| title | description | author | ms.author | ms.date | ms.topic | no-loc | ||||
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NuGet pack and restore as MSBuild targets | NuGet pack and restore can work directly as MSBuild targets with NuGet 4.0+. | nkolev92 | nikolev | 2/4/2022 | conceptual |
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NuGet 4.0+
With the PackageReference format, NuGet 4.0+ can store all manifest metadata directly within a project file rather than using a separate .nuspec file.
With MSBuild 15.1+, NuGet is also a first-class MSBuild citizen with the pack and restore targets as described below. These targets allow you to work with NuGet as you would with any other MSBuild task or target. For instructions creating a NuGet package using MSBuild, see Create a NuGet package using MSBuild. (For NuGet 3.x and earlier, you use the pack and restore commands through the NuGet CLI instead.)
Because pack and restore are MSBuild targets, you can access them to enhance your workflow. For example, let's say you want to copy your package to a network share after packing it. You can do that by adding the following in your project file:
<TargetName="CopyPackage"AfterTargets="Pack"> <CopySourceFiles="$(OutputPath)..\$(PackageId).$(PackageVersion).nupkg"DestinationFolder="\\myshare\packageshare\" /> </Target>Similarly, you can write an MSBuild task, write your own target and consume NuGet properties in the MSBuild task.
Note
$(OutputPath) is relative and expects that you are running the command from the project root.
For .NET projects that use the PackageReference format, using msbuild -t:pack draws inputs from the project file to use in creating a NuGet package.
The following table describes the MSBuild properties that can be added to a project file within the first <PropertyGroup> node. You can make these edits easily in Visual Studio 2017 and later by right-clicking the project and selecting Edit {project_name} on the context menu. For convenience, the table is organized by the equivalent property in a .nuspec file.
Note
Owners and Summary properties from .nuspec are not supported with MSBuild.
| Attribute/nuspec Value | MSBuild Property | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Id | PackageId | $(AssemblyName) | $(AssemblyName) from MSBuild |
Version | PackageVersion | Version | This is semver compatible, for example 1.0.0, 1.0.0-beta, or 1.0.0-beta-00345. Defaults to Version if not set. |
VersionPrefix | VersionPrefix | empty | Setting PackageVersion overwrites VersionPrefix |
VersionSuffix | VersionSuffix | empty | Setting PackageVersion overwrites VersionSuffix |
Authors | Authors | Username of the current user | A semicolon-separated list of packages authors, matching the profile names on nuget.org. These are displayed in the NuGet Gallery on nuget.org and are used to cross-reference packages by the same authors. |
Owners | N/A | Not present in nuspec | |
Title | Title | $(PackageId) | A human-friendly title of the package, typically used in UI displays as on nuget.org and the Package Manager in Visual Studio. |
Description | Description | "Package Description" | A long description for the assembly. If PackageDescription is not specified, then this property is also used as the description of the package. |
Copyright | Copyright | empty | Copyright details for the package. |
RequireLicenseAcceptance | PackageRequireLicenseAcceptance | false | A Boolean value that specifies whether the client must prompt the consumer to accept the package license before installing the package. |
license | PackageLicenseExpression | empty | Corresponds to <license type="expression">. See Packing a license expression or a license file. |
license | PackageLicenseFile | empty | Path to a license file within the package if you're using a custom license or a license that hasn't been assigned an SPDX identifier. You need to explicitly pack the referenced license file. Corresponds to <license type="file">. See Packing a license expression or a license file. |
LicenseUrl | PackageLicenseUrl | empty | PackageLicenseUrl is deprecated. Use PackageLicenseExpression or PackageLicenseFile instead. |
ProjectUrl | PackageProjectUrl | empty | |
Icon | PackageIcon | empty | A path to an image in the package to use as a package icon. You need to explicitly pack the referenced icon image file. For more information, see Packing an icon image file and icon metadata. |
IconUrl | PackageIconUrl | empty | PackageIconUrl is deprecated in favor of PackageIcon. However, for the best downlevel experience, you should specify PackageIconUrl in addition to PackageIcon. |
Readme | PackageReadmeFile | empty | You need to explicitly pack the referenced readme file. |
Tags | PackageTags | empty | A semicolon-delimited list of tags that designates the package. |
ReleaseNotes | PackageReleaseNotes | empty | Release notes for the package. |
Repository/Url | RepositoryUrl | empty | Repository URL used to clone or retrieve source code. Example: https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client.git. |
Repository/Type | RepositoryType | empty | Repository type. Examples: git (default), tfs. |
Repository/Branch | RepositoryBranch | empty | Optional repository branch information. RepositoryUrl must also be specified for this property to be included. Example: master (NuGet 4.7.0+). |
Repository/Commit | RepositoryCommit | empty | Optional repository commit or changeset to indicate which source the package was built against. RepositoryUrl must also be specified for this property to be included. Example: 0e4d1b598f350b3dc675018d539114d1328189ef (NuGet 4.7.0+). |
PackageType | <PackageType>CustomType1, 1.0.0.0;CustomType2</PackageType> | Indicates the package's intended use. Package types use the same format as package IDs and are delimited by ;. Package types may be versioned by appending a , and a Version string. See Set a NuGet package type (NuGet 3.5.0+). | |
Summary | Not supported |
