem>>? _fallbackItems;
+
+    // Keep as IEnumerable for deferred execution. Fallback item titles are updated
+    // asynchronously, so scoring must happen lazily when GetItems is called.
     private IEnumerable<Scored<IListItem>>? _scoredFallbackItems;
     private bool _includeApps;
     private bool _filteredItemsIncludesApps;
@@ -155,42 +159,18 @@ public partial class MainListPage : DynamicListPage,
 
     public override IListItem[] GetItems()
     {
-        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(SearchText))
+        lock (_tlcManager.TopLevelCommands)
         {
-            lock (_tlcManager.TopLevelCommands)
-            {
-                return _tlcManager
-                    .TopLevelCommands
-                    .Where(tlc => !tlc.IsFallback && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(tlc.Title))
-                    .ToArray();
-            }
-        }
-        else
-        {
-            lock (_tlcManager.TopLevelCommands)
-            {
-                var limitedApps = new List<Scored<IListItem>>();
-
-                // Fuzzy matching can produce a lot of results, so we want to limit the
-                // number of apps we show at once if it's a large set.
-                if (_filteredApps?.Count > 0)
-                {
-                    limitedApps = _filteredApps.OrderByDescending(s => s.Score).Take(_appResultLimit).ToList();
-                }
-
-                var items = Enumerable.Empty<Scored<IListItem>>()
-                                .Concat(_filteredItems is not null ? _filteredItems : [])
-                                .Concat(_scoredFallbackItems is not null ? _scoredFallbackItems : [])
-                                .Concat(limitedApps)
-                                .OrderByDescending(o => o.Score)
-
-                                // Add fallback items post-sort so they are always at the end of the list
-                                // and eventually ordered based on user preference
-                                .Concat(_fallbackItems is not null ? _fallbackItems.Where(w => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(w.Item.Title)) : [])
-                                .Select(s => s.Item)
-                                .ToArray();
-                return items;
-            }
+            // Either return the top-level commands (no search text), or the merged and
+            // filtered results.
+            return string.IsNullOrEmpty(SearchText)
+                ? _tlcManager.TopLevelCommands.Where(tlc => !tlc.IsFallback && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(tlc.Title)).ToArray()
+                : MainListPageResultFactory.Create(
+                    _filteredItems,
+                    _scoredFallbackItems?.ToList(),
+                    _filteredApps,
+                    _fallbackItems,
+                    _appResultLimit);
         }
     }
 

