Msbuild

Skill: Top 80 MSBuild Commands for .NET / ASP.NET (CLI)

Purpose

This skill provides a practical, prioritized set of the 80 most useful command templates for working with .NET / ASP.NET projects on the command line using MSBuild (via dotnet msbuild or msbuild). It mirrors a realistic day-to-day workflow: restore → build → test → publish/pack → diagnose → CI hardening.

Typical ASP.NET Developer Workflow (why these commands are prioritized)

A typical ASP.NET CLI workflow:

1. Restore dependencies (often locked mode in CI)
2. Build quickly (Debug) and reliably (Release)
3. Test repeatedly (filters, logs, results dirs, no-build/no-restore in CI)
4. Publish artifacts (RID, self-contained, single-file, trimming, ready-to-run)
5. Package libraries (Pack), versioning
6. Diagnose build issues (binlog, verbosity, preprocess, graph build)
7. CI hardening (determinism, CI flags, node reuse, parallelism, reproducibility)

Ranking reflects frequency + impact in that flow.

Conventions

• Prefer cross-platform: dotnet msbuild
• On Windows with VS Build Tools you can swap to: msbuild
• Targets: /t:<Target>
• Properties: /p:Name=Value
• Logging: /v:<level>, /bl[:file], /fl, /pp
• Multiproc: /m[:n]
• Note: dotnet test is included because it is the practical test CLI (it invokes MSBuild under the hood).

Top 80 Commands (1 = most important)

Replace MySolution.sln / src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj / tests/... as needed.

A) Restore / Build / Clean / Rebuild (daily)

1. Restore solution

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore

2. Build solution (Debug)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug

3. Build solution (Release)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release

4. Clean solution

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Clean /p:Configuration=Debug

5. Rebuild solution (Clean + Build)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release

6. Restore + Build in one call

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /restore /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug

7. Build without restore (CI-friendly)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:Restore=false

8. Parallel build (max CPU)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /m /p:Configuration=Release

9. Quiet-ish CI output

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /nologo /v:minimal /p:Configuration=Release

10. Build a single project

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug

11. Set Platform explicitly

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="Any CPU"

12. Treat warnings as errors

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:TreatWarningsAsErrors=true

13. Deterministic build

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:Deterministic=true

14. CI build mode (SourceLink/versioning behavior)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:ContinuousIntegrationBuild=true

15. Disable incremental up-to-date checks (force build behavior)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:DisableFastUpToDateCheck=true

16. Build with defined constants

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug /p:DefineConstants="TRACE;DEBUG;MYFLAG"

17. Set OutputPath (ad-hoc artifacts)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:OutputPath=artifacts/bin/

18. Set BaseIntermediateOutputPath (obj isolation / CI caching)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:BaseIntermediateOutputPath=artifacts/obj/

19. Disable shared compilation (debug odd build behavior)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug /p:UseSharedCompilation=false

20. Show MSBuild version

dotnet msbuild -version

B) Tests (practical CLI; MSBuild-based)

21. Run tests (solution)

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release

22. Tests without build

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --no-build

23. Tests without restore

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --no-restore

24. Test a single test project

dotnet test tests/MyWeb.Tests/MyWeb.Tests.csproj -c Debug

25. Test filter by fully qualified name

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --filter "FullyQualifiedName~MyNamespace"

26. Test filter by trait/category (example)

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --filter "TestCategory=Integration"

27. TRX logger

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --logger "trx"

28. Results directory

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --results-directory artifacts/testresults

29. Collect coverage (cross-platform collector)

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --collect "XPlat Code Coverage"

30. Increase test verbosity

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release -v normal

31. Blame/hang diagnostics

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --blame

32. Run a specific test by name

dotnet test MySolution.sln -c Release --filter "Name=MySpecificTest"

C) Publish (ASP.NET core scenarios)

33. Publish (Release, framework-dependent)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release

34. Publish to a specific directory

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:PublishDir=artifacts/publish/

35. Publish with RuntimeIdentifier (RID)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:RuntimeIdentifier=linux-x64

36. Self-contained publish

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:RuntimeIdentifier=linux-x64 /p:SelfContained=true

37. Framework-dependent (explicit)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:SelfContained=false

38. Single-file publish

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:RuntimeIdentifier=win-x64 /p:PublishSingleFile=true

39. ReadyToRun publish

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:PublishReadyToRun=true

40. Trim publish (use with care)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:PublishTrimmed=true

41. Single-file + trim (advanced)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:RuntimeIdentifier=linux-x64 /p:PublishSingleFile=true /p:PublishTrimmed=true