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
IsPackable | A Boolean value that specifies whether the project can be packed. The default value is true. |
SuppressDependenciesWhenPacking | Set to true to suppress package dependencies from the generated NuGet package. |
PackageVersion | Specifies the version that the resulting package will have. Accepts all forms of NuGet version string. Default is the value of $(Version), that is, of the property Version in the project. |
PackageId | Specifies the name for the resulting package. If not specified, the pack operation will default to using the AssemblyName or directory name as the name of the package. |
PackageDescription | A long description of the package for UI display. |
Authors | A semicolon-separated list of packages authors, matching the profile names on nuget.org. These are displayed in the NuGet Gallery on nuget.org and are used to cross-reference packages by the same authors. |
Description | A long description for the assembly. If PackageDescription is not specified, then this property is also used as the description of the package. |
Copyright | Copyright details for the package. |
PackageRequireLicenseAcceptance | A Boolean value that specifies whether the client must prompt the consumer to accept the package license before installing the package. The default is false. |
DevelopmentDependency | A Boolean value that specifies whether the package is marked as a development-only dependency, which prevents the package from being included as a dependency in other packages. With PackageReference (NuGet 4.8+), this flag also means that compile-time assets are excluded from compilation. For more information, see DevelopmentDependency support for PackageReference. |
PackageLicenseExpression | An SPDX license identifier or expression, for example, Apache-2.0. For more information, see Packing a license expression or a license file. |
PackageLicenseFile | Path to a license file within the package if you're using a custom license or a license that hasn't been assigned an SPDX identifier. |
PackageLicenseUrl | PackageLicenseUrl is deprecated. Use PackageLicenseExpression or PackageLicenseFile instead. |
PackageProjectUrl | |
PackageIcon | Specifies the package icon path, relative to the root of the package. For more information, see Packing an icon image file. |
PackageReleaseNotes | Release notes for the package. |
PackageReadmeFile | Readme for the package. |
PackageTags | A semicolon-delimited list of tags that designates the package. |
PackageOutputPath | Determines the output path in which the packed package will be dropped. Default is $(OutputPath). |
IncludeSymbols | This Boolean value indicates whether the package should create an additional symbols package when the project is packed. The symbols package's format is controlled by the SymbolPackageFormat property. For more information, see IncludeSymbols. |
IncludeSource | This Boolean value indicates whether the pack process should create a source package. The source package contains the library's source code as well as PDB files. Source files are put under the src/ProjectName directory in the resulting package file. For more information, see IncludeSource. |
PackageType | |
IsTool | Specifies whether all output files are copied to the tools folder instead of the lib folder. For more information, see IsTool. |
RepositoryUrl | Repository URL used to clone or retrieve source code. Example: https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client.git. |
RepositoryType | Repository type. Examples: git (default), tfs. |
RepositoryBranch | Optional repository branch information. RepositoryUrl must also be specified for this property to be included. Example: master (NuGet 4.7.0+). |
RepositoryCommit | Optional repository commit or changeset to indicate which source the package was built against. RepositoryUrl must also be specified for this property to be included. Example: 0e4d1b598f350b3dc675018d539114d1328189ef (NuGet 4.7.0+). |
SymbolPackageFormat | Specifies the format of the symbols package. If "symbols.nupkg", a legacy symbols package is created with a .symbols.nupkg extension containing PDBs, DLLs, and other output files. If "snupkg", a snupkg symbol package is created containing the portable PDBs. The default is "symbols.nupkg". |
NoPackageAnalysis | Specifies that pack should not run package analysis after building the package. |
MinClientVersion | Specifies the minimum version of the NuGet client that can install this package, enforced by nuget.exe and the Visual Studio Package Manager. |
IncludeBuildOutput | This Boolean value specifies whether the build output assemblies should be packed into the .nupkg file or not. |
IncludeContentInPack | This Boolean value specifies whether any items that have a type of Content are included in the resulting package automatically. The default is true. |
BuildOutputTargetFolder | Specifies the folder where to place the output assemblies. The output assemblies (and other output files) are copied into their respective framework folders. For more information, see Output assemblies. |
ContentTargetFolders | Specifies the default location of where all the content files should go if PackagePath is not specified for them. The default value is "content;contentFiles". For more information, see Including content in a package. |
NuspecFile | Relative or absolute path to the .nuspec file being used for packing. If specified, it's used exclusively for packaging information, and any information in the projects is not used. For more information, see Packing using a .nuspec. |
NuspecBasePath | Base path for the .nuspec file. For more information, see Packing using a .nuspec. |
NuspecProperties | Semicolon separated list of key=value pairs. For more information, see Packing using a .nuspec. |
To suppress package dependencies from generated NuGet package, set SuppressDependenciesWhenPacking to true which will allow skipping all the dependencies from generated nupkg file.
