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Found 35 Skills
Guide for modernizing and migrating MSBuild project files to SDK-style format. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. Use when encountering legacy .csproj/.vbproj files with verbose XML, packages.config, or AssemblyInfo.cs patterns. Covers legacy-to-SDK migration, removing boilerplate, PackageReference migration, and Directory.Build consolidation. Invoke when asked to modernize, migrate, or clean up project files.
Catalog of MSBuild anti-patterns with detection rules and fix recipes. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. Use when reviewing, auditing, or cleaning up .csproj, .vbproj, .fsproj, .props, .targets, or .proj files. Each anti-pattern has a symptom, explanation, and concrete BAD→GOOD transformation. DO NOT use for non-MSBuild build systems (npm, Maven, CMake, etc.).
Guide for using MSBuild Server to improve CLI build performance. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. Activate when developers report slow incremental builds from the command line, or when CLI builds are noticeably slower than IDE builds. Covers MSBUILDUSESERVER=1 environment variable for persistent server-based caching. Do not activate for IDE-based builds (Visual Studio already uses a long-lived process).
Use only for MSBuild failure investigation, build-performance analysis, or review of existing build XML/extension contracts. A plan to convert a working legacy/non-SDK project to SDK style or migrate packages.config is a project-system migration, NOT a build-file review: do not activate, even to check scope. Framework/API upgrades are also excluded. Activate for advisory Import/Exists hook and NuGet packed-import questions even without a checkout or failed build; .csproj/.fsproj/.vbproj/.props/.targets conditions; custom-target inputs/outputs; .binlog capture/replay; failing dotnet build/restore/pack/publish or MSBuild-based test builds; slow evaluation, compilation, copying, or no-change builds; and controlled timing comparisons. Exclude SDK installation alone, C# refactoring, runtime profiling, assertions after successful builds, and non-MSBuild builds.
Establish build performance baselines and apply systematic optimization techniques. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. Use when diagnosing slow builds, establishing before/after measurements, or applying advanced optimization strategies like MSBuild Server, static graph builds, artifacts output, and dependency graph trimming. Start here before diving into specific optimizations from build-perf-diagnostics, incremental-build, or build-parallelism skills. DO NOT use for non-MSBuild build systems.
Patterns for managing MSBuild item groups: Include/Remove/Update semantics, item metadata, batching with %(Metadata), transforms, per-item filtering, and cross-product batching pitfalls. USE FOR: diagnosing and fixing item group anti-patterns in .csproj files, reviewing item management for correctness, fixing CS2002 duplicate file warnings from SDK globbing, fixing targets that run more times than expected due to cross-product batching, fixing Include vs Update misuse on SDK-globbed items, fixing FileWrites registration for generated file clean support, moving generated files to IntermediateOutputPath. DO NOT USE FOR: target chain architecture (use target-authoring), property patterns (use property-patterns), incrementality (use incremental-build), general anti-patterns (use msbuild-antipatterns), non-MSBuild build systems.
MSBuild property definition patterns: conditional defaults, composition/concatenation, path normalization, trailing-slash handling, TFM detection helpers, and evaluation order. USE FOR: diagnosing and fixing property definition issues and shared-property anti-patterns in .props/.csproj; DefineConstants or NoWarn overwritten instead of appended; unconditional assignments that block project-level overrides; unquoted conditions that fail on empty properties; hardcoded paths that break cross-platform builds; setting overridable defaults; property evaluation order and last-write-wins semantics. DO NOT USE FOR: props vs targets placement (use directory-build-organization), item operations (use item-management), target structure (use target-authoring), general anti-patterns (use msbuild-antipatterns), non-MSBuild build systems.
Guide for diagnosing and improving MSBuild project evaluation performance. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. Use when builds are slow before any compilation starts, when evaluation time is high in binlog analysis, or when dealing with expensive glob patterns and deep import chains. Covers evaluation phases, glob optimization, import chain analysis, and /pp preprocessing.
Choosing an MSBuild CopyToOutputDirectory / CopyToPublishDirectory mode: Never, PreserveNewest, Always, and IfDifferent (MSBuild 17.13+), plus $(SkipUnchangedFilesOnCopyAlways). USE FOR: removing the per-build Always copy perf hit; resetting output files mutated between builds. DO NOT USE FOR: general incremental-build diagnosis (use incremental-build); non-MSBuild build systems.
Detects MSBuild projects with conflicting OutputPath or IntermediateOutputPath. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. USE FOR: builds failing with 'Cannot create a file when that file already exists', 'The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process', intermittent build failures that succeed on retry, missing outputs in multi-project builds, multi-targeting builds where project.assets.json conflicts. Diagnoses when multiple projects or TFMs write to the same bin/obj directories due to shared OutputPath, missing AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath, or extra global properties like PublishReadyToRun creating redundant evaluations. DO NOT USE FOR: file access errors unrelated to MSBuild (OS-level locking), single-project single-TFM builds, non-MSBuild build systems. INVOKES: dotnet msbuild binlog replay, grep for output path analysis.
Diagnose MSBuild build performance bottlenecks using binary log analysis. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. USE FOR: identifying why builds are slow by analyzing binlog performance summaries, detecting ResolveAssemblyReference (RAR) taking >5s, Roslyn analyzers consuming >30% of Csc time, single targets dominating >50% of build time, node utilization below 80%, excessive Copy tasks, NuGet restore running every build. Covers timeline analysis, Target/Task Performance Summary interpretation, and 7 common bottleneck categories. Use after build-perf-baseline has established measurements. DO NOT USE FOR: establishing initial baselines (use build-perf-baseline first), fixing incremental build issues (use incremental-build), parallelism tuning (use build-parallelism), non-MSBuild build systems. INVOKES: dotnet msbuild binlog replay with performancesummary, grep for analysis.
Manages .NET project setup, build systems, and developer tooling including solution structure, MSBuild (authoring, tasks, Directory.Build), build optimization, performance patterns, profiling (dotnet-counters/trace/dump), Native AOT publishing, trimming, GC/memory tuning, CLI app architecture (System.CommandLine, Spectre.Console, Terminal.Gui), docs generation, tool management, version detection/upgrade, and solution navigation.