skills

Guides conversion of a pre-.NET 8 Blazor Server app into a .NET 8+ Blazor Web App. USE FOR: migrating apps that use AddServerSideBlazor and MapBlazorHub to the AddRazorComponents/MapRazorComponents model, converting _Host.cshtml to an App.razor root component, replacing blazor.server.js with blazor.web.js, migrating CascadingAuthenticationState to a service, adopting new Blazor Web App features like enhanced navigation and streaming rendering. DO NOT USE FOR: apps that are already Blazor Web Apps (already use AddRazorComponents and MapRazorComponents), Blazor WebAssembly or hosted Blazor WebAssembly apps (different migration path), apps that should stay on the Blazor Server hosting model without converting, or apps still targeting .NET Framework.

Convert .NET projects and solutions (.sln, .slnx) to NuGet Central Package Management (CPM) using Directory.Packages.props. USE FOR: converting to CPM, centralizing or aligning NuGet package versions across multiple projects, inlining MSBuild version properties from Directory.Build.props into Directory.Packages.props, resolving version conflicts or mismatches across a solution or repository, updating or bumping or syncing package versions across projects. Also activate when packages are out of sync, drifting, or inconsistent -- even without the user mentioning CPM. Provides baseline build capture, version conflict resolution, build validation with binlog comparison, and a structured post-conversion report. DO NOT USE FOR: packages.config projects (must migrate to PackageReference first) or repositories that already have CPM fully enabled.

.NET MAUI safe area and edge-to-edge layout guidance for .NET 10+. Covers the new SafeAreaEdges property, SafeAreaRegions enum, per-edge control, keyboard avoidance, Blazor Hybrid CSS safe areas, migration from legacy iOS-only APIs, and platform-specific behavior for Android, iOS, and Mac Catalyst. USE FOR: "safe area", "edge-to-edge", "SafeAreaEdges", "SafeAreaRegions", "keyboard avoidance", "notch insets", "status bar overlap", "iOS safe area", "Android edge-to-edge", "content behind status bar", "UseSafeArea migration", "soft input keyboard", "IgnoreSafeArea replacement". DO NOT USE FOR: general layout or grid design (use Grid and StackLayout), app lifecycle handling (use maui-app-lifecycle), theming or styling (use maui-theming), or Shell navigation structure.

Set up or recover MTP hot reload for a long-lived console-host edit/re-run loop in a Microsoft Testing Platform project. Use for explicit MTP console requests such as "enable hot reload", "dotnet run to rerun on edit", or unsupported/rude edits. Covers setup, run/watch, restarts, filters, and the VSTest no-mutation fallback. For one-time runs, exact commands, filter errors, TRX/dumps, or merely a failing test, use run-tests. Do not use when Test Explorer or an IDE should rerun tests without an MTP console host. Excludes editor integration, CI, and writing/debugging tests.

Set up NuGet trusted publishing (OIDC) on a GitHub Actions repo — replaces long-lived API keys with short-lived tokens. USE FOR: trusted publishing, NuGet OIDC, keyless NuGet publish, migrate from NuGet API key, NuGet/login, secure NuGet publishing. DO NOT USE FOR: publishing to private feeds or Azure Artifacts (OIDC is nuget.org only). INVOKES: shell (powershell or bash), edit, create, ask_user for guided repo setup.

Scaffolds eval.yaml evaluation specs for agent skills in the dotnet/skills repository. Use when creating skill tests, writing evaluation stimuli, defining graders and rubrics, sizing an eval for statistical power, or setting up test fixture files. Handles the Vally eval.yaml schema, fixture organization, and overfitting avoidance. Do not use for running or debugging existing evals (use improve-skill-quality) nor for skills authoring (use create-skill).

Route gh-aw workflow design/create/debug/upgrade requests to the right prompts.

Scans .NET code for ~50 performance anti-patterns across async, memory, strings, collections, LINQ, regex, serialization, and I/O with tiered severity classification. Use when analyzing .NET code for optimization opportunities, reviewing hot paths, or auditing allocation-heavy patterns.

Optimize and improve the performance of slow Entity Framework Core (EF Core) queries: make them generate less SQL, make fewer database round-trips, and return results faster. Use whenever an EF Core or DbContext query or data-access path is slow or should be made faster — whether or not EF Core owns the database schema. For EF Core, not Dapper or raw ADO.NET.

Symbolicate the .NET runtime frames in an Android tombstone file. Extracts BuildIds and PC offsets from the native backtrace, downloads debug symbols from the Microsoft symbol server, and runs llvm-symbolizer to produce function names with source file and line numbers. USE FOR triaging a .NET MAUI or Mono Android app crash from a tombstone, resolving native backtrace frames in libmonosgen-2.0.so or libcoreclr.so to .NET runtime source code, or investigating SIGABRT, SIGSEGV, or other native signals originating from the .NET runtime on Android. DO NOT USE FOR pure Java/Kotlin crashes, managed .NET exceptions that are already captured in logcat, or iOS crash logs. INVOKES Symbolicate-Tombstone.ps1 script, llvm-symbolizer, Microsoft symbol server.

Plan complex Blazor UI features by decomposing them into focused components. USE FOR: building a complex Blazor page with multiple sections, planning component decomposition, designing a multi-section dashboard or layout, breaking down a large UI feature into composable components, pages with sidebars and content panels, any page with 3+ distinct visual sections or multiple interacting sub-features, identifying parent-child relationships and data flow. DO NOT USE FOR: creating new Blazor projects or apps from scratch (use create-blazor-project), implementing a single individual component (use author-component), writing component code with parameters and EventCallback (use author-component), or simple single-component pages.

Symbolicate .NET runtime frames in Apple platform .ips crash logs (iOS, tvOS, Mac Catalyst, macOS). Extracts UUIDs and addresses from the native backtrace, locates dSYM debug symbols, and runs atos to produce function names with source file and line numbers. Automatically downloads .dwarf symbols from the Microsoft symbol server using Mach-O UUIDs. USE FOR triaging a .NET MAUI or Mono app crash from an .ips file on any Apple platform, resolving native backtrace frames in libcoreclr or libmonosgen-2.0 to .NET runtime source code, retrieving .ips crash logs from a connected iOS device or iPhone, or investigating EXC_CRASH, EXC_BAD_ACCESS, SIGABRT, or SIGSEGV originating from the .NET runtime. DO NOT USE FOR pure Swift/Objective-C crashes with no .NET components, or Android tombstone files. INVOKES Symbolicate-Crash.ps1 script, atos, dwarfdump, idevicecrashreport.