PackageIconUrl is deprecated in favor of the PackageIcon property. Starting with NuGet 5.3 and Visual Studio 2019 version 16.3, pack raises the NU5048 warning if the package metadata only specifies PackageIconUrl.
Tip
To maintain backward compatibility with clients and sources that don't yet support PackageIcon, specify both PackageIcon and PackageIconUrl. Visual Studio supports PackageIcon for packages coming from a folder-based source.
When packing an icon image file, use PackageIcon property to specify the icon file path, relative to the root of the package. In addition, make sure that the file is included in the package. Image file size is limited to 1 MB. Supported file formats include JPEG and PNG. We recommend an image resolution of 128x128.
For example:
<PropertyGroup> ... <PackageIcon>icon.png</PackageIcon> ... </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> ... <NoneInclude="images\icon.png"Pack="true"PackagePath="\"/> ... </ItemGroup>For the nuspec equivalent, take a look at nuspec reference for icon.
Supported with NuGet 5.10.0 preview 2 / .NET SDK 5.0.300 and above
When packing a readme file, you need to use the PackageReadmeFile property to specify the package path, relative to the root of the package. In addition to this, you need to make sure that the file is included in the package. Supported file formats include only Markdown (.md).
For example:
<PropertyGroup> ... <PackageReadmeFile>readme.md</PackageReadmeFile> ... </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> ... <NoneInclude="docs\readme.md"Pack="true"PackagePath="\"/> ... </ItemGroup>For the nuspec equivalent, take a look at nuspec reference for readme.
nuget pack copies output files with extensions .exe, .dll, .xml, .winmd, .json, and .pri. The output files that are copied depend on what MSBuild provides from the BuiltOutputProjectGroup target.
There are two MSBuild properties that you can use in your project file or command line to control where output assemblies go:
IncludeBuildOutput: A boolean that determines whether the build output assemblies should be included in the package.BuildOutputTargetFolder: Specifies the folder in which the output assemblies should be placed. The output assemblies (and other output files) are copied into their respective framework folders.
See Package References in Project Files.
Project to project references are considered by default as NuGet package references. For example:
<ProjectReferenceInclude="..\UwpLibrary2\UwpLibrary2.csproj"/>You can also add the following metadata to your project reference:
<IncludeAssets> <ExcludeAssets> <PrivateAssets>To include content, add extra metadata to the existing <Content> item. By default everything of type "Content" gets included in the package unless you override with entries like the following:
<ContentInclude="..\win7-x64\libuv.txt"> <Pack>false</Pack> </Content>By default, everything gets added to the root of the content and contentFiles\any\<target_framework> folder within a package and preserves the relative folder structure, unless you specify a package path:
<ContentInclude="..\win7-x64\libuv.txt"> <Pack>true</Pack> <PackagePath>content\myfiles\</PackagePath> </Content>If you want to copy all your content to only a specific root folder(s) (instead of content and contentFiles both), you can use the MSBuild property ContentTargetFolders, which defaults to "content;contentFiles" but can be set to any other folder names. Note that just specifying "contentFiles" in ContentTargetFolders puts files under contentFiles\any\<target_framework> or contentFiles\<language>\<target_framework> based on buildAction.
