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SKILL.md
npx skills add wshaddix/dotnet-skills --skill package-management
NuGet package management best practices including versioning strategies, central package management, and dependency resolution. Use when setting up Central Package Management (CPM), managing package versions across multiple projects, or resolving dependency conflicts in .NET solutions.
npx skills add wshaddix/dotnet-skills --skill package-management
Use this skill when:
Always use dotnet CLI commands to manage packages. Never manually edit .csproj or Directory.Packages.props files.
Why:
CPM centralizes all package versions in one file, eliminating version conflicts across projects.
Create Directory.Packages.props in solution root:
Projects reference packages without versions:
Group related packages with shared version variables:
Benefits:
Central Package Management isn't always the right choice:
Migrating an existing large solution to CPM can introduce issues:
Recommendation: For legacy projects, migrate incrementally or stick with per-project versioning if it's working.
CPM requires exact versions - it doesn't support version ranges:
If you need version ranges (rare, but some library scenarios require it), CPM won't work.
CPM requires:
If you're targeting older SDK versions or have team members on older tooling, CPM may cause build failures.
If your solution spans multiple repositories that are built independently, CPM's single Directory.Packages.props won't help - each repo needs its own.
For solution-specific sources, create NuGet.config:
When you must override CPM for one project (rare):
Warning: This is detected by Slopwatch (see dotnet/slopwatch skill) as potential slop.
For reproducible builds, use package lock files:
Then commit packages.lock.json files.
| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| Add package | dotnet add package <name> |
| Add specific version | dotnet add package <name> --version <ver> |
| Remove package | dotnet remove package <name> |
| List packages | dotnet list package |
| Show outdated | dotnet list package --outdated |
| Show vulnerable | dotnet list package --vulnerable |
| Restore | dotnet restore |
| Clear cache | dotnet nuget locals all --clear |
<Project>
<PropertyGroup>
<ManagePackageVersionsCentrally>true</ManagePackageVersionsCentrally>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<PackageVersion Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="13.0.3" />
<PackageVersion Include="Serilog" Version="4.0.0" />
<PackageVersion Include="xunit" Version="2.9.2" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project><!-- src/MyApp/MyApp.csproj -->
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json" />
<PackageReference Include="Serilog" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project># Adds to Directory.Packages.props AND project file
dotnet add package Serilog.Sinks.Console
# Result in Directory.Packages.props:
# <PackageVersion Include="Serilog.Sinks.Console" Version="6.0.0" />
# Result in project file:
# <PackageReference Include="Serilog.Sinks.Console" /><Project>
<PropertyGroup>
<ManagePackageVersionsCentrally>true</ManagePackageVersionsCentrally>
</PropertyGroup>
<!-- Shared version variables -->
<PropertyGroup Label="SharedVersions">
<AkkaVersion>1.5.59</AkkaVersion>
<AkkaHostingVersion>1.5.59</AkkaHostingVersion>
<AspireVersion>9.0.0</AspireVersion>
<OpenTelemetryVersion>1.11.0</OpenTelemetryVersion>
<XunitVersion>2.9.2</XunitVersion>
</PropertyGroup>
<!-- Akka.NET packages - all use same version -->
<ItemGroup Label="Akka.NET">
<PackageVersion Include="Akka" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Cluster" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Cluster.Sharding" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Cluster.Tools" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Persistence" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Streams" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Hosting" Version="$(AkkaHostingVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Cluster.Hosting" Version="$(AkkaHostingVersion)" />
</ItemGroup>
<!-- Aspire packages -->
<ItemGroup Label="Aspire">
<PackageVersion Include="Aspire.Hosting" Version="$(AspireVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Aspire.Hosting.AppHost" Version="$(AspireVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Aspire.Hosting.PostgreSQL" Version="$(AspireVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Aspire.Hosting.Testing" Version="$(AspireVersion)" />
</ItemGroup>
<!-- OpenTelemetry packages -->
<ItemGroup Label="OpenTelemetry">
<PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol" Version="$(OpenTelemetryVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Hosting" Version="$(OpenTelemetryVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.AspNetCore" Version="$(OpenTelemetryVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.Http" Version="$(OpenTelemetryVersion)" />
