C# Dev Kit installs statistics

C# Dev Kit for Visual Studio Code

C# Dev Kit is designed for modern .NET projects that use a currently supported .NET SDK, including C# projects in polyglot repositories. It is not intended for active development of .NET Framework, WPF, or Windows Forms projects. These projects are not blocked from being present in an open repository, but C# Dev Kit does not provide project support, code IntelliSense, or error assistance for them. For those scenarios, we recommend using Visual Studio.

C# Dev Kit helps you manage your code with C# Project Details and test your code with integrated unit test discovery and execution, elevating your C# development experience wherever you like to develop (Windows, macOS, Linux, and even in a Codespace).

This extension builds on top of the great C# language capabilities provided by the [C# extension][CSharpExtension] and enhances your C# environment by adding a set of powerful tools and utilities that integrate natively with VS Code to help C# developers write, debug, and maintain their code faster and with fewer errors. Some of this new tooling includes but is not limited to:

• C# project and solution management via integrated C# Project Details
• Native testing environment to run and debug tests using the Test Explorer
• Roslyn-powered language service for best in-class C# language features such as code navigation, refactoring, semantic awareness, and more

Quick Start

1. Install C# Dev Kit (The [C# extension][CSharpExtension] and the .NET Install Tool will automatically be installed).
2. Open a folder/workspace that contains a C# project (.csproj) and the extension will activate, or use the ".NET: New Project..." command to create a new C# project.
3. Check out the C# Getting Started documentation to learn more!

Feature List & Walkthrough

• Project System / C# Project Details
  • Solution Node Actions
  • Add Project
  • Build/Run Project
• Code Editing (Uses the [C# extension][CSharpExtension])
  • Refactoring
  • Code Navigation (Go To Definition/References)
  • Code Completions
  • Roslyn-powered semantic awareness
• Package Management
  • Automatic NuGet Restore
• Debugging
• Testing
  • Discover, Run, and Debug Tests

Requirements

• .NET 10 SDK

Features

Manage your projects with a new solution view

C# Dev Kit extension enhances VS Code's existing Workspaces with a new C# Project Details view, providing a curated and structured view of your application for effortless, central project management. This lets you quickly add new projects or files to your solutions and easily build all or part of your solution.

Test your projects with expanded Test Explorer capabilities

With C# Dev Kit, your tests in XUnit, NUnit, MSTest and bUnit will be discovered and organized for you more easily for fast execution and results navigation. The extension also makes VS Code's Command Palette testing commands easily available for debugging and running your tests.

Installed Extensions

C# Dev Kit will automatically install the [C# extension][CSharpExtension] and .NET Install Tool to give you the best experience when working with C#.

If the installed C# extension is too old, C# Dev Kit displays an upgrade dialog before its project features can be used. Select Upgrade to install the required channel's latest version and reload the window; the dialog tells you when this requires a pre-release version. Select Not Now to continue using VS Code without C# Dev Kit project features.

Write your C# code faster with AI-powered assistance

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant integrated into VS Code. It provides code suggestions, explanations, and automated implementations based on natural language prompts and existing code context. Copilot has been trained on public code repositories and can assist with your C# development. To get set up, follow the instructions here: GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio Code.

Collect diagnostic information

Use the Collect C# Dev Kit Logs command from the Command Palette to gather diagnostic data whenever you need to investigate an issue or file a bug report. The command offers two modes:

• Collect existing logs — packages the current log files for C# Dev Kit, the .NET Install Tool, C#, and Razor into a ZIP archive along with a settings snapshot, environment information, and a README that explains what was collected.
• Record a new trace — runs a live dotnet-trace session against active C# Dev Kit processes. Reproduce the issue, click Stop Recording in the status bar, and the .nettrace files are saved to a folder of your choice.

Working with MAUI or Unity…