PackagePath can be a semicolon-delimited set of target paths. Specifying an empty package path would add the file to the root of the package. For example, the following adds libuv.txt to content\myfiles, content\samples, and the package root:
<ContentInclude="..\win7-x64\libuv.txt"> <Pack>true</Pack> <PackagePath>content\myfiles;content\sample;;</PackagePath> </Content>There is also an MSBuild property $(IncludeContentInPack), which defaults to true. If this is set to false on any project, then the content from that project are not included in the nuget package.
Other pack specific metadata that you can set on any of the above items includes <PackageCopyToOutput> and <PackageFlatten> which sets CopyToOutput and Flatten values on the contentFiles entry in the output nuspec.
Note
Apart from Content items, the <Pack> and <PackagePath> metadata can also be set on files with a build action of Compile, EmbeddedResource, ApplicationDefinition, Page, Resource, SplashScreen, DesignData, DesignDataWithDesignTimeCreateableTypes, CodeAnalysisDictionary, AndroidAsset, AndroidResource, BundleResource or None.
For pack to append the filename to your package path when using globbing patterns, your package path must end with the folder separator character, otherwise the package path is treated as the full path including the file name.
When using MSBuild -t:pack -p:IncludeSymbols=true, the corresponding .pdb files are copied along with other output files (.dll, .exe, .winmd, .xml, .json, .pri). Note that setting IncludeSymbols=true creates a regular package and a symbols package.
This is the same as IncludeSymbols, except that it copies source files along with .pdb files as well. All files of type Compile are copied over to src\<ProjectName>\ preserving the relative path folder structure in the resulting package. The same also happens for source files of any ProjectReference which has TreatAsPackageReference set to false.
If a file of type Compile, is outside the project folder, then it's just added to src\<ProjectName>\.
When using a license expression, use the PackageLicenseExpression property. For a sample, see License expression sample.
<PropertyGroup> <PackageLicenseExpression>MIT</PackageLicenseExpression> </PropertyGroup>To learn more about license expressions and licenses that are accepted by NuGet.org, see license metadata.
When packing a license file, use PackageLicenseFile property to specify the package path, relative to the root of the package. In addition, make sure that the file is included in the package. For example:
<PropertyGroup> <PackageLicenseFile>LICENSE.txt</PackageLicenseFile> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <NoneInclude="licenses\LICENSE.txt"Pack="true"PackagePath=""/> </ItemGroup>For a sample, see License file sample.
Note
Only one of PackageLicenseExpression, PackageLicenseFile, and PackageLicenseUrl can be specified at a time.
In some scenarios, like when packing a license file, you might want to include a file without an extension. For historical reasons, NuGet & MSBuild treat paths without an extension as directories.
<PropertyGroup> <TargetFrameworks>netstandard2.0</TargetFrameworks> <PackageLicenseFile>LICENSE</PackageLicenseFile> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <NoneInclude="LICENSE"Pack="true"PackagePath=""/> </ItemGroup> File without an extension sample.
When using MSBuild -t:pack -p:IsTool=true, all output files, as specified in the Output Assemblies scenario, are copied to the tools folder instead of the lib folder. Note that this is different from a DotNetCliTool which is specified by setting the PackageType in .csproj file.
Although it is recommended that you include all the properties that are usually in the .nuspec file in the project file instead, you can choose to use a .nuspec file to pack your project. For a non-SDK-style project that uses PackageReference, you must import NuGet.Build.Tasks.Pack.targets so that the pack task can be executed. You still need to restore the project before you can pack a nuspec file. (An SDK-style project includes the pack targets by default.)
The target framework of the project file is irrelevant and not used when packing a nuspec. The following three MSBuild properties are relevant to packing using a .nuspec:
NuspecFile: relative or absolute path to the.nuspecfile being used for packing.NuspecProperties: a semicolon-separated list of key=value pairs. Due to the way MSBuild command-line parsing works, multiple properties must be specified as follows:-p:NuspecProperties="key1=value1;key2=value2".NuspecBasePath: Base path for the.nuspecfile.
If using dotnet.exe to pack your project, use a command like the following:
dotnet pack <path to .csproj file> -p:NuspecFile=<path to nuspec file> -p:NuspecProperties=<> -p:NuspecBasePath=<Base path> If using MSBuild to pack your project, use a command like the following:
msbuild -t:pack <path to .csproj file> -p:NuspecFile=<path to nuspec file> -p:NuspecProperties=<> -p:NuspecBasePath=<Base path> Please note that packing a nuspec using dotnet.exe or msbuild also leads to building the project by default. This can be avoided by passing --no-build property to dotnet.exe, which is the equivalent of setting <NoBuild>true</NoBuild> in your project file, along with setting <IncludeBuildOutput>false</IncludeBuildOutput> in the project file.