Analyze assertion quality, depth, variety, and false confidence in existing tests. ALWAYS USE when asked about weak, shallow, trivial, always-true, self-referential, assertion-free, presence/truthiness-only, or insufficiently diverse assertions, including MSTest, Jest, pytest, and Go. DO NOT USE for direct fixes: writing-mstest-tests owns supplied MSTest assertions; code-testing-agent owns new cases. Use test-gap-analysis when asked whether tests would catch a production change, and test-anti-patterns for general severity-ranked audits.

Create or review Blazor components (.razor files) with correct architecture. USE FOR: writing new Blazor components that do NOT involve JavaScript interop, implementing parameters and EventCallback, RenderFragment slots, component lifecycle (OnInitializedAsync, OnParametersSet), async patterns, IAsyncDisposable, CancellationToken, CSS isolation, code-behind. DO NOT USE FOR: creating new projects (use create-blazor-project), JavaScript interop or calling browser APIs from Blazor (use use-js-interop), forms and validation (use collect-user-input), prerendering issues (use support-prerendering), HTTP data fetching patterns (use fetch-and-send-data), coordinating state between unrelated components (use coordinate-components).

Performs safe, behavior-preserving refactoring of C#/.NET code, verified with build, tests, and analyzers. USE FOR: rename or move a symbol/type/file; extract a method/type/interface; inline a wrapper/method/local; merge or consolidate near-identical classes or duplicate helpers; split or modernize C# code; generated/partial declarations; public, serialized, friend-assembly, or multi-targeted contracts; and mixed requests where a feature, bug fix, package/framework upgrade, public nullability change, or other behavior/contract change is presented as a refactor and must be separated or declined. DO NOT USE FOR: ordinary feature or bug-fix requests not framed as refactoring; upgrades after reclassification (use dotnet-upgrade); new tests; or formatting-only passes (use dotnet format).

Author and review GitHub Actions workflow YAML safely so syntactically-valid YAML can't ship a workflow that GitHub Actions refuses to run. USE FOR: editing, adding, or reviewing any file under .github/workflows/, writing run-name/name/if/env/run values that contain ${{ }} expressions, diagnosing a run that fails with 'This run likely failed because of a workflow file issue' and no jobs starting, deciding when a workflow scalar must be quoted, validating workflows with actionlint. DO NOT USE FOR: authoring application YAML unrelated to GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, GitLab CI, or non-workflow YAML. SCOPE: this skill covers *syntactic/structural* correctness of workflow YAML (quoting, parsing, actionlint); for *semantic and functional* workflow design (what a workflow should do, agentic-workflow behavior), see .github/agents/agentic-workflows.agent.md — the two are complementary. INVOKES: actionlint (downloaded pinned binary) plus git/grep for inspection.

Analyze MSBuild binary logs to diagnose build failures. USE FOR: build errors that are unclear from console output, diagnosing cascading failures across multi-project builds, tracing MSBuild target execution order, and generally any MSBuild build issues. Requires an existing .binlog file. DO NOT USE FOR: generating binlogs (use binlog-generation), non-MSBuild build systems.

Generate MSBuild binary logs (binlogs) for build diagnostics and analysis. USE FOR: adding /bl:{} to any dotnet build, test, pack, publish, or restore command to capture a full build execution trace, prerequisite for binlog-failure-analysis and build-perf-diagnostics skills, enabling post-build investigation of errors or performance. Requires MSBuild 17.8+ / .NET 8 SDK+ for {} placeholder; PowerShell needs -bl:{{}}. DO NOT USE FOR: non-MSBuild build systems (npm, Maven, CMake), analyzing an existing binlog (use binlog-failure-analysis instead).

Diagnose and fix under-parallelized MSBuild builds. USE WHEN a multi-project solution build is slower than expected, doesn't speed up when you add cores, pegs a single core while others idle, or you want to know why `-m` isn't helping. Note: `/maxcpucount` default is 1 (sequential) — always pass `-m` for parallel builds. Covers finding the critical path (longest serial ProjectReference chain), graph build (`/graph`), BuildInParallel, and solution filters (`.slnf`). DO NOT USE FOR: single-project builds, incremental issues (use incremental-build), compilation slowness inside one project (use build-perf-diagnostics), non-MSBuild build systems.

Establish build performance baselines and apply systematic optimization techniques. USE FOR: diagnosing slow builds, establishing before/after measurements (cold, warm, no-op scenarios), applying optimization strategies like static graph builds, artifacts output, and dependency graph trimming. Start here before diving into build-perf-diagnostics, incremental-build, or build-parallelism. DO NOT USE FOR: non-MSBuild build systems, detailed bottleneck analysis (use build-perf-diagnostics after baselining).

Run file-based C# apps with the .NET CLI when the user explicitly wants C#/.NET code without creating a project. Use for C# language/API experiments, one-file C# apps, small multi-file C# apps composed with `#:include`/`#:exclude`, or C# file-based apps linked with `#:ref`. Do not use for language-agnostic throwaway scripts, generic computations, Python/PowerShell-style automation, full projects, or existing app integration.

ACTIVATION PREREQUISITE: the request or discovered target must explicitly identify C#, .NET, `.cs`, or `.csproj`; otherwise stay dormant without invoking this skill. USE FOR: locating System.DateTime.Now/UtcNow, System.IO.File/Directory, System.Environment, HttpClient, Console, or Process usage in C#; auditing C# code for hard-to-test framework dependencies; or verifying those C# calls are already abstracted. DO NOT USE FOR: any target lacking the activation prerequisite; generating wrappers (use generate-testability-wrappers); migrating code (use migrate-static-to-wrapper); or general code review.

