Dotnet CLI Commands

Source: C# 13 and .NET 9 (9th Edition) by Mark J. Price

All start with the keyword dotnet and a space and work within that directory

dotnet…

  • add adds a reference to a package or class library to the project
  • add package [package name] downloads pkg and puts in .csproj file as reference
  • build –tl compiles a .NET project. –tl switch means terminal logger, shows what compiler is doing
  • build-server interacts with servers started by a build
  • clean removes temporary outputs from a build
  • help or [command] –help command line help
  • –info see everything about your current configuration
  • list lists the package or class library references for the project
  • msbuild runs MS Build Engine commands
  • new creates a new .NET project or file, follows a template
    • list shows a list of all the templates installed like the following:
    • blazor — .NET MAUI Blazor App
    • classlib — Class Library
    • console — Console App
    • editorconfig — EditorConfig File
    • globaljson — global.json File
    • grpc — ASP.NET Core gRPC Service
    • buildprops –use-artifacts creates a Directory.Build.props file to control where bin/obj folders will be built
    • maui — .NET MAUI App
    • maui-blazor — .NET MAUI Blazor App
    • mvc — ASP.NET Core Web API (Model-View-Controller)
    • sln — Solution File
    • web — ASP.NET Core Empty
    • webapi — ASP.NET Core Web API
    • webapiaot — ASP.NET Core Web API (native AOT)
    • xunit — xUnit Test Project
  • pack creates a NuGet package for the project
  • package search [search term] [options] allows you to search one or more package sources for packages that match a search term
  • publish builds and then publishes the project, with with dependencies or as a self-contained app.
    • -c configuration Release (default) or Debug
    • -r runtime identifier (RID) of target OS eg: win-x64 osx-arm64 linux-x64
    • –self-contained .Net not on computer
    • –no-self-contained .Net already on computer
    • -p:PublishTrimmed=True enable trimming
    • -p:TrimMode=partial remove unused assemblies
    • -p:TrimMode=full remove unused assembled & unused types/methods
    • /p:PublishSingleFile=true
  • restore downloads dependencies for the project
  • run builds and then runs the project
  • test builds and then runs unit tests for the project
  • tool installs or manages tools that extend the .NET experience
  • –version which version of the .NET SDK you have available
  • workload manages optional workloads like .NET MAUI