dotnetup: .NET Finally Gets a rustup-Style SDK Version Manager

For years, managing .NET SDKs has meant juggling three separate things: the standalone installers from the download page, the dotnet-install scripts for CI, and the dotnet-core-uninstall tool to clean up the pile of old versions left behind. There has never been a single command that installs, tracks, and switches between SDKs the way rustup does for Rust or nvm does for Node. As of June 2026, that is changing. Microsoft is building dotnetup, and it is already wired into how the .NET SDK builds itself.

What dotnetup actually is

dotnetup is an official, cross-platform version manager for .NET SDKs and runtimes. Its entire job is to install components into a user-scoped directory without requiring elevation, track what you have installed in a manifest, and switch the active version cleanly. No admin prompt, no MSI, no registry surgery.

The headline behaviors:

• Installs SDKs and runtimes per-user, so you never need sudo or an elevated terminal.
• Reads global.json to resolve and install the exact SDK a repository pins.
• Tracks installed components in a manifest for auditable updates and clean uninstalls.
• Supports multiple runtimes side by side for multi-targeting.
• Ships as an AOT-compiled, signed binary for fast startup and supply-chain safety.

The one command surface confirmed in the dotnet/sdk tracking issue is the install path, used here to pull a preview SDK in a build script:

dotnetup sdk install preview

The broader command set (listing installed versions, setting a default, uninstalling) is still being finalized in the open, so treat any longer example as illustrative rather than locked.

Why global.json is the real win

The painful part of multi-repo .NET work today is the global.json mismatch. You clone a repo, run dotnet build, and get an error because it pins an SDK you do not have installed. Your only options are to hunt down the right installer or edit the file.

{
  "sdk": {
    "version": "10.0.301",
    "rollForward": "latestPatch"
  }
}

With a version manager that understands this file, the resolution becomes a single step: point dotnetup at the repo and let it fetch the pinned SDK into your user profile. That is the same ergonomics Rust developers have had for years with rust-toolchain.toml.

Where it stands right now

dotnetup is in internal preview. There is no one-line installer on the .NET website yet, and the practical way to try it today is to build it from source. A public preview is planned for the coming months. Notably, the dotnet/sdk main branch already uses dotnetup as part of its own build, which is a strong signal that this is the intended future of .NET installation rather than an experiment.

If you maintain CI pipelines or onboard developers onto repos with strict SDK pins, this is the tool to watch. Track progress in the dotnet/sdk issue on using dotnetup in build scripts and the awareness issue noting the main branch now builds with it.