At a Glance
Visual Studio is never required. But when a project calls for code, appRules Developer and Visual Studio open up the entire .NET ecosystem — without leaving the guardrails.
Most appRules workflows are built entirely in the designer, with no code or low code. Business and IT teams compose them from connectors, Conditions, Actions, and AI activities — no programming required.
When a project needs more, appRules Developer takes over where the designer leaves off. It isn't a code snippet box inside a proprietary editor — it's a real Visual Studio solution for Visual Studio 2022 and 2026, in any .NET language. Developers build custom workflow activities, actions, conditions, and connectors; call their own and external assemblies; and use any NuGet package or company library. If it can be done in .NET, appRules can use it.
The Full Visual Studio Experience
Developers work the way they already do — with the tools, languages, and practices they already know.
| Capability | appRules Developer + Visual Studio |
|---|---|
| Languages | Any .NET language — C#, VB.NET, and more |
| Visual Studio versions | Visual Studio 2022 and Visual Studio 2026 |
| Project experience | A real Visual Studio solution — Solution Explorer, IntelliSense, and everything developers expect |
| Debugging | Set breakpoints and step through appRules code, just like any other .NET project |
| Libraries | NuGet packages, your company's own libraries, and external assemblies — no restrictions |
| Source control and CI/CD | Git, plus your existing Azure DevOps or GitHub pipelines |
| Testing | Your usual unit testing frameworks |
| AI coding assistance | GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio, as with any Visual Studio solution |
What Developers Can Build
⚙️ Custom Workflow Activities
New activities tailored to your processes, used in workflows just like the built-in ones.
🎯 Custom Actions
Business operations and transformations of any complexity, alongside the built-in Actions library.
✅ Custom Conditions
Evaluation logic of your own, returning the same precise True or False result as every other Condition.
🔌 Custom Connectors
Connections to proprietary, in-house, or niche systems that no off-the-shelf connector covers.
📦 Your Assemblies — and Everyone Else's
Call your own .NET assemblies and external ones directly, so existing investments are reused, not rewritten.
🌐 The Whole NuGet Ecosystem
Any NuGet package or company library, with no restrictions — the entire .NET ecosystem, inside your workflows.
Full Code Freedom, Inside the Guardrails
Extending a platform with code usually means stepping outside its controls. Not here. Custom workflow activities, actions, and conditions built in Visual Studio run inside GuardRailed Execution, exactly like the built-in ones: their results are validated, every step is logged, and post-conditions still gate every write.
Developers get the full power of .NET. The enterprise keeps the full protection of GuardRailed Automation.
That means code never becomes a governance blind spot. Whether a step was configured in the designer or written in C#, it is governed, observable, and auditable in the same way — and authorized users can still pause or cancel any run mid-task.
Four Ways Teams Work Together
Business Builds, Developers Extend
Business and IT teams build the workflow in the designer. Where a step needs specialized logic, a developer builds a custom action or condition in Visual Studio. From then on, no-code builders can select it in the designer like any other building block.
Bring Your .NET Investment
Years of proven business logic already live in your .NET libraries. appRules calls them directly, so pricing engines, validation routines, and integrations are reused rather than rebuilt.
Debug Like Any .NET Project
When custom logic misbehaves, developers set breakpoints and step through the code in Visual Studio — no guesswork, no log archaeology.
Ship With Your Engineering Process
appRules code lives in a real Visual Studio solution, so it follows the same source control, review, testing, and release process as the rest of your software.
Choosing the Right Tool for Each Step
Use the appRules designer for
Most workflows — composed from connectors, Conditions, Actions, AI activities, and mappings, with no code or low code, by business and IT teams.
Reach for Visual Studio when
A project needs custom activities, actions, conditions, or connectors; your own or external .NET assemblies; NuGet packages; or step-through debugging and your full engineering process.
More appRules Product Comparisons & Interoperability
Alongside Visual Studio — and the other tools your developers already use — appRules adds GuardRailed Automation: governed AI that takes action in enterprise systems, from design to execution.
Microsoft, Visual Studio, .NET, C#, Visual Basic, Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, and NuGet are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. This page describes how appRules Developer is used with Visual Studio and does not imply any partnership with or endorsement by Microsoft.