Tag: dotnet-cli

A complete guide to file-based C# apps: running a single .cs file with dotnet run, the #:package, #:sdk, #:property, #:project and #:include directives, multi-file scripts with #:ref, argument and stdin handling, the build cache, native AOT publishing, packaging as a dotnet tool, and dotnet project convert when the script outgrows itself.

dotnet build compiles your project for the inner development loop and defaults to Debug. dotnet publish runs the MSBuild Publish target, defaults to Release on net8.0 and later, and packages a deployable folder with web assets, self-contained runtimes, single-file, trimming, and AOT handled. Here is exactly what each one produces and when to reach for it.

dotnet run builds your project once and launches it. dotnet watch wraps dotnet run in a file watcher: it relaunches or hot reloads the app every time you save a source file. Here is exactly what each one does, what dotnet watch sets that dotnet run does not, and when to reach for which.

EF Core 11 Preview 4 lets the dotnet ef tool read default option values from a .config/dotnet-ef.json file, so split solutions no longer force you to pass --project and --startup-project on every command.

dotnet run -e in .NET 11 Preview 3 passes environment variables straight from the CLI and surfaces them as MSBuild RuntimeEnvironmentVariable items.

.NET 11 Preview 3 teaches dotnet sln to create, add, remove, and list projects in .slnf solution filters, so large mono-repos can load a subset without opening Visual Studio.