An example of a .csproj file to pack a nuspec file is:
<ProjectSdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework> <NoBuild>true</NoBuild> <IncludeBuildOutput>false</IncludeBuildOutput> <NuspecFile>PATH_TO_NUSPEC_FILE</NuspecFile> <NuspecProperties>add nuspec properties here</NuspecProperties> <NuspecBasePath>optional to provide</NuspecBasePath> </PropertyGroup> </Project>The pack target provides two extension points that run in the inner, target framework specific build. The extension points support including target framework specific content and assemblies into a package:
TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutputtarget: Use for files inside thelibfolder or a folder specified usingBuildOutputTargetFolder.TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackagetarget: Use for files outside theBuildOutputTargetFolder.
Write a custom target and specify it as the value of the $(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput) property. For any files that need to go into the BuildOutputTargetFolder (lib by default), the target should write those files into the ItemGroup BuildOutputInPackage and set the following two metadata values:
FinalOutputPath: The absolute path of the file; if not provided, the Identity is used to evaluate source path.TargetPath: (Optional) Set when the file needs to go into a subfolder withinlib\<TargetFramework>, like satellite assemblies that go under their respective culture folders. Defaults to the name of the file.
Example:
<PropertyGroup> <TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);GetMyPackageFiles</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput> </PropertyGroup> <TargetName="GetMyPackageFiles"> <ItemGroup> <BuildOutputInPackageInclude="$(OutputPath)cs\$(AssemblyName).resources.dll"> <TargetPath>cs</TargetPath> </BuildOutputInPackage> </ItemGroup> </Target>Write a custom target and specify it as the value of the $(TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage) property. For any files to include in the package, the target should write those files into the ItemGroup TfmSpecificPackageFile and set the following optional metadata:
PackagePath: Path where the file should be output in the package. NuGet issues a warning if more than one file is added to the same package path.BuildAction: The build action to assign to the file, required only if the package path is in thecontentFilesfolder. Defaults to "None".
An example:
<PropertyGroup> <TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage);CustomContentTarget</TargetsForTfmSpecificContentInPackage> </PropertyGroup> <TargetName="CustomContentTarget"> <ItemGroup> <TfmSpecificPackageFileInclude="abc.txt"> <PackagePath>mycontent/$(TargetFramework)</PackagePath> </TfmSpecificPackageFile> <TfmSpecificPackageFileInclude="Extensions/ext.txt"Condition="'$(TargetFramework)' == 'net46'"> <PackagePath>net46content</PackagePath> </TfmSpecificPackageFile> </ItemGroup> </Target> MSBuild -t:restore (which nuget restore and dotnet restore use with .NET Core projects), restores packages referenced in the project file as follows:
- Read all project to project references
- Read the project properties to find the intermediate folder and target frameworks
- Pass MSBuild data to NuGet.Build.Tasks.dll
- Run restore
- Download packages
- Write assets file, targets, and props
The restore target works for projects using the PackageReference format. MSBuild 16.5+ also has opt-in support for the packages.config format.
Note
The restore target should not be run in combination with the build target.
Additional restore settings may come from MSBuild properties in the project file. Values can also be set from the command line using the -p: switch (see Examples below).
