Nikneem Battleship On Aspire Aspire

Aspire Skill

This repository uses Aspire to orchestrate its distributed application. Resources are defined in the AppHost project (apphost.cs or apphost.ts).

TypeScript AppHost (.modules folder)

When using a TypeScript AppHost (apphost.ts), the .modules/ folder at the project root contains auto-generated TypeScript modules that expose the Aspire APIs available to apphost.ts. Key files include aspire.ts (the main API surface with createBuilder and resource methods), base.ts, and transport.ts.

• Do not edit files in .modules/ directly — they are regenerated automatically.
• To add new APIs (e.g., a new integration), run aspire add <package>. This updates the NuGet references and regenerates the .modules/ folder with the new APIs.
• After running aspire add, check the updated .modules/aspire.ts to discover the newly available APIs.
• The tsconfig.json includes .modules/**/*.ts in its compilation scope.

CLI command reference

Most commands support --format Json for machine-readable output. Use --apphost <path> to target a specific AppHost.

Key workflows

Running in agent environments

Use aspire start to run the AppHost in the background. When working in a git worktree, use --isolated to avoid port conflicts and to prevent sharing user secrets or other local state with other running instances:

aspire start --isolated

Use aspire wait <resource> to block until a resource is healthy before interacting with it:

aspire start --isolated
aspire wait myapi

Relaunching is safe — aspire start automatically stops any previous instance. Re-run aspire start whenever changes are made to the AppHost project.

Debugging issues

Before making code changes, inspect the app state:

1. aspire describe — check resource status
2. aspire otel logs <resource> — view structured logs
3. aspire logs <resource> — view console output
4. aspire otel traces <resource> — view distributed traces
5. aspire export — export telemetry and resource data to a zip for deeper analysis

Adding integrations

Use aspire docs search to find integration documentation, then aspire docs get to read the full guide. Use aspire add to add the integration package to the AppHost.

After adding an integration, restart the app with aspire start for the new resource to take effect.

Managing secrets

Use aspire secret to manage AppHost user secrets for connection strings, passwords, and API keys:

aspire secret set Parameters:postgres-password MySecretValue
aspire secret list

Publishing and deploying

Generate deployment artifacts (Bicep, Docker Compose, etc.):

aspire publish

Deploy to configured targets:

aspire deploy
aspire deploy --clear-cache  # reset cached deployment state

Using resource MCP tools

Some resources expose MCP tools (e.g. WithPostgresMcp() adds SQL query tools). Discover and call them via CLI:

aspire mcp tools                                              # list available tools
aspire mcp tools --format Json                                # includes input schemas
aspire mcp call <resource> <tool> --input '{"key":"value"}'   # invoke a tool

Important rules

• Always start the app first (aspire start) before making changes to verify the starting state.
• To restart, just run aspire start again — it automatically stops the previous instance. NEVER use aspire stop then aspire run. NEVER use aspire run at all — it blocks the terminal.
• Use --isolated when working in a worktree.
• Avoid persistent containers early in development to prevent state management issues.
• Never install the Aspire workload — it is obsolete.
• Prefer aspire.dev and learn.microsoft.com/microsoft/aspire for official documentation.

Playwright CLI

If configured, use Playwright CLI for functional testing of resources. Get endpoints via aspire describe. Run playwright-cli --help for available commands.

Source: nikneem/battleship-on-aspire — distributed by TomeVault.