</ItemGroup>
<!-- Testing -->
<ItemGroup Label="Testing">
<PackageVersion Include="xunit" Version="$(XunitVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="xunit.runner.visualstudio" Version="$(XunitVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="FluentAssertions" Version="6.12.0" />
<PackageVersion Include="Verify.Xunit" Version="26.0.0" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project><!-- NOT supported with CPM -->
<PackageVersion Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="[13.0,14.0)" />
<!-- Must use exact version -->
<PackageVersion Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="13.0.3" /># Add latest stable version
dotnet add package Serilog
# Add specific version
dotnet add package Serilog --version 4.0.0
# Add prerelease
dotnet add package Serilog --prerelease
# Add to specific project
dotnet add src/MyApp/MyApp.csproj package Serilog# Remove from current project
dotnet remove package Serilog
# Remove from specific project
dotnet remove src/MyApp/MyApp.csproj package Serilog# List all packages in solution
dotnet list package
# Show outdated packages
dotnet list package --outdated
# Include transitive dependencies
dotnet list package --include-transitive
# Show vulnerable packages
dotnet list package --vulnerable
# Show deprecated packages
dotnet list package --deprecated# With CPM: Edit the version in Directory.Packages.props
# Then restore to apply
dotnet restore
# Without CPM: Remove and add with new version
dotnet remove package Serilog
dotnet add package Serilog --version 4.1.0
# Or use dotnet-outdated tool (recommended)
dotnet tool install --global dotnet-outdated-tool
dotnet outdated --upgrade# Restore packages
dotnet restore
# Clear local cache (troubleshooting)
dotnet nuget locals all --clear
# Force restore (ignore cache)
dotnet restore --forcedotnet nuget list source# Add authenticated feed
dotnet nuget add source https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/myorg/_packaging/myfeed/nuget/v3/index.json \
--name MyFeed \
--username az \
--password $PAT \
--store-password-in-clear-text<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
<packageSources>
<clear />
<add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
<add key="MyPrivateFeed" value="https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/myorg/_packaging/myfeed/nuget/v3/index.json" />
</packageSources>
<packageSourceCredentials>
<MyPrivateFeed>
<add key="Username" value="az" />
<add key="ClearTextPassword" value="%NUGET_PAT%" />
</MyPrivateFeed>
</packageSourceCredentials>
</configuration><!-- Directory.Packages.props -->
<PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.SourceLink.GitHub" Version="8.0.0" />
<!-- Project file - mark as development dependency -->
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.SourceLink.GitHub" PrivateAssets="All" /><!-- Only include in Debug builds -->
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Debug'">
<PackageReference Include="JetBrains.Annotations" />
</ItemGroup>
<!-- Platform-specific -->
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetFramework)' == 'net8.0'">
<PackageReference Include="System.Text.Json" />
</ItemGroup><!-- Project file - use sparingly! -->
<PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json" VersionOverride="12.0.3" /># See full dependency tree
dotnet list package --include-transitive
# Find what's pulling in a specific package
dotnet list package --include-transitive | grep -i "PackageName"# Clear all caches
dotnet nuget locals all --clear
# Restore with detailed logging
dotnet restore --verbosity detailed
# Check for locked packages
cat packages.lock.json<!-- Directory.Build.props -->
<PropertyGroup>
<RestorePackagesWithLockFile>true</RestorePackagesWithLockFile>
</PropertyGroup><!-- BAD: Manual XML editing -->
<PackageReference Include="Typo.Package" Version="1.0.0" />
<!-- Package might not exist! CLI would catch this. --><!-- BAD: Bypasses CPM -->
<PackageReference Include="Serilog" Version="4.0.0" />
<!-- GOOD: Version comes from Directory.Packages.props -->
<PackageReference Include="Serilog" /><!-- BAD: Some versions in CPM, some inline -->
<PackageReference Include="Serilog" /> <!-- From CPM -->
<PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="13.0.3" /> <!-- Inline --><!-- BAD: Related packages with different versions -->
<PackageVersion Include="Akka" Version="1.5.59" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Cluster" Version="1.5.58" /> <!-- Mismatch! -->
<!-- GOOD: Use shared variable -->
<PackageVersion Include="Akka" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />
<PackageVersion Include="Akka.Cluster" Version="$(AkkaVersion)" />