dotnet/skills

Developers can equip AI coding agents with specialized .NET skills

AI coding tools can immediately load and use specific knowledge required for handling .NET projects. This repository, curated by the Microsoft .NET team, contains 'skills' that help agents understand the C# and .NET ecosystem more accurately. Its standard-based structure allows it to be used across multiple environments without being tied to a specific tool.

.NET expertise for agents

This repository provides guidelines and patterns for agents to reference when performing .NET development tasks. It does not simply explain syntax but offers solutions tailored to scenarios encountered in actual development processes. For example, it enables agents to learn how to diagnose performance issues, identify causes of build failures, or optimize data access methods. These skills contribute to agents generating more appropriate and efficient code.

Domain-specific skill composition

The repository is divided into several plugins covering various areas of .NET development.

• Core development and language support The dotnet plugin provides high-level .NET development skills and C# language server integration. dotnet11 covers the latest .NET 11 APIs and language features.
• Data and web development dotnet-data handles Entity Framework-related tasks, while dotnet-aspnetcore and dotnet-blazor support web application development patterns.
• Debugging and build optimization dotnet-diag manages performance investigation and incident analysis, and dotnet-msbuild handles build failure diagnosis and performance optimization.
• Testing and migration dotnet-test handles test execution and analysis, while dotnet-upgrade and dotnet-test-migration assist with framework version upgrades and test framework transitions.

Integration with various AI coding tools

These skills follow the agentskills.io standard, making them usable in multiple AI coding agent hosts. They can be installed via the plugin marketplace in various tools such as GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Code, VS Code, Cursor, and OpenAI Codex CLI. Installation methods vary slightly depending on each tool's characteristics, but generally involve adding the marketplace and selecting the desired plugin. In the case of VS Code, it is provided as a preview feature and must be enabled in the settings file to be used.

Pre-use considerations

This repository is suitable for AI agent users specialized in .NET development. It is particularly useful for those who want to improve the accuracy of AI tools in complex .NET projects or need professional guidance for specific domains (data, web, testing, etc.). However, VS Code support is in the preview stage and may change, and for Codex CLI, certain file formats or native agent features may not be supported. It is recommended to first check whether the AI coding tool you are using supports the skill standard of this repository.