Microsoft's Windows Terminal and PowerToys team has shipped a rebuilt Run dialog (Win+R) for Windows 11. The new dialog is built with C#/WinUI 3 and compiled with .NET AOT, achieving a 94ms median time-to-show versus the previous 103ms. It features a Fluent Design look with dark mode support, tilde (~\) shortcut for quick home directory navigation, and is powered by the same CmdPal codebase used in PowerToys. The redesign was data-driven, measuring usage patterns across 35 million samples before making decisions like removing the rarely-used browse button. Currently rolling out as opt-in on the Windows Insider Experimental Channel.
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How we’ve built it: Data-and-community driven Copy linkData driven engineering Copy linkBuilding the new Run Copy linkNew feature: ~\ for quick home directory access and icons in the list Copy linkFeedback to improve Copy link1 Comment
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