42. Stamp environment property (pattern; app must use it)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:EnvironmentName=Production

43. Publish with version stamping

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:Version=1.2.3

44. Publish with explicit TargetFramework (multi-TFM projects)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:TargetFramework=net8.0

45. Publish with CI properties

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:ContinuousIntegrationBuild=true /p:Deterministic=true

46. Publish: RID + self-contained + output

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:RuntimeIdentifier=linux-x64 /p:SelfContained=true /p:PublishDir=artifacts/publish/linux-x64/

D) Pack / NuGet / Versioning

47. Pack a library

dotnet msbuild src/MyLib/MyLib.csproj /t:Pack /p:Configuration=Release

48. Pack to a custom output path

dotnet msbuild src/MyLib/MyLib.csproj /t:Pack /p:Configuration=Release /p:PackageOutputPath=artifacts/nuget/

49. Pack with version

dotnet msbuild src/MyLib/MyLib.csproj /t:Pack /p:Configuration=Release /p:Version=1.2.3

50. Set AssemblyVersion / FileVersion

dotnet msbuild src/MyLib/MyLib.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:AssemblyVersion=1.2.0.0 /p:FileVersion=1.2.3.0

51. InformationalVersion (commit metadata)

dotnet msbuild src/MyLib/MyLib.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:InformationalVersion=1.2.3+sha.abcdef

52. Restore generating packages.lock.json

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore /p:RestorePackagesWithLockFile=true

53. Restore locked mode (fail if lock changes)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore /p:RestoreLockedMode=true

54. Restore using a custom NuGet.config

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore /p:RestoreConfigFile=NuGet.config

55. Restore with custom packages folder (CI cache)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore /p:RestorePackagesPath=artifacts/nuget-packages

E) Diagnostics / Troubleshooting

56. Binary log (binlog) — best first step

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /bl

57. Binlog with specific path

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /bl:artifacts/logs/build.binlog

58. Verbosity: detailed

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /v:detailed

59. Verbosity: diagnostic (only when needed)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /v:diag

60. File logger (text log)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /fl /flp:logfile=artifacts/logs/build.log;verbosity=normal

61. Console logger summary + performance

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /clp:Summary;PerformanceSummary

62. Preprocess project (expanded after imports)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /pp:artifacts/logs/preprocessed.xml

63. Graph build for solutions

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /graphBuild /p:Configuration=Release

64. Run a single target explicitly (example: Clean)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Clean /p:Configuration=Release

65. Show command lines (helps reproduce compiler invocation)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /m /v:minimal /clp:ShowCommandLine

66. Disable node reuse (CI stability)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /nr:false /p:Configuration=Release

67. Limit parallelism

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /m:4 /p:Configuration=Release

F) Advanced build controls

68. Generic custom property pattern

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:MyCustomProperty=Value

69. Override restore sources (quick feed test)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore /p:RestoreSources="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json;https://myfeed/v3/index.json"

70. Disable implicit restore (full control)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Restore=false /p:BuildProjectReferences=true

71. Build without project references (debugging)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Build /p:BuildProjectReferences=false

72. Publish using apphost (common for exe-style hosting)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:RuntimeIdentifier=linux-x64 /p:SelfContained=true /p:UseAppHost=true

73. Publish without apphost (edge cases)

dotnet msbuild src/MyWeb/MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:UseAppHost=false

74. Restore with interactive auth (private feeds)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore /p:NuGetInteractive=true

75. Override MSBuild SDKs path (rare edge cases)

dotnet msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:MSBuildSDKsPath=/path/to/sdks

G) msbuild.exe variants (Windows / VS Build Tools)

76. Build solution with msbuild.exe

msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /m

77. Restore with msbuild.exe

msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Restore

78. Publish with msbuild.exe

msbuild src\MyWeb\MyWeb.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:PublishDir=artifacts\publish\

79. Binlog with msbuild.exe

msbuild MySolution.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /bl:artifacts\logs\msbuild.binlog

80. Preprocess with msbuild.exe

msbuild src\MyWeb\MyWeb.csproj /pp:artifacts\logs\preprocessed.xml

How to use this skill

When you describe a goal (e.g., “Publish linux-x64 self-contained single-file”), the skill should output:

• the top 3 relevant commands from this list,
• the few MSBuild properties that matter most,
• and one diagnostic command (usually /bl) to capture a binlog if something fails.

Caveats

• Trim/ReadyToRun/SingleFile can have app-specific implications.
• For build issues: rerun with /bl and inspect with MSBuild Structured Log Viewer.