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Commands/MainListPageResultFactory.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+#pragma warning disable IDE0007 // Use implicit type
+
+using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions;
+using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions.Toolkit;
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Commands;
+
+internal static class MainListPageResultFactory
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Creates a merged and ordered array of results from multiple scored input lists,
+    /// applying an application result limit and filtering fallback items as needed.
+    /// </summary>
+    public static IListItem[] Create(
+        IList<Scored<IListItem>>? filteredItems,
+        IList<Scored<IListItem>>? scoredFallbackItems,
+        IList<Scored<IListItem>>? filteredApps,
+        IList<Scored<IListItem>>? fallbackItems,
+        int appResultLimit)
+    {
+        if (appResultLimit < 0)
+        {
+            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(
+                nameof(appResultLimit), "App result limit must be non-negative.");
+        }
+
+        int len1 = filteredItems?.Count ?? 0;
+        int len2 = scoredFallbackItems?.Count ?? 0;
+
+        // Apps are pre-sorted, so we just need to take the top N, limited by appResultLimit.
+        int len3 = Math.Min(filteredApps?.Count ?? 0, appResultLimit);
+
+        // Allocate the exact size of the result array.
+        int totalCount = len1 + len2 + len3 + GetNonEmptyFallbackItemsCount(fallbackItems);
+        var result = new IListItem[totalCount];
+
+        // Three-way stable merge of already-sorted lists.
+        int idx1 = 0, idx2 = 0, idx3 = 0;
+        int writePos = 0;
+
+        // Merge while all three lists have items. To maintain a stable sort, the
+        // priority is: list1 > list2 > list3 when scores are equal.
+        while (idx1 < len1 && idx2 < len2 && idx3 < len3)
+        {
+            // Using null-forgiving operator as we have already checked against lengths.
+            int score1 = filteredItems![idx1].Score;
+            int score2 = scoredFallbackItems![idx2].Score;
+            int score3 = filteredApps![idx3].Score;
+
+            if (score1 >= score2 && score1 >= score3)
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = filteredItems[idx1++].Item;
+            }
+            else if (score2 >= score3)
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = scoredFallbackItems[idx2++].Item;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = filteredApps[idx3++].Item;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Two-way merges for remaining pairs.
+        while (idx1 < len1 && idx2 < len2)
+        {
+            if (filteredItems![idx1].Score >= scoredFallbackItems![idx2].Score)
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = filteredItems[idx1++].Item;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = scoredFallbackItems[idx2++].Item;
+            }
+        }
+
+        while (idx1 < len1 && idx3 < len3)
+        {
+            if (filteredItems![idx1].Score >= filteredApps![idx3].Score)
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = filteredItems[idx1++].Item;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = filteredApps[idx3++].Item;
+            }
+        }
+
+        while (idx2 < len2 && idx3 < len3)
+        {
+            if (scoredFallbackItems![idx2].Score >= filteredApps![idx3].Score)
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = scoredFallbackItems[idx2++].Item;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                result[writePos++] = filteredApps[idx3++].Item;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Drain remaining items from a non-empty list.
+        while (idx1 < len1)
+        {
+            result[writePos++] = filteredItems![idx1++].Item;
+        }
+
+        while (idx2 < len2)
+        {
+            result[writePos++] = scoredFallbackItems![idx2++].Item;
+        }
+
+        while (idx3 < len3)
+        {
+            result[writePos++] = filteredApps![idx3++].Item;
+        }
+
+        // Append filtered fallback items. Fallback items are added post-sort so they are
+        // always at the end of the list and eventually ordered based on user preference.
+        if (fallbackItems is not null)
+        {
+            for (int i = 0; i < fallbackItems.Count; i++)
+            {
+                var item = fallbackItems[i].Item;
+                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(item.Title))
+                {
+                    result[writePos++] = item;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    private static int GetNonEmptyFallbackItemsCount(IList<Scored<IListItem>>? fallbackItems)
+    {
+        int fallbackItemsCount = 0;
+
+        if (fallbackItems is not null)
+        {
+            for (int i = 0; i < fallbackItems.Count; i++)
+            {
+                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(fallbackItems[i].Item.Title))
+                {
+                    fallbackItemsCount++;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return fallbackItemsCount;
+    }
+}
+#pragma warning restore IDE0007 // Use implicit type

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/MainWindowViewModel.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
+using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
+using Microsoft.UI.Dispatching;
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Media;
+using Windows.UI;
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
+
+public partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IDisposable
+{
+    private readonly IThemeService _themeService;
+    private readonly DispatcherQueue _uiDispatcherQueue = DispatcherQueue.GetForCurrentThread()!;
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial ImageSource? BackgroundImageSource { get; private set; }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial Stretch BackgroundImageStretch { get; private set; } = Stretch.Fill;
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial double BackgroundImageOpacity { get; private set; }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial Color BackgroundImageTint { get; private set; }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial double BackgroundImageTintIntensity { get; private set; }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial int BackgroundImageBlurAmount { get; private set; }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial double BackgroundImageBrightness { get; private set; }
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    public partial bool ShowBackgroundImage { get; private set; }
+
+    public MainWindowViewModel(IThemeService themeService)
+    {
+        _themeService = themeService;
+        _themeService.ThemeChanged += ThemeService_ThemeChanged;
+    }
+
+    private void ThemeService_ThemeChanged(object? sender, ThemeChangedEventArgs e)
+    {
+        _uiDispatcherQueue.TryEnqueue(() =>
+        {
+            BackgroundImageSource = _themeService.Current.BackgroundImageSource;
+            BackgroundImageStretch = _themeService.Current.BackgroundImageStretch;
+            BackgroundImageOpacity = _themeService.Current.BackgroundImageOpacity;
+
+            BackgroundImageBrightness = _themeService.Current.BackgroundBrightness;
+            BackgroundImageTint = _themeService.Current.Tint;
+            BackgroundImageTintIntensity = _themeService.Current.TintIntensity;
+            BackgroundImageBlurAmount = _themeService.Current.BlurAmount;
+
+            ShowBackgroundImage = BackgroundImageSource != null;
+        });
+    }
+
+    public void Dispose()
+    {
+        _themeService.ThemeChanged -= ThemeService_ThemeChanged;
+        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
+    }
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.csproj