Guide for diagnosing and improving MSBuild project evaluation performance. USE FOR: builds slow before any compilation starts, high evaluation time in binlog analysis, expensive glob patterns walking large directories (node_modules, .git, bin/obj), deep import chains (>20 levels), preprocessed output >10K lines indicating heavy evaluation, property functions with file I/O ($([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText(...))), multiple evaluations per project. Covers the 5 MSBuild evaluation phases, glob optimization via DefaultItemExcludes, import chain analysis with /pp preprocessing. DO NOT USE FOR: compilation-time slowness (use build-perf-diagnostics), incremental build issues (use incremental-build), non-MSBuild build systems.

Diagnose MSBuild build performance bottlenecks using binary log analysis. 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.

Detects MSBuild projects with conflicting OutputPath or IntermediateOutputPath. 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, or missing/overwritten outputs in multi-project or multi-targeting builds where bin/obj (or project.assets.json) collide. Common causes: shared OutputPath, missing AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath, extra global properties (e.g. PublishReadyToRun), or SetTargetFramework on a ProjectReference to a single-targeting project. DO NOT USE FOR: file access errors unrelated to MSBuild (OS-level locking), single-project single-TFM builds, non-MSBuild build systems.

Diagnoses .NET Framework CLR activation issues using CLR activation logs (CLRLoad logs) produced by mscoree.dll. Use when: the shim picks the wrong runtime, fails to load any runtime, shows unexpected .NET 3.5 Feature-on-Demand (FOD) dialogs, unexpectedly does NOT show FOD dialogs, loads both v2 and v4 into the same process causing failures, or any time someone is wondering "what is happening with .NET Framework activation?"

ALWAYS USE whenever asked to write, add, or generate unit tests for existing code, including one helper, function, class, or missing regression case as well as project-wide suites. Also use for "cover this untested method", scaffolding tests where none exist, sparse workspaces, classic packages.config MSTest, and extending healthy suites. Focused requests use a proportional direct workflow; broad requests use the full pipeline. DO NOT USE for only running/diagnosing tests, coverage/audits, a test blocked on a missing production seam (testability-obstacle), or correcting supplied MSTest assertions, attributes, lifecycle, or configuration without designing new cases (writing-mstest-tests).

Provides file paths to language-specific extension files for the code-testing pipeline. Call this skill to discover available extension guidance files (e.g., dotnet.md for .NET, cpp.md for C++). Do not use directly — invoked by code-testing agents and skills that need language-specific references.

Build forms, validate data, and react to user input in Blazor. USE FOR adding forms, search boxes, filter panels, inline editing, data-entry UI, file uploads, validation (annotations or custom), handling form submissions, and binding input controls. Covers EditForm, built-in input components, DataAnnotationsValidator, custom validation, SSR form patterns (SupplyParameterFromForm, FormName, AntiforgeryToken, Enhance), and @bind for simple interactive controls. DO NOT USE for project scaffolding (see create-blazor-project) or prerendering issues (see support-prerendering).

Add authentication and authorization to a Blazor Web App, accounting for the app's render mode. USE WHEN the user needs [Authorize] on pages, AuthorizeView, role or policy-based access, login/logout Identity pages, or AuthenticationStateProvider. Also USE WHEN auth state is null after WebAssembly loads, SignInManager throws in an interactive component, <NotAuthorized> content never renders in static SSR, or HttpContext.User is null in an interactive component. DO NOT USE for general component authoring (see author-component), for prerendering concerns unrelated to auth (see support-prerendering), or for managing non-auth cascading state (see coordinate-components).

Configure OpenTelemetry distributed tracing, metrics, and logging in ASP.NET Core using the .NET OpenTelemetry SDK. Use when adding observability, setting up OTLP exporters, creating custom metrics/spans, or troubleshooting distributed trace correlation.

Share state between components that don't have a direct parent-child parameter relationship, using cascading values, scoped services with change events, or CascadingValueSource via DI. USE WHEN the user needs a CascadingParameter or CascadingValue that works across render mode boundaries, a shopping cart or notification count accessible from multiple pages, a theme or user preference cascaded app-wide, or when components in different parts of the tree must react when shared data changes. Also USE WHEN cascading values aren't reaching interactive children in per-page interactivity mode, or when the user needs to understand scoped vs singleton service lifetime for state on Blazor Server. DO NOT USE for direct parent-child parameter passing or EventCallback (see author-component), for persisting state across prerender-to-interactive transitions (see support-prerendering), or for service abstractions for data fetching in Auto/WebAssembly (see fetch-and-send-data).

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.

Activation requires either supplied .NET coverage reports/percentages/line, branch, or condition metrics, or an explicit request to collect .NET coverage for analysis. USE FOR: interpreting that evidence, including Cobertura data, partial conditions, plateaus, target arithmetic, project-wide coverage-backed CRAP, and coverage-backed refactoring safety. Analyze supplied reports directly without rerunning tests or installing tools. DO NOT USE FOR: requests with neither coverage evidence nor explicit coverage-collection intent, including hypothetical change-survival questions (use test-gap-analysis); CRAP or refactoring safety for one named target (use crap-score); or requests owned by test-tagging, find-untested-sources, test-anti-patterns, run-tests, or code-testing-agent.

Calculates CRAP (Change Risk Anti-Patterns) for a named .NET method, class, or file. USE FOR: explicit CRAP calculation or coverage-and-complexity risk within that named target, including which tests to prioritize. DO NOT USE FOR: project-wide coverage/CRAP, plateaus, or project-wide blockers/priorities (coverage-analysis); behavioral/pseudo-mutation gaps (test-gap-analysis); writing tests; test runs without CRAP context.

Create a new ASP.NET Core web application or web site using Blazor. USE FOR: creating a new Blazor web app, scaffolding a new web project, starting a new web site, choosing render modes (Static SSR, Interactive Server, Interactive WebAssembly, Auto), running dotnet new blazor with the right options, setting up initial project structure. DO NOT USE FOR: adding features to existing projects, changing how an existing app renders, or component authoring (use author-component).

Creates VS Code custom agent files (.agent.md) for specialized AI personas with tools, instructions, and handoffs. Use when scaffolding new custom agents, configuring agent workflows, or setting up agent-to-agent handoffs.

