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First Steps with Telerik UI for WPF

Updated on Oct 28, 2026

This guide helps you create a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) project and add Telerik controls.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure to:

Install Visual Studio with the .NET desktop development workload.
Install the .NET 8.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) or later.

Set Up Telerik Development Environment

If you have already set up your Telerik development environment and it doesn't need updating, skip to create the WPF project.

The fastest way to set up your Telerik development environment is to use the Telerik command-line interface (CLI) .NET tool commands in a command shell (cmd, PowerShell, etc.).

Install Telerik CLI
powershell
```
dotnet tool install -g Telerik.CLI
```
Run the telerik setup wpf command
powershell
```
telerik setup wpf
```

The setup command performs multiple Telerik CLI setup steps at once to configure your Telerik development environment: login, license key installation, NuGet package source configuration, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server setup.

Create the WPF Project

Create a new WPF project in Visual Studio.

Select File > New > Project.
Choose the WPF Application template.
Enter the project details, like project name and directory location, and click Create.

Install Telerik Packages in the Project

Starting with Q3 2026, all Telerik UI for WPF NuGet packages will be available on NuGet.org. If you install packages from NuGet.org, you do not need to configure the Telerik NuGet server.

Right-click on the project name in Visual Studio and select Manage NuGet Packages.
Open the Browse tab.
In the Package source drop down menu on the right, make sure to select the Telerik NuGet package source or the All option.
Search for Telerik.UI.for.Wpf.AllControls.Xaml and install it in the project.

The installed package is referenced in the project file as follows:
xml
```
<PackageReference Include="Telerik.UI.for.Wpf.AllControls.Xaml" Version="*" />
```

This tutorial shows how to install the Telerik.UI.for.Wpf.AllControls.Xaml package that contains all Telerik WPF assemblies. To reduce the final application size, you can install only the required separate Telerik UI for WPF NuGet packages. For example, this demo only requires the Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation.Xaml package.

Add Telerik Controls in the Project

Open the MainWindow.xaml file.
Add the telerik schema in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML).
xaml
```
xmlns:telerik="http://schemas.telerik.com/2008/xaml/presentation"
```

Add a Telerik control. For this example, we'll use RadTabControl.

xaml

<Window x:Class="TelerikWpfApplication.MainWindow"
		xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
		xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
		xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
		xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
		xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TelerikWpfApplication" 
		xmlns:telerik="http://schemas.telerik.com/2008/xaml/presentation"
		mc:Ignorable="d"
		Title="MainWindow"
		Height="450"
		Width="800">
	<Grid>
		<telerik:RadTabControl>
			<telerik:RadTabItem Header="Home" />
			<telerik:RadTabItem Header="Insert" />
			<telerik:RadTabItem Header="View" />
		</telerik:RadTabControl>
	</Grid>
</Window>

(optional) Open the MainWindow.xaml.cs and set the Telerik theme. This tutorial uses the XAML version of the Telerik dlls, so we need to use StyleManager for the theme setting.

public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
	public MainWindow()
	{
		StyleManager.ApplicationTheme = new Windows11Theme();
		this.InitializeComponent();
	}
}

Build and run the project.

Telerik UI for WPF comes with two sets of dlls, named Xaml and NoXaml. This tutorial was created with the Xaml dlls set in mind. Read more about this in the Xaml vs. NoXaml article.

Next Steps

Use Telerik AI Tools

Get artificial intelligence (AI)-powered help through a unified MCP server, directly in your integrated development environment (IDE).

Use Components

Check the list of available Telerik WPF components.

Browse WPF Demos

Explore the examples via the Telerik UI for WPF Desktop Examples application.

Get Started with RadGridView

Bind the Telerik WPF Data Grid to data and choose from the variety of built-in features.

Theming

Review the built-in themes.