Maui Shell Navigation

What it does

When your agent uses it

• : Shell navigation
• Route registration
• Query parameters navigation
• Back navigation

Example prompts

• “Shell navigation”
• “GoToAsync”
• “AppShell”
• “/maui-shell-navigation”

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Duplicate route names — Routing.RegisterRoute throws ArgumentException
2. 2Relative routes require registration — you cannot GoToAsync("somepage")
3. 3Pages are created on demand — when using ContentTemplate, the page
4. 4Tab.Stack is read-only — you cannot manipulate the navigation stack directly;
5. 5GoToAsync is async — always await it — fire-and-forget navigation causes
6. 6Route hierarchy matters — absolute routes must match the full path through

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 79bb4bf. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are csharp and xml).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Maui Shell Navigation loads about 889 tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 157 tokens; SKILL.md has 206 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~157

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~889

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~3.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from davidortinau/maui-skills at commit 79bb4bf, republished under its MIT licence (© davidortinau). 206 words, ~889 tokens.

name

maui-shell-navigation

description

.NET MAUI Shell navigation guidance — Shell visual hierarchy, AppShell setup, tab bars, flyout menus, URI-based navigation with GoToAsync, route registration, query parameters, back navigation, and navigation events. USE FOR: "Shell navigation", "GoToAsync", "AppShell", "tab bar", "flyout menu", "route registration", "query parameters navigation", "back navigation", "Shell tabs", "URI navigation", "navigation events". DO NOT USE FOR: deep linking from external URLs (use maui-deep-linking), data binding on pages (use maui-data-binding), or dependency injection setup (use maui-dependency-injection).

<!-- ✅ Lazy — page created on first navigation -->
<ShellContent ContentTemplate="{DataTemplate views:HomePage}" />

<!-- ❌ Eager — page created at Shell startup -->
<ShellContent>
    <views:HomePage />
</ShellContent>

public class AnimalDetailsViewModel : ObservableObject, IQueryAttributable
{
    public void ApplyQueryAttributes(IDictionary<string, object> query)
    {
        if (query.TryGetValue("id", out var id))
            AnimalId = id.ToString();
    }
}

var parameters = new ShellNavigationQueryParameters
{
    { "animal", selectedAnimal }
};
await Shell.Current.GoToAsync("animaldetails", parameters);

protected override async void OnNavigating(ShellNavigatingEventArgs args)
{
    base.OnNavigating(args);
    if (hasUnsavedChanges && args.Source == ShellNavigationSource.Pop)
    {
        var deferral = args.GetDeferral();
        bool discard = await ShowConfirmationDialog();
        if (!discard)
            args.Cancel();
        deferral.Complete();
    }
}

© davidortinau, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in plugins/maui-skills/skills/maui-shell-navigation of davidortinau/maui-skills.

• SKILL.md
• references/shell-navigation-api.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 79bb4bf