Generate or scaffold ASP.NET Core code — Razor Pages, Blazor components, MVC controllers, views, and Minimal API endpoints — without using ASP.NET Core CLI scaffolding/code-generation tools. Use when (1) adding CRUD pages, views, or API endpoints backed by Entity Framework (EF Core) and a database, (2) generating code to create, read, update, and delete data using a DbContext, (3) scaffolding UI components that match the project's existing CSS framework and coding patterns, or (4) creating data-driven forms, tables, and navigation for a model class. Do not use for non-ASP.NET projects or when CLI-based scaffolding is preferred.

Scaffolds new agent skills for the dotnet/skills repository. Use when creating a new skill, generating SKILL.md files, writing a skill description that the runtime will actually route to, or setting up skill directory structures. Handles frontmatter generation, section templates, and validation guidance. Do not use for fixing a skill that already fails its evaluation (use improve-skill-quality) or for writing eval.yaml (use create-skill-test).

Guide for organizing MSBuild infrastructure with Directory.Build.props, Directory.Build.targets, Directory.Packages.props, and Directory.Build.rsp. USE FOR: structuring multi-project repos, centralizing build settings, implementing NuGet Central Package Management (CPM) with ManagePackageVersionsCentrally, consolidating duplicated properties across .csproj files, setting up multi-level Directory.Build hierarchy with GetPathOfFileAbove, understanding evaluation order (Directory.Build.props → SDK .props → .csproj → SDK .targets → Directory.Build.targets). Critical pitfall: $(TargetFramework) conditions in .props silently fail for single-targeting projects — must use .targets. DO NOT USE FOR: non-MSBuild build systems, migrating legacy projects to SDK-style (use msbuild-modernization), single-project solutions with no shared settings.

Make .NET projects compatible with Native AOT and trimming by systematically resolving IL trim/AOT analyzer warnings. USE FOR: making projects AOT-compatible, fixing trimming warnings, resolving IL warnings (IL2026, IL2070, IL2067, IL2072, IL3050), adding DynamicallyAccessedMembers annotations, enabling IsAotCompatible. DO NOT USE FOR: publishing native AOT binaries, optimizing binary size, replacing reflection-heavy libraries with alternatives. INVOKES: no tools — pure knowledge skill.

Diagnoses and fixes .NET MAUI development environment issues. Validates .NET SDK, workloads, Java JDK, Android SDK, Xcode, and Windows SDK. All version requirements discovered dynamically from NuGet WorkloadDependencies.json — never hardcoded. Use when: setting up MAUI development, build errors mentioning SDK/workload/JDK/Android, "Android SDK not found", "Java version" errors, "Xcode not found", environment verification after updates, or any MAUI toolchain issues. Do not use for: non-MAUI .NET projects, Xamarin.Forms apps, runtime app crashes unrelated to environment setup, or app store publishing issues. Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Correctly call native (C/C++) libraries from .NET using P/Invoke and LibraryImport. Covers function signatures, string marshalling, memory lifetime, SafeHandle, and cross-platform patterns. USE FOR: writing new P/Invoke or LibraryImport declarations, reviewing or debugging existing native interop code, wrapping a C or C++ library for use in .NET, diagnosing crashes, memory leaks, or corruption at the managed/native boundary. DO NOT USE FOR: COM interop, C++/CLI mixed-mode assemblies, or pure managed code with no native dependencies.

Guide developers through capturing diagnostic artifacts to diagnose production .NET performance issues. Use when the user needs help choosing diagnostic tools, collecting performance data, or understanding tool trade-offs across different environments (Windows/Linux, .NET Framework/modern .NET, container/non-container).

Guides creation and modification of ASP.NET Core Web API endpoints with correct HTTP semantics, OpenAPI metadata, and error handling. USE FOR: adding new API endpoints (controllers or minimal APIs), wiring up OpenAPI/Swagger, creating .http test files, setting up global error handling middleware. DO NOT USE FOR: general C# coding style, EF Core data access or query optimization (use optimizing-ef-core-queries), frontend/Blazor work, gRPC services, or SignalR hubs.

Configure and collect crash dumps for modern .NET applications. USE FOR: enabling automatic crash dumps for CoreCLR or NativeAOT, capturing dumps from running .NET processes, setting up dump collection in Docker or Kubernetes, using dotnet-dump collect or createdump. DO NOT USE FOR: analyzing or debugging dumps, post-mortem investigation with lldb/windbg/dotnet-dump analyze, profiling or tracing, or for .NET Framework processes.

Identify a .NET project's test platform, framework, command mode, and SDK-style vs classic project system. Use only for "which test platform/framework?", "VSTest or MTP?", or "what runner does this project use?", including bridge settings, UseVSTest opt-outs, and incompatible or conflicting VSTest/MTP configuration. Resolves global.json, project, packages.config, Directory.Build.props, and Directory.Packages.props precedence for MSTest/xUnit/NUnit/TUnit. DO NOT USE when the user asks to run/filter tests or for commands, flags, TRX/dumps, or test-command/filter errors; use run-tests directly. Do not use for hot reload or migration.

Guide for MSBuild extensibility: CustomBefore/CustomAfter hooks, wildcard imports with alphabetic ordering, import gating with control properties, NuGet package build extension layout (build/buildTransitive), and the MicrosoftCommonPropsHasBeenImported guard. USE FOR: diagnosing and fixing MSBuild import and hook patterns, reviewing and fixing extension point anti-patterns in Directory.Build files, fixing missing Exists() guards on imports that break fresh clones, fixing NuGet package hooks being silently dropped instead of appended, making build targets extensible for other projects, injecting custom logic into the build pipeline, creating NuGet packages that extend the build, conditionally disabling imports. DO NOT USE FOR: target authoring patterns (use target-authoring), props vs targets placement (use directory-build-organization), general anti-patterns (use msbuild-antipatterns), non-MSBuild build systems.

Call APIs, load data into components, and handle the async lifecycle in Blazor. USE FOR fetching data from a backend, submitting data to an API, displaying loading/error states, registering HttpClient, building service abstractions for Auto/WebAssembly render modes. DO NOT USE for form validation (see collect-user-input), prerendering persistence (see support-prerendering), or project scaffolding (see create-blazor-project).