@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@
     <PackageReference Include="CommunityToolkit.Common" />
     <PackageReference Include="CommunityToolkit.Mvvm" />
     <PackageReference Include="AdaptiveCards.Templating" />
+    <PackageReference Include="CommunityToolkit.WinUI.Extensions" />
     <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Bot.AdaptiveExpressions.Core" />
     <PackageReference Include="AdaptiveCards.ObjectModel.WinUI3" GeneratePathProperty="true">
       <ExcludeAssets>compile</ExcludeAssets>
     </PackageReference>
-    <PackageReference Include="AdaptiveCards.Rendering.WinUI3" GeneratePathProperty="True" >
+    <PackageReference Include="AdaptiveCards.Rendering.WinUI3" GeneratePathProperty="True">
       <ExcludeAssets>compile</ExcludeAssets>
     </PackageReference>
 

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Properties {
     // class via a tool like ResGen or Visual Studio.
     // To add or remove a member, edit your .ResX file then rerun ResGen
     // with the /str option, or rebuild your VS project.
-    [global::System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.Resources.Tools.StronglyTypedResourceBuilder", "17.0.0.0")]
+    [global::System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.Resources.Tools.StronglyTypedResourceBuilder", "18.0.0.0")]
     [global::System.Diagnostics.DebuggerNonUserCodeAttribute()]
     [global::System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute()]
     public class Resources {
@@ -411,6 +411,15 @@ namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Properties {
             }
         }
         
+        /// <summary>
+        ///   Looks up a localized string similar to Pick background image.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static string builtin_settings_appearance_pick_background_image_title {
+            get {
+                return ResourceManager.GetString("builtin_settings_appearance_pick_background_image_title", resourceCulture);
+            }
+        }
+        
         /// <summary>
         ///   Looks up a localized string similar to {0} extensions found.
         /// </summary>

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Properties/Resources.resx

@@ -239,4 +239,7 @@
   <data name="builtin_settings_extension_n_extensions_installed" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>{0} extensions installed</value>
   </data>
+  <data name="builtin_settings_appearance_pick_background_image_title" xml:space="preserve">
+    <value>Pick background image</value>
+  </data>
 </root>

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Services/AcrylicBackdropParameters.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using Windows.UI;
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
+
+public sealed record AcrylicBackdropParameters(Color TintColor, Color FallbackColor, float TintOpacity, float LuminosityOpacity);

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Services/IThemeService.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Provides theme-related values for the Command Palette and notifies listeners about
+/// changes that affect visual appearance (theme, tint, background image, and backdrop).
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Implementations are expected to monitor system/app theme changes and raise
+/// <see cref="ThemeChanged"/> accordingly. Consumers should call <see cref="Initialize"/>
+/// once to hook required sources and then query properties/methods for the current visuals.
+/// </remarks>
+public interface IThemeService
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Occurs when the effective theme or any visual-affecting setting changes.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Triggered for changes such as app theme (light/dark/default), background image,
+    /// tint/accent, or backdrop parameters that would require UI to refresh styling.
+    /// </remarks>
+    event EventHandler<ThemeChangedEventArgs>? ThemeChanged;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Initializes the theme service and starts listening for theme-related changes.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Safe to call once during application startup before consuming the service.
+    /// </remarks>
+    void Initialize();
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the current theme settings.
+    /// </summary>
+    ThemeSnapshot Current { get; }
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Services/ThemeChangedEventArgs.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Event arguments for theme-related changes. </summary>
+public class ThemeChangedEventArgs : EventArgs;

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/Services/ThemeSnapshot.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml;
+using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Media;
+using Windows.UI;
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Represents a snapshot of theme-related visual settings, including accent color, theme preference, and background
+/// image configuration, for use in rendering the Command Palette UI.
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class ThemeSnapshot
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the accent tint color used by the Command Palette visuals.
+    /// </summary>
+    public required Color Tint { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the accent tint color used by the Command Palette visuals.
+    /// </summary>
+    public required float TintIntensity { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the configured application theme preference.
+    /// </summary>
+    public required ElementTheme Theme { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the image source to render as the background, if any.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Returns <see langword="null"/> when no background image is configured.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public required ImageSource? BackgroundImageSource { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the stretch mode used to lay out the background image.
+    /// </summary>
+    public required Stretch BackgroundImageStretch { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the opacity applied to the background image.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <value>
+    /// A value in the range [0, 1], where 0 is fully transparent and 1 is fully opaque.
+    /// </value>
+    public required double BackgroundImageOpacity { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the effective acrylic backdrop parameters based on current settings and theme.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>The resolved <c>AcrylicBackdropParameters</c> to apply.</returns>
+    public required AcrylicBackdropParameters BackdropParameters { get; init; }
+
+    public required int BlurAmount { get; init; }
+
+    public required float BackgroundBrightness { get; init; }
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/SettingsModel.cs