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
RestoreSources | Semicolon-delimited list of package sources. |
RestorePackagesPath | User packages folder path. |
RestoreDisableParallel | Limit downloads to one at a time. |
RestoreConfigFile | Path to a Nuget.Config file to apply. |
RestoreNoHttpCache | If true, avoids using http cached packages. See Managing the global packages and cache folders. |
RestoreIgnoreFailedSources | If true, ignores failing or missing package sources. |
RestoreFallbackFolders | Fallback folders, used in the same way the user packages folder is used. |
RestoreAdditionalProjectSources | Additional sources to use during restore. |
RestoreAdditionalProjectFallbackFolders | Additional fallback folders to use during restore. |
RestoreAdditionalProjectFallbackFoldersExcludes | Excludes fallback folders specified in RestoreAdditionalProjectFallbackFolders |
RestoreTaskAssemblyFile | Path to NuGet.Build.Tasks.dll. |
RestoreGraphProjectInput | Semicolon-delimited list of projects to restore, which should contain absolute paths. |
RestoreUseSkipNonexistentTargets | When the projects are collected via MSBuild it determines whether they are collected using the SkipNonexistentTargets optimization. When not set, defaults to true. The consequence is a fail-fast behavior when a project's targets cannot be imported. |
MSBuildProjectExtensionsPath | Output folder, defaulting to BaseIntermediateOutputPath and the obj folder. |
RestoreForce | In PackageReference based projects, forces all dependencies to be resolved even if the last restore was successful. Specifying this flag is similar to deleting the project.assets.json file. This does not bypass the http-cache. |
RestorePackagesWithLockFile | Opts into the usage of a lock file. |
RestoreLockedMode | Run restore in locked mode. This means that restore will not reevaluate the dependencies. |
NuGetLockFilePath | A custom location for the lock file. The default location is next to the project and is named packages.lock.json. |
RestoreForceEvaluate | Forces restore to recompute the dependencies and update the lock file without any warning. |
RestorePackagesConfig | An opt-in switch, that restores projects with packages.config. Support with MSBuild -t:restore only. |
RestoreRepositoryPath | packages.config only. Specifies the packages directory to which the packages should be restored. SolutionDirectory will be used if not specified. |
RestoreUseStaticGraphEvaluation | An opt-in switch to use static graph MSBuild evaluation instead of the standard evaluation. Static graph evaluation is an experimental feature that's significantly faster for large repos and solutions. |
RestoreUseLegacyDependencyResolver | An opt-out to use the legacy dependency resolver. NuGet's dependency resolver implementation was rewritten in the 6.12 release. This switch forces the previous algorithm to be used. |
The ExcludeRestorePackageImports property is an internal property used by NuGet. It should not be modified or set in any MSBuild files.
Command line:
msbuild -t:restore -p:RestoreConfigFile=<path> Project file:
<PropertyGroup> <RestoreIgnoreFailedSources>true</RestoreIgnoreFailedSources> </PropertyGroup>Restore creates the following files in the build obj folder:
| File | Description |
|---|---|
project.assets.json | Contains the dependency graph of all package references. |
{projectName}.projectFileExtension.nuget.g.props | References to MSBuild props contained in packages |
{projectName}.projectFileExtension.nuget.g.targets | References to MSBuild targets contained in packages |
Due to the fact that NuGet can restore packages that bring down MSBuild targets and props, the restore and build evaluations are run with different global properties. This means that the following will have an unpredictable and often incorrect behavior.
msbuild -t:restore,build Instead the recommended approach is:
msbuild -t:build -restore The same logic applies to other targets similar to build.
With MSBuild 16.5+, packages.config are also supported for msbuild -t:restore.
msbuild -t:restore -p:RestorePackagesConfig=true Note
packages.config restore is only available with MSBuild 16.5+, and not with dotnet.exe
Note
With MSBuild 16.6+, NuGet has added an experimental feature to use static graph evaluation from the command line that significantly improves the restore time for large repositories.
msbuild -t:restore -p:RestoreUseStaticGraphEvaluation=true Alternatively you can enable it by setting the property in a Directory.Build.Props.
<Project> <PropertyGroup> <RestoreUseStaticGraphEvaluation>true</RestoreUseStaticGraphEvaluation> </PropertyGroup> </Project>Note
As of Visual Studio 2019.x and NuGet 5.x, this feature is considered experimental and opt-in. Follow NuGet/Home#9803 for details on when this feature will be enabled by default.
Static graph restore changes the msbuild part of restore, the project reading and evaluation, but not the restore algorithm! The restore algorithm is the same across all NuGet tools (NuGet.exe, MSBuild.exe, dotnet.exe and Visual Studio).
In very few scenarios, static graph restore may behave differently from current restore and certain declared PackageReferences or ProjectReferences might be missing.
To ease your mind, as a one time check, when migrating to static graph restore, consider running:
msbuild.exe -t:restore -p:RestoreUseStaticGraphEvaluation=true msbuild.exe -t:restore NuGet should not report any changes. If you do see a discrepancy, please file an issue at NuGet/Home.
If a restore is bringing the wrong assembly, it's possible to exclude that packages default choice, and replace it with your own choice. First with a top level PackageReference, exclude all assets:
<PackageReferenceInclude="Newtonsoft.Json"Version="9.0.1"> <ExcludeAssets>All</ExcludeAssets> </PackageReference>Next, add your own reference to the appropriate local copy of the DLL:
<ReferenceInclude="Newtonsoft.Json.dll" />