Reference-only filter syntax for VSTest and MTP with MSTest, NUnit, xUnit v3, and TUnit. Load only after the platform/framework is known and a consumer needs to create or translate a filter. Do not load for unfiltered runs or platform detection. Used by run-tests and mtp-hot-reload; never invoke directly.

MANDATORY for static source-to-test pairing: find or list source files/modules without corresponding tests, or suggest test locations from repository structure. Invoke even for a tiny package; do not substitute manual globbing. Uses Roslyn for C#/.NET and tree-sitter for Python, TS/JS, Go, Java, Rust, Ruby, Kotlin, Swift, PowerShell, and C++. DO NOT USE FOR: real line/branch/Cobertura data, coverage-backed test priorities, CRAP risk, or grading existing tests.

DO NOT USE when the target already consumes an injected interface or built-in abstraction such as IFileSystem or TimeProvider, even if the request says "generate a wrapper"; no new wrapper is needed. Use only when C# source calls an ambient/static dependency and no injectable seam exists: first-time TimeProvider, IHttpClientFactory, or System.IO.Abstractions adoption; minimal Environment/Console/Process wrappers; IProcessRunner; DI registration; or an ambient seam that preserves a static API. Exclude static detection (detect-static-dependencies), migration to an existing/registered abstraction (migrate-static-to-wrapper), one blocked behavior plus deterministic tests (testability-obstacle), and general interface design.

Grade specified test methods individually and produce a concise PR-ready table with each fully qualified test name, an A-F grade, score band, and one-line note. USE FOR per-test feedback on a curated list such as new or modified tests in a pull request, not a suite-wide audit. Polyglot: .NET, Python, TS/JS, Java, Go, Ruby, Rust, Swift, Kotlin, PowerShell, C++. Inputs may be test methods, method bodies, or file-and-line spans. DO NOT USE FOR: full suite audits (use test-quality-auditor agent or test-anti-patterns), writing new tests (use code-testing-generator agent or writing-mstest-tests), fixing failures, or measuring code coverage.

Diagnoses and fixes skills in the dotnet/skills repository that lose to their own baseline, fail to activate, time out, or return "no credible improvement". Use when an evaluation verdict is a regression or underpowered, when a skill regressed after a change, when /evaluate reports no results, or when deciding whether a weak skill should be strengthened or retired. Do not use for scaffolding a brand-new skill (use create-skill) or a brand-new eval (use create-skill-test).

Guidance for configuring dependency injection in .NET MAUI apps — service registration in MauiProgram.cs, lifetime selection (Singleton / Transient / Scoped), constructor injection, Shell navigation auto-resolution, platform-specific registrations, and testability patterns. USE FOR: "dependency injection", "DI setup", "AddSingleton", "AddTransient", "AddScoped", "service registration", "constructor injection", "IServiceProvider", "MauiProgram DI", "register services", "BindingContext injection". DO NOT USE FOR: data binding (use maui-data-binding), Shell route configuration (use maui-shell-navigation), unit-test mocking frameworks (use standard xUnit and NSubstitute patterns).

Fix MSBuild targets that generate files during the build but those files are missing from compilation or output. USE FOR: generated source files not compiling (CS0246 for a type that should exist), custom build tasks that create files but they are invisible to subsequent targets, globs not capturing build-generated files because they expand at evaluation time before execution creates them, ensuring generated files are cleaned by the Clean target. Covers correct BeforeTargets timing (CoreCompile, BeforeBuild, AssignTargetPaths), adding to Compile/FileWrites item groups, using $(IntermediateOutputPath) instead of hardcoded obj/ paths. DO NOT USE FOR: C# source generators that already work via the Roslyn pipeline, T4 design-time generation that runs in Visual Studio, non-MSBuild build systems.

Guide for optimizing MSBuild incremental builds. USE FOR: builds slower than expected on subsequent runs, 'nothing changed but it rebuilds anyway', diagnosing why targets re-execute unnecessarily, fixing broken no-op builds. Covers 8 common causes: missing Inputs/Outputs on custom targets, volatile properties in output paths (timestamps/GUIDs), file writes outside tracked Outputs, missing FileWrites registration, glob changes, Visual Studio Fast Up-to-Date Check (FUTDC) issues. Key diagnostic: look for 'Building target completely' vs 'Skipping target' in binlog. DO NOT USE FOR: first-time build slowness (use build-perf-baseline), parallelism issues (use build-parallelism), evaluation-phase slowness (use eval-performance), 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.

.NET MAUI app lifecycle guidance — the four app states, cross-platform Window lifecycle events (Created, Activated, Deactivated, Stopped, Resumed, Destroying), platform-specific lifecycle mapping, backgrounding and resume behavior, and state-preservation patterns. USE FOR: "app lifecycle", "window lifecycle events", "save state on background", "resume app", "OnStopped", "OnResumed", "backgrounding", "deactivated event", "ConfigureLifecycleEvents", "platform lifecycle hooks". DO NOT USE FOR: navigation events (use maui-shell-navigation), dependency injection setup (use maui-dependency-injection), platform API invocation (use conditional compilation and partial classes).

Guidance for implementing CollectionView in .NET MAUI apps — data display, layouts (list & grid), selection, grouping, scrolling, empty views, templates, incremental loading, swipe actions, and pull-to-refresh. USE FOR: "CollectionView", "list view", "grid layout", "data template", "item template", "grouping", "pull to refresh", "incremental loading", "swipe actions", "empty view", "selection mode", "scroll to item", displaying scrollable data, replacing ListView. DO NOT USE FOR: simple static layouts without scrollable data (use Grid or StackLayout), map pin lists (use Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Maps), table-based data entry forms, non-MAUI list controls, CarouselView or BindableLayout questions, platform-specific handler or renderer customization, diagnosing CollectionView bugs in the MAUI framework itself, or general MVVM/binding questions that merely happen to mention a list (use maui-data-binding).