@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
 using ManagedCommon;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Settings;
 using Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions.Toolkit;
+using Microsoft.UI;
 using Windows.Foundation;
+using Windows.UI;
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
 
@@ -60,6 +62,26 @@ public partial class SettingsModel : ObservableObject
 
     public TimeSpan AutoGoHomeInterval { get; set; } = Timeout.InfiniteTimeSpan;
 
+    public EscapeKeyBehavior EscapeKeyBehaviorSetting { get; set; } = EscapeKeyBehavior.ClearSearchFirstThenGoBack;
+
+    public UserTheme Theme { get; set; } = UserTheme.Default;
+
+    public ColorizationMode ColorizationMode { get; set; }
+
+    public Color CustomThemeColor { get; set; } = Colors.Transparent;
+
+    public int CustomThemeColorIntensity { get; set; } = 100;
+
+    public int BackgroundImageOpacity { get; set; } = 20;
+
+    public int BackgroundImageBlurAmount { get; set; }
+
+    public int BackgroundImageBrightness { get; set; }
+
+    public BackgroundImageFit BackgroundImageFit { get; set; }
+
+    public string? BackgroundImagePath { get; set; }
+
     // END SETTINGS
     ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
@@ -282,3 +304,11 @@ public enum MonitorBehavior
     InPlace = 3,
     ToLast = 4,
 }
+
+public enum EscapeKeyBehavior
+{
+    ClearSearchFirstThenGoBack = 0,
+    AlwaysGoBack = 1,
+    AlwaysDismiss = 2,
+    AlwaysHide = 3,
+}

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/SettingsViewModel.cs

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
 using System.ComponentModel;
+using Microsoft.CmdPal.Core.Common.Services;
+using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Services;
 using Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels.Settings;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 
@@ -29,6 +31,8 @@ public partial class SettingsViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
 
     public event PropertyChangedEventHandler? PropertyChanged;
 
+    public AppearanceSettingsViewModel Appearance { get; }
+
     public HotkeySettings? Hotkey
     {
         get => _settings.Hotkey;
@@ -160,6 +164,16 @@ public partial class SettingsViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
         }
     }
 
+    public int EscapeKeyBehaviorIndex
+    {
+        get => (int)_settings.EscapeKeyBehaviorSetting;
+        set
+        {
+            _settings.EscapeKeyBehaviorSetting = (EscapeKeyBehavior)value;
+            Save();
+        }
+    }
+
     public ObservableCollection<ProviderSettingsViewModel> CommandProviders { get; } = [];
 
     public SettingsExtensionsViewModel Extensions { get; }
@@ -169,6 +183,9 @@ public partial class SettingsViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
         _settings = settings;
         _serviceProvider = serviceProvider;
 
+        var themeService = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IThemeService>();
+        Appearance = new AppearanceSettingsViewModel(themeService, _settings);
+
         var activeProviders = GetCommandProviders();
         var allProviderSettings = _settings.ProviderSettings;
 

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/TopLevelViewModel.cs

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ using WyHash;
 
 namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
 
-public sealed partial class TopLevelViewModel : ObservableObject, IListItem
+public sealed partial class TopLevelViewModel : ObservableObject, IListItem, IExtendedAttributesProvider
 {
     private readonly SettingsModel _settings;
     private readonly ProviderSettings _providerSettings;
@@ -232,6 +232,13 @@ public sealed partial class TopLevelViewModel : ObservableObject, IListItem
             {
                 UpdateInitialIcon();
             }
+            else if (e.PropertyName == nameof(CommandItem.DataPackage))
+            {
+                DoOnUiThread(() =>
+                {
+                    OnPropertyChanged(nameof(CommandItem.DataPackage));
+                });
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -394,4 +401,12 @@ public sealed partial class TopLevelViewModel : ObservableObject, IListItem
     {
         return $"{nameof(TopLevelViewModel)}: {Id} ({Title}) - display: {DisplayTitle} - fallback: {IsFallback} - enabled: {IsEnabled}";
     }
+
+    public IDictionary<string, object?> GetProperties()
+    {
+        return new Dictionary<string, object?>
+        {
+            [WellKnownExtensionAttributes.DataPackage] = _commandItemViewModel?.DataPackage,
+        };
+    }
 }

src/modules/cmdpal/Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels/UserTheme.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
+// The Microsoft Corporation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.CmdPal.UI.ViewModels;
+
+public enum UserTheme
+{
+    Default,
+    Light,
+    Dark,
+}