30 Best Winget Packages for Windows Developers in 2026

You just bought a new Windows machine. Or wiped one. Or spun up a dev VM. Now you need to install everything. Here's the 30 winget packages worth installing first — battle-tested, regularly updated, and shipping in all our Developer bundles.

Skip to the one-line install script at the bottom if you just want to get going.

Editors & IDEs

1. Visual Studio Code

winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode -e

The default modern editor. Free, fast, extensible. There's no reason not to have it on every Windows dev machine.

2. JetBrains Toolbox

winget install --id JetBrains.Toolbox -e

Installs and manages all JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.) from one app. Better than installing them individually.

3. Notepad++

winget install --id Notepad++.Notepad++ -e

Classic, lightweight, perfect for one-off file edits where firing up VS Code is overkill.

Version control

4. Git

winget install --id Git.Git -e

Goes without saying.

5. GitHub Desktop

winget install --id GitHub.GitHubDesktop -e

When you want a GUI for the simple stuff (commits, branches, PRs). Pairs well with VS Code's built-in git for everyday work.

6. GitHub CLI

winget install --id GitHub.cli -e

gh is genuinely useful — create PRs, review them, clone repos by name (gh repo clone owner/repo).

Terminals & shells

7. Windows Terminal

winget install --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal -e

If you're still using cmd.exe, you're hurting yourself. Tabs, transparency, sane defaults, GPU rendering.

8. PowerShell 7

winget install --id Microsoft.PowerShell -e

The cross-platform one. Way better than Windows PowerShell 5.1 (which is locked to .NET Framework).

9. WSL

WSL ships with Windows now but make sure it's enabled:

wsl --install

Not technically winget, but you can install distros via winget:

winget install --id Canonical.Ubuntu.2404 -e

Runtimes

10. Node.js (LTS)

winget install --id OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS -e

LTS unless you specifically need bleeding edge. For multiple versions, see fnm below.

11. Python

winget install --id Python.Python.3.13 -e

Latest stable. Use pyenv-win if you need multiple Python versions.

12. .NET SDK

winget install --id Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.9 -e

For anything .NET, MAUI, or Blazor.

13. Go

winget install --id GoLang.Go -e

14. Rust (rustup)

winget install --id Rustlang.Rustup -e

Installs rustup which then manages your Rust toolchain.

Containers & infra

15. Docker Desktop

winget install --id Docker.DockerDesktop -e

For most people. If you want lightweight, look at Podman.

16. Podman

winget install --id RedHat.Podman -e

Daemon-less alternative. Good if you don't want Docker Desktop's licensing.

17. kubectl

winget install --id Kubernetes.kubectl -e

18. Terraform

winget install --id HashiCorp.Terraform -e

CLI tools

19. fnm (Fast Node Manager)

winget install --id Schniz.fnm -e

Switch Node versions per-project with .nvmrc. Much faster than nvm-windows.

20. ripgrep

winget install --id BurntSushi.ripgrep.MSVC -e

rg — search code 10x faster than grep. Best CLI tool of the decade.

21. fd

winget install --id sharkdp.fd -e

find replacement. Sane defaults, fast.

22. bat

winget install --id sharkdp.bat -e

cat with syntax highlighting and line numbers.

23. jq

winget install --id stedolan.jq -e

Mandatory for working with JSON from the command line.

24. Starship

winget install --id Starship.Starship -e

Cross-shell prompt. Fast, configurable, looks great out of the box. Works in PowerShell, cmd, bash.

Databases & API tools

25. Postman

winget install --id Postman.Postman -e

Still the most popular HTTP / API client. Alternative: Insomnia.

26. DBeaver

winget install --id dbeaver.dbeaver -e

Free universal database client. Connects to everything (Postgres, MySQL, SQLite, MSSQL, Oracle…).

27. TablePlus

winget install --id TablePlus.TablePlus -e

Prettier than DBeaver but freemium. Worth it for daily Postgres / MySQL work.

Productivity

28. PowerToys

winget install --id Microsoft.PowerToys -e

Microsoft's official "make Windows usable" toolkit. FancyZones (window tiling) and Run (Spotlight-style launcher) alone justify it.

29. Everything

winget install --id voidtools.Everything -e

The fastest file-name search ever made. Indexes your entire drive in seconds. Once you use it, Windows Explorer search feels broken.

30. ShareX

winget install --id ShareX.ShareX -e

Screenshot tool that also records GIFs, uploads, OCRs, and does about 50 other things. Free.

Install everything at once

We've pre-built this exact list as a bundle. Two options:

Option 1 — Use winget.tech to generate a script:

→ Go to the Developer bundle — adds all curated dev tools to your script, then click "Generate script" to get a Batch / PowerShell / JSON file you can run.

Option 2 — Copy/paste this script (PowerShell):

$apps = @(
  'Microsoft.VisualStudioCode'
  'JetBrains.Toolbox'
  'Notepad++.Notepad++'
  'Git.Git'
  'GitHub.GitHubDesktop'
  'GitHub.cli'
  'Microsoft.WindowsTerminal'
  'Microsoft.PowerShell'
  'OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS'
  'Python.Python.3.13'
  'Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.9'
  'GoLang.Go'
  'Rustlang.Rustup'
  'Docker.DockerDesktop'
  'Kubernetes.kubectl'
  'HashiCorp.Terraform'
  'Schniz.fnm'
  'BurntSushi.ripgrep.MSVC'
  'sharkdp.fd'
  'sharkdp.bat'
  'stedolan.jq'
  'Starship.Starship'
  'Postman.Postman'
  'dbeaver.dbeaver'
  'Microsoft.PowerToys'
  'voidtools.Everything'
  'ShareX.ShareX'
)

foreach ($app in $apps) {
  winget install --id $app -e `
    --accept-package-agreements `
    --accept-source-agreements
}

Right-click PowerShell → Run as Administrator → paste → wait 10 minutes.

What's missing?

This list is opinionated. Some intentional omissions:

No Chrome / Firefox — install your browser manually so you can sign in immediately
No Slack / Discord — communication apps are personal preference; pick yours in Office bundle
No Adobe / Figma — design tools, separate bundle
No nvm-windows — fnm is faster and simpler