Guidance for .NET MAUI XAML and C# data bindings — compiled bindings, INotifyPropertyChanged / ObservableObject, value converters, binding modes, multi-binding, relative bindings, fallbacks, and MVVM best practices. USE FOR: setting up compiled bindings with x:DataType, implementing INotifyPropertyChanged or CommunityToolkit ObservableObject, creating IValueConverter / IMultiValueConverter, choosing binding modes, configuring BindingContext, relative bindings, binding fallbacks, StringFormat, code-behind SetBinding with lambdas, and enforcing XC0022/XC0025 warnings. DO NOT USE FOR: CollectionView item templates and layouts (use maui-collectionview), Shell navigation data passing (use maui-shell-navigation), dependency injection (use maui-dependency-injection), or animations triggered by property changes (use .NET MAUI animation APIs).

Guide for implementing Shell-based navigation in .NET MAUI apps. Covers AppShell setup, visual hierarchy (FlyoutItem, TabBar, Tab, ShellContent), URI-based navigation with GoToAsync, route registration, query parameters, back navigation, flyout and tab configuration, navigation events, and navigation guards. Use when: setting up Shell navigation, adding tabs or flyout menus, navigating between pages with GoToAsync, passing parameters between pages, registering routes, customizing back button behavior, or guarding navigation with confirmation dialogs. Do not use for: deep linking from external URLs (see .NET MAUI deep linking documentation), data binding on pages (use maui-data-binding), dependency injection setup (use maui-dependency-injection), or NavigationPage-only apps that don't use Shell.

Guide for theming .NET MAUI apps — light/dark mode via AppThemeBinding, ResourceDictionary theme switching, DynamicResource bindings, system theme detection, and user theme preferences. Use when: "dark mode", "light mode", "theming", "AppThemeBinding", "theme switching", "ResourceDictionary theme", "dynamic resources", "system theme detection", "color scheme", "app theme", "DynamicResource". Do not use for: localization or language switching (see .NET MAUI localization documentation), accessibility visual adjustments (see .NET MAUI accessibility documentation), app icons or splash screens (see .NET MAUI app icons documentation), or Bootstrap-style class theming (see Plugin.Maui.BootstrapTheme NuGet package).

Activate this skill when BenchmarkDotNet (BDN) is involved in the task — creating, running, configuring, or reviewing BDN benchmarks. Also activate when microbenchmarking .NET code would be useful and BenchmarkDotNet is the likely tool. Consider activating when answering a .NET performance question requires measurement and BenchmarkDotNet may be needed. Covers microbenchmark design, BDN configuration and project setup, how to run BDN microbenchmarks efficiently and effectively, and using BDN for side-by-side performance comparisons. Do NOT use for profiling/tracing .NET code (dotnet-trace, PerfView), production telemetry, or load/stress testing (Crank, k6).

Migrate a .NET 10 project or solution to .NET 11 and resolve all breaking changes. This is a MIGRATION skill — use it when upgrading from .NET 10 to .NET 11, NOT for writing new programs. USE FOR: upgrading TargetFramework from net10.0 to net11.0, fixing build errors after updating the .NET 11 SDK, resolving source-breaking and behavioral changes in .NET 11 runtime, C# 15 compiler, and EF Core 11, adapting to updated minimum hardware requirements (x86-64-v2, Arm64 LSE), and updating CI/CD pipelines and Dockerfiles for .NET 11. DO NOT USE FOR: .NET Framework migrations, upgrading from .NET 9 or earlier, greenfield .NET 11 projects, or cosmetic modernization unrelated to the upgrade. NOTE: .NET 11 is in preview. Covers breaking changes through Preview 3.

Migrate a .NET 8 project to .NET 9 and resolve all breaking changes. USE FOR: upgrading TargetFramework from net8.0 to net9.0, fixing build errors after updating the .NET 9 SDK, resolving behavioral changes in .NET 9 / C# 13 / ASP.NET Core 9 / EF Core 9, replacing BinaryFormatter (now always throws), resolving SYSLIB0054-SYSLIB0057, adapting to params span overload resolution, fixing C# 13 compiler changes, updating HttpClientFactory for SocketsHttpHandler, and resolving EF Core 9 migration/Cosmos DB changes. DO NOT USE FOR: .NET Framework migrations, upgrading from .NET 7 or earlier, greenfield .NET 9 projects, or cosmetic modernization unrelated to the upgrade.

Migrate a .NET 9 project or solution to .NET 10 and resolve all breaking changes. USE FOR: upgrading TargetFramework from net9.0 to net10.0, fixing build errors after updating the .NET 10 SDK, resolving source and behavioral changes in .NET 10 / C# 14 / ASP.NET Core 10 / EF Core 10, updating Dockerfiles for Debian-to-Ubuntu base images, resolving obsoletion warnings (SYSLIB0058-SYSLIB0062), adapting to SDK/NuGet changes (NU1510, PrunePackageReference), migrating System.Linq.Async to built-in AsyncEnumerable, fixing OpenApi v2 API changes, cryptography renames, and C# 14 compiler changes (field keyword, extension keyword, span overloads). DO NOT USE FOR: .NET Framework migrations, upgrading from .NET 8 or earlier (use migrate-dotnet8-to-dotnet9 first), greenfield .NET 10 projects, or cosmetic modernization. LOADS REFERENCES: csharp-compiler, core-libraries, sdk-msbuild (always); aspnet-core, efcore, cryptography, extensions-hosting, serialization-networking, winforms-wpf, containers-interop (selective).

Use this skill before answering or editing whenever an MSTest v1/v2 project is being upgraded or repaired for v3. Triggers include QualityTools assembly references; MSTest.TestFramework/TestAdapter 1.x-2.x; "upgrade to MSTest v3"; comparing v1 and v2 migration paths; choosing MSTest or MSTest.Sdk; CS0411/CS1503 after a v3 package bump; DataRow type mismatch, MSTEST0014, or "Test data doesn't match method parameters"; .testsettings/LegacySettings to .runsettings; timeout changes; and net5.0 or other dropped v3 TFMs. Still use it when packages say 3.x but migration source errors or legacy settings remain. Preserve VSTest/MTP. Do not use for a clean v3 project, v3-to-v4, framework conversion, or runner-only migration.

