.NET Core command line interface

Create .NET Core “Hello World” console project

Create a new project.json and example Program.cs:

dotnet new

Restore needed packages:

dotnet restore

Compile and run the example:

dotnet run

Publish and run a .NET Core project

Go to the project.json directory and publish:

dotnet publish

It will print the output directory of the operation, enter the directory and run the published project:

dotnet <project output>.dll

The default folder will be: <project root>/bin/<configuration>/<target framework>/publish

For example: example/bin/Debug/netcoreapp1.0/publish

If you have built the project previously, you can publish using:

dotnet --no-build publish

Important: Make sure you publish the project from the same user who restored the packages or you might publish it without the required libraries.

You can specify the configuration with the -c <Configuration> option. To publish in Release mode, use dotnet publish -c Release.

Scaffolding other project types

Using dotnet new will scaffold a new console application. To scaffold other types of projects, use the -t or --type flag:

dotnet new -t web
dotnet restore
dotnet run

The available templates vary by language.

C# Templates

console (default) - A console application.
web - An ASP.NET Core application.
lib - A class library.
xunittest - An xUnit test project.

F# Templates

console (default) - A console application.
lib - A class library.

Scaffolding projects in other languages

By default, dotnet new creates C# projects. You can use the -l or --lang flag to scaffold projects in other languages:

dotnet new -l f#
dotnet restore
dotnet run

Currently, dotnet new supports C# and F#.

Creating a NuGet package

To create a NuGet package from a project, run this command from a directory that contains project.json:

dotnet pack

The resulting .nupkg file will be named and versioned according to the properties in project.json. If there are multiple frameworks targeted in the project file, the package will support all of them.

Running automated tests

Running dotnet test from inside a folder that contains a test project will launch the test runner. The test runner will discover and run the tests in the project.

To be compatible with dotnet test, the project.json file must contain a testRunner property and a dependency on a compatible test runner package:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "dotnet-test-xunit": "2.2.0-preview2-build1029",
    "Microsoft.NETCore.App": {
      "type": "platform",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    },
    "xunit": "2.1.0"
  },
  "frameworks": {
    "netcoreapp1.0": {
      "imports": [ "dotnet", "portable-net45+win8" ]
    }
  },
  "testRunner": "xunit"
}