Dotnet Upgrade

Project Discovery & Assessment

• name: "Project Classification Analysis" prompt: "Identify all projects in the solution and classify them by type (.NET Framework, .NET Core, .NET Standard). Analyze each .csproj for its current TargetFramework and SDK usage."

• name: "Dependency Compatibility Review" prompt: "Review external and internal dependencies for framework compatibility. Determine the upgrade complexity based on dependency graph depth."

• name: "Legacy Package Detection" prompt: "Identify legacy packages.config projects needing migration to PackageReference format."

Upgrade Strategy & Sequencing

• name: "Project Upgrade Ordering" prompt: "Recommend a project upgrade order from least to most dependent components. Suggest how to isolate class library upgrades before API or Azure Function migrations."

• name: "Incremental Strategy Planning" prompt: "Propose an incremental upgrade strategy with rollback checkpoints. Evaluate the use of Upgrade Assistant or manual upgrades based on project structure."

• name: "Progress Tracking Setup" prompt: "Generate an upgrade checklist for tracking build, test, and deployment readiness across all projects."

Framework Targeting & Code Adjustments

• name: "Target Framework Selection" prompt: "Suggest the correct TargetFramework for each project (e.g., net8.0). Review and update deprecated SDK or build configurations."

• name: "Code Modernization Analysis" prompt: "Identify code patterns needing modernization (e.g., WebHostBuilder → HostBuilder). Suggest replacements for deprecated .NET APIs and third-party libraries."

• name: "Async Pattern Conversion" prompt: "Recommend conversion of synchronous calls to async where appropriate for improved performance and scalability."

NuGet & Dependency Management

• name: "Package Compatibility Analysis" prompt: "Analyze outdated or incompatible NuGet packages and suggest compatible versions. Identify third-party libraries that lack .NET 8 support and provide migration paths."

• name: "Shared Dependency Strategy" prompt: "Recommend strategies for handling shared dependency upgrades across projects. Evaluate usage of legacy packages and suggest alternatives in Microsoft-supported namespaces."

• name: "Transitive Dependency Review" prompt: "Review transitive dependencies and potential version conflicts after upgrade. Suggest resolution strategies for dependency conflicts."

CI/CD & Build Pipeline Updates

• name: "Pipeline Configuration Analysis" prompt: "Analyze YAML build definitions for SDK version pinning and recommend updates. Suggest modifications for UseDotNet@2 and NuGetToolInstaller tasks."

• name: "Build Pipeline Modernization" prompt: "Generate updated build pipeline snippets for .NET 8 migration. Recommend validation builds on feature branches before merging to main."

• name: "CI Automation Enhancement" prompt: "Identify opportunities to automate test and build verification in CI pipelines. Suggest strategies for continuous integration validation."

Testing & Validation

• name: "Build Validation Strategy" prompt: "Propose validation checks to ensure the upgraded solution builds and runs successfully. Recommend automated test execution for unit and integration suites post-upgrade."

• name: "Service Integration Verification" prompt: "Generate validation steps to verify logging, telemetry, and service connectivity. Suggest strategies for verifying backward compatibility and runtime behavior."

• name: "Deployment Readiness Check" prompt: "Recommend UAT deployment verification steps before production rollout. Create comprehensive testing scenarios for upgraded components."

Breaking Change Analysis

• name: "API Deprecation Detection" prompt: "Identify deprecated APIs or removed namespaces between target versions. Suggest automated scanning using .NET Upgrade Assistant and API Analyzer."

• name: "API Replacement Strategy" prompt: "Recommend replacement APIs or libraries for known breaking areas. Review configuration changes such as Startup.cs → Program.cs refactoring."

• name: "Regression Testing Focus" prompt: "Suggest regression testing scenarios focused on upgraded API endpoints or services. Create test plans for critical functionality validation."

Version Control & Commit Strategy

• name: "Branching Strategy Planning" prompt: "Recommend branching strategy for safe upgrade with rollback capability. Generate commit templates for partial and complete project upgrades."

• name: "PR Structure Optimization" prompt: "Suggest best practices for creating structured PRs (Upgrade to .NET [Version]). Identify tagging strategies for PRs involving breaking changes."

• name: "Code Review Guidelines" prompt: "Recommend peer review focus areas (build, test, and dependency validation). Create checklists for effective upgrade reviews."

Documentation & Communication

• name: "Upgrade Documentation Strategy" prompt: "Suggest how to document each project's framework change in the PR. Propose automated release note generation summarizing upgrades and test results."

• name: "Stakeholder Communication" prompt: "Recommend communicating version upgrades and migration timelines to consumers. Generate documentation templates for dependency updates and validation results."

• name: "Progress Tracking Systems" prompt: "Suggest maintaining an upgrade summary dashboard or markdown checklist. Create templates for tracking upgrade progress across multiple projects."

Tools & Automation

• name: "Upgrade Tool Selection" prompt: "Recommend when and how to use: .NET Upgrade Assistant, dotnet list package --outdated, dotnet migrate, and graph.json dependency visualization."

• name: "Analysis Script Generation" prompt: "Generate scripts or prompts for analyzing dependency graphs before upgrading. Propose AI-assisted prompts for Copilot to identify upgrade issues automatically."

• name: "Multi-Repository Validation" prompt: "Suggest how to validate automation output across multiple repositories. Create standardized validation workflows for enterprise-scale upgrades."

Final Validation & Delivery

• name: "Final Solution Validation" prompt: "Generate validation steps to confirm the final upgraded solution passes all validation checks. Suggest production deployment verification steps post-upgrade."

• name: "Deployment Readiness Confirmation" prompt: "Recommend generating final test results and build artifacts. Create a checklist summarizing completion across projects (builds/tests/deployment)."

• name: "Release Documentation" prompt: "Generate a release note summarizing framework changes and CI/CD updates. Create comprehensive upgrade summary documentation."

Source: github/awesome-copilot → skills/dotnet-upgrade/SKILL.md