Use this skill before answering, planning, or editing any MSTest 3.x-to-4.x upgrade or post-upgrade failure. Triggers include "MSTest v4 breaking changes"; CS0507/CS0103/CS1061/CS1615; ExecuteAsync, CallerInfo, DisplayName, or custom TestMethodAttribute; ClassCleanupBehavior; ContainsKey; ThrowsExactly or ExpectedException; IsInstanceOfType out parameters; TestTimeout.Infinite; ManagedType; net6/net7 compatibility; TestCase.Id history; TestName in ClassInitialize; TreatDiscoveryWarningsAsErrors; discovery errors after a clean build; and MSTest.Sdk/MTP or vstest.console discovery changes. Do not use for v1/v2-to-v3 leftovers, framework conversion, runner-only migration, or a general .NET upgrade.

Enable nullable reference types in a C# project and systematically resolve all warnings. USE FOR: adopting NRTs in existing codebases, file-by-file or project-wide migration, fixing CS8602/CS8618/CS86xx warnings, annotating APIs for nullability, cleaning up null-forgiving operators, upgrading dependencies with new nullable annotations. DO NOT USE FOR: projects already fully migrated with zero warnings (unless auditing suppressions), fixing a handful of nullable warnings in code that already has NRTs enabled, suppressing warnings without fixing them, C# 7.3 or earlier projects. INVOKES: Get-NullableReadiness.ps1 scanner script.

Convert .NET tests from NUnit 3/4 to MSTest v4 while preserving VSTest or MTP. Use for replacing NUnit/NUnit3TestAdapter packages, Test/TestCase/ TestCaseSource/Values attributes, constraint assertions, SetUp/TearDown, OneTimeSetUp, SetUpFixture, FixtureLifeCycle, TestContext, categories, retries, timeouts, and NUnit parallelization. Also use when a "convert NUnit to MSTest" request may already be migrated: inspect and report the no-op. Do not use for NUnit version upgrades, xUnit/TUnit conversion, MSTest upgrades, or runner-only VSTest-to-MTP migration.

Audits existing tests in any language using formal, research-backed test smell names and the testsmells.org 19-smell academic taxonomy. Use when the caller asks for an academic or citable test-smell review, named smell categories, or a formal severity-ranked smell assessment. Covers Assertion Roulette, Conditional Test Logic, Mystery Guest, Eager Test, Sleepy Test, Unknown Test, Sensitive Equality, and the rest of the catalog across .NET, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, Go, Ruby, Rust, Swift, Kotlin, PowerShell, and C++. DO NOT USE FOR a quick pragmatic test review (use test-anti-patterns), writing or running tests, framework migration, coverage, or assertion-diversity metrics.

Classifies existing tests by standard traits and reports their distribution. USE FOR: tagging all tests with category attributes, categorizing/tagging/ labeling each test, compare happy vs error paths, audit the test mix, describe coverage shape by test type, or tag then verify the project builds. Read bodies when names mislead. Apply canonical attributes; otherwise report only. DO NOT USE FOR: requests owned by test-anti-patterns, coverage-analysis, crap-score, test-gap-analysis, code-testing-agent, or migration skills.

MUST USE for C#/.NET deterministic tests that require the smallest production seam for DateTime/Task.Delay/File/Environment/Guid/Random, static API preservation, nested/parallel overrides, or no real I/O. USE ONLY when the target workspace contains C# source plus a .csproj or .sln. DO NOT USE for audits, bulk migration, code that already has an injectable seam, or an explicit migration to a user-named existing abstraction (migrate-static-to-wrapper). Use instead of general test generation when the requested test is impossible without a production edit and seam selection is still open.

ALWAYS USE when asked to migrate, replace, or make testable existing C# static calls with a named wrapper or built-in abstraction: DateTime.UtcNow/Now or DateTimeOffset.UtcNow to TimeProvider/IClock, File.* to IFileSystem or an existing store such as ITextFileStore, and Environment.* to an existing reader such as IEnvironmentReader. Covers scoped files/projects, constructor injection, replacing temp-file or process-environment tests with fakes, "already registered" abstractions, and static classes whose callers/signatures must stay unchanged. Preserves DateTimeKind and call count. DO NOT USE for finding statics (detect-static-dependencies), choosing/designing a new wrapper (generate-testability-wrappers), behavior tests with no chosen seam (testability-obstacle), or test-framework migration.

Use this skill before answering, planning, or editing whenever .NET tests or CI are switching from VSTest to Microsoft.Testing.Platform (MTP), or an MTP migration behaves differently. Triggers include "switch from VSTest"; MSTest/NUnit/xUnit MTP enablement; OutputType=Exe only for test projects in Directory.Build.props; EnableMSTestRunner, EnableNUnitRunner, UseMicrosoftTestingPlatformRunner, or YTest.MTP.XUnit2; .NET 10 global.json test.runner and TestingPlatformDotnetTestSupport; translating VSTest filters, logger, coverage, blame, or dump arguments; replacing VSTest@3; and exit code 8 or zero tests. Also use for xUnit v3 MTP filters during a v2-to-v3 upgrade. Do not use for framework conversion, TFM, UWP, or WinUI.

Convert .NET tests from xUnit.net v2/v3 to MSTest v4 while preserving VSTest or MTP. Use for replacing xunit packages, Fact/Theory/InlineData/MemberData, assertions, IClassFixture/ICollectionFixture, ITestOutputHelper, TestContext cancellation, traits/Owner, skips, timeouts, and xUnit parallelization. Also use when a "convert xUnit to MSTest" request may already be migrated: inspect and report the no-op. Do not use for xUnit v2-to-v3, MSTest upgrades, NUnit/TUnit conversion, or runner-only VSTest-to-MTP migration.

Migrate .NET test projects from xUnit.net v2 to xunit.v3 and fix v3 breaks. Use for package/CPM conversion, OutputType=Exe, preserving the VSTest or MTP runner (including projects currently using YTest.MTP.XUnit2), incompatible TFMs, async void tests, string-to-Type attributes, custom Fact/Theory/BeforeAfterTest attributes, Xunit.SkippableFact, xunit.abstractions/extensibility consolidation, and Xunit.Combinatorial/StaFact compatibility. Do not use for framework conversion or a runner-only migration. For xUnit v3 MTP filter syntax, also use migrate-vstest-to-mtp.

File upload endpoints in ASP.NET minimal APIs (.NET 8+)

Detect and fix MSBuild anti-patterns in project and build files. USE WHEN asked to review, audit, lint, clean up, or code-review a .csproj/.vbproj/.fsproj/.props/.targets/.proj (or Directory.Build.props/.targets) file, when asked 'is this project file correct?' or 'what's wrong with my build file?', or when hunting subtle build bugs caused by how a project is authored. Each anti-pattern has a symptom and a concrete BAD→GOOD fix. DO NOT USE FOR: non-MSBuild build systems (npm, Maven, CMake), or migrating a project to SDK-style (use msbuild-modernization).

Guide for modernizing and migrating MSBuild project files to SDK-style format. USE FOR: converting legacy .csproj/.vbproj with verbose XML to SDK-style, migrating packages.config to PackageReference, removing Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs in favor of auto-generation, eliminating explicit <Compile Include> lists via implicit globbing, consolidating shared settings into Directory.Build.props. Indicators of legacy projects: ToolsVersion attribute, <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)">, .csproj files > 50 lines for simple projects. DO NOT USE FOR: projects already in SDK-style format, non-.NET build systems (npm, Maven, CMake), .NET Framework projects that cannot move to SDK-style.

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 interpreting ResolveProjectReferences time in MSBuild performance summaries. Activate when ResolveProjectReferences appears as the most expensive target and developers are trying to optimize it directly. Explains that the reported time includes wait time for dependent project builds and is misleading. Guides users to focus on task self-time instead. Do not activate for general build performance -- use build-perf-diagnostics instead.

ALWAYS USE before running .NET tests or answering with a test command or flags. Trigger on "run the tests", "exact dotnet test command", one test/class/category/trait/target framework, combined filters, `--filter-query`, `--no-build`, `--diag`, diagnostic logs, TRX, coverage collection, crash/hang dumps, filter errors, or unrecognized options. Chooses repository-compatible classic, VSTest, bridged MTP, or native MTP syntax for MSTest/xUnit/NUnit/TUnit. DO NOT USE for platform identification alone (platform-detection), writing or debugging test code, interpreting an existing coverage report, CI investigation, migration, or a persistent hot reload/watch loop.

MUST USE when an existing .NET test project was excluded from a .slnf/CI solution filter, disappeared from .sln/.slnx discovery, or lost its production ProjectReference; also for requests to set up, create, reuse, add, register, include, or repair a test project. Handles "tests pass directly but CI discovers zero", exact solution wiring, xUnit/NUnit/MSTest, and central packages. DO NOT USE to only author tests in an already-wired project (code-testing-agent), run tests, migrate, or correct MSTest syntax/configuration without changing project or CI files (writing-mstest-tests).

Install a .NET SDK locally for safe preview testing, specific-version pinning, or reproducible team setups — without modifying the system-wide installation. USE FOR: trying .NET previews safely, testing specific SDK versions, installing MAUI or other workloads on a preview, updating or replacing an existing local SDK, creating reproducible team/CI install scripts, configuring global.json paths. DO NOT USE FOR: system-wide SDK installs, .NET hosts older than 10, runtime-only installs, or projects not using SDK-style commands.

Make interactive Blazor components work correctly with prerendering. USE FOR fixing duplicate data loads, UI flicker during prerender-to-interactive handoff, null references during prerender, persisting state across prerender, disabling prerendering, excluding pages from interactive routing, or detecting whether a component is currently prerendering. DO NOT USE for choosing which render mode to use (see create-blazor-project) or general component authoring (see author-component).

Imperative guidance for the System.Text.Json APIs added in .NET 11: the built-in `JsonNamingPolicy.PascalCase` naming policy, and the strongly-typed `JsonSerializerOptions.GetTypeInfo<T>()` and `JsonSerializerOptions.TryGetTypeInfo<T>(out JsonTypeInfo<T>? info)` metadata accessors. USE ONLY when the user is targeting net11.0 or later and needs PascalCase JSON property or dictionary-key names without writing a custom naming policy, a strongly-typed `JsonTypeInfo<T>` instead of the non-generic `JsonTypeInfo`, or a no-throw way to probe whether a type's serialization metadata is resolved. DO NOT USE when the target is earlier than net11.0, the requested behavior uses an established pre-net11 naming policy, or the user explicitly selected another JSON library.

Canonical patterns for writing custom MSBuild targets. USE FOR: diagnosing and fixing custom target authoring anti-patterns; broken SDK target chains across files (e.g., Directory.Build.targets silently redefining SDK targets); targets that replace CompileDependsOn instead of extending it with $(CompileDependsOn); query targets returning stale results from Outputs vs Returns misuse; missing Inputs/Outputs causing unnecessary rebuilds; missing FileWrites registration. Covers DependsOnTargets vs BeforeTargets vs AfterTargets, the Build→CoreBuild three-level pattern, and the $(XxxDependsOn) chain-extension pattern. DO NOT USE FOR: incremental build tuning (use incremental-build), parallelization (use build-parallelism), general anti-patterns (use msbuild-antipatterns), non-MSBuild build systems.

Guides technology selection and implementation of AI and ML features in .NET 8+ applications using ML.NET, Microsoft.Extensions.AI (MEAI), Microsoft Agent Framework (MAF), GitHub Copilot SDK, ONNX Runtime, and OllamaSharp. Covers the full spectrum from classic ML through modern LLM orchestration to local inference. Use when adding classification, regression, clustering, anomaly detection, recommendation, LLM integration (text generation, summarization, reasoning), RAG pipelines with vector search, agentic workflows with tool calling, Copilot extensions, or custom model inference via ONNX Runtime to a .NET project. DO NOT USE FOR projects targeting .NET Framework (requires .NET 8+), the task is pure data engineering or ETL with no ML/AI component, or the project needs a custom deep learning training loop (use Python with PyTorch/TensorFlow, then export to ONNX for .NET inference).

Guides creation and validation of custom dotnet new templates from existing projects. Generates a .template.config/template.json