Native library interop

Native library interop (formerly referred to as the "Slim Binding" approach), refers to a pattern for accessing native SDKs in .NET for Android and .NET MAUI projects.

Starting in .NET 9, the .NET for Android SDK supports building Gradle projects by using the @(AndroidGradleProject) build action. This is declared in an MSBuild ItemGroup in a project file:

<ItemGroup>
  <AndroidGradleProject Include="path/to/project/build.gradle.kts" ModuleName="mylibrary" />
</ItemGroup>

When an @(AndroidGradleProject) item is added to a .NET for Android project, the build process will attempt to create an AAR or APK file from the specified Gradle project. Any AAR output files will be added to the .NET project as an @(AndroidLibrary) to be bound.

See also

• The .NET MAUI Community Toolkit - Native Library Interop guide for more detailed docs.
• The build-items docs for more information about the @(AndroidGradleProject) build action.
• The Maui.NativeLibraryInterop git repository for code samples.