Agent Skills for XAF
- 3 minutes to read
DevExpress AI Skills repository contains reusable agent skills for AI coding assistants, such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, and JetBrains AI Assistant. The repository includes folders for different DevExpress products. Navigate to thedx-xaf directory to find XAF-specific AI Skills that provide coding assistants with built-in knowledge about XAF capabilities, related APIs, best practices, and code examples.
Available Skills
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Business Model | Business Model Design: BaseObject, entity relationships, DbContext registration, data annotations, XAF attributes, calculated fields, PersistentAliasAttribute, seed data in Updater, deferred/soft deletion, optimistic locking |
| Business Logic | CRUD Operations & Business Logic: IObjectSpace, CreateObject, GetObjectsQuery, GetObjects, FindObject, FirstOrDefault, CommitChanges, DeleteObject, ObjectSpace events, IXafEntityObject methods and lifecycle, NonPersistentObjectSpace, Direct SQL |
| Business Logic (XPO-specific) | XPO-specific Business Logic (sub-skill): Session, UnitOfWork, XPCollection, XPQuery, XPView, NestedUnitOfWork, SetPropertyValue, AfterConstruction/OnSaving overrides, IsSaving/IsLoading flags |
| Controllers | Controllers & Actions: ViewController, WindowController, SimpleAction, SingleChoiceAction, PopupWindowShowAction, ParametrizedAction, controller lifecycle, ActionAttribute, TargetViewId, TargetViewType |
| Views | Views & Navigation: ListView, DetailView, DashboardView, ShowViewParameters, data access modes, edit modes, layout customization, non-persistent object views |
| Property Editors | Editors: Property Editors, List Editors, View Items, .NET data type to Property Editor mapping, editor control access, CustomizeViewItemControl, OnViewControlsCreated, custom Property/List Editors/View Items |
| Filtering | Filtering: CriteriaOperator syntax, IObjectSpace filtering, CollectionSource.Criteria, ListViewFilterAttribute, Find Panel, Filter Builder, ICustomFunctionOperator, lookup filtering |
| Filtering (XPO-specific) | XPO-specific Filtering (sub-skill): XPCollection criteria, XPQuery LINQ, XPView, Session.FindObject/GetObjectByKey/Query<T>, server-mode data sources |
| Application Appearance | Conditional Appearance: AppearanceAttribute, FontColor/BackColor/FontStyle/Enabled/Visibility, AppearanceItemType, criteria-based and method-based rules, AppearanceController events |
| Validation | Validation: RuleRequiredField, RuleCriteria, RuleRange, RuleRegularExpression, RuleUniqueValue, DefaultContexts, soft validation, programmatic validation, custom rules |
| Security | Security System: authentication (password, Windows, OAuth2), user logins, authorization (type/object/member/navigation permissions), roles and access privileges, CurrentUserID, ApplicationUser/ISecurityUserWithRoles/ISecurityProvider/IsGrantedExtensions, Permission Policy, security tiers |
| Reports | Reports V2 & Data Export: AddReports, CollectionDataSource/ViewDataSource, predefined reports, in-place reports, report preview from code, export (CSV, XLS, XLSX, PDF), Report Designer/Viewer |
| Performance | Performance Optimization: server-mode data sources, data access modes, EF Core eager/lazy/delayed loading, XPO delayed loading, calculated fields, PersistentAliasAttribute, N+1 Select Problem, database indexing, SQL query profiling |
Installation
- Open the dx-xaf/skills folder in the DevExpress/agent-skills repository.
- Copy the required skill folders to your AI assistant’s skills directory.
- Start a chat in agent mode and ask a product-specific question.
For agent-specific and IDE-specific setup instructions, refer to the repository README.
Best Practices: DevExpress AI Skills and MCP Server
Use DevExpress AI Skills with the DevExpress MCP Server for best results. Skills provide curated task patterns and product-specific rules. The MCP Server provides live documentation lookup and version-specific details. These tools complement each other.
You can also use each tool separately:
- DevExpress AI Skills provide curated task patterns and product-specific usage rules without a network connection. They do not provide access to online documentation.
- DevExpress MCP Server provides live, version-specific DevExpress documentation lookup without AI Skills setup.
Tip
Use a high-capability model for the most accurate results. Lower-capability models may ignore skill instructions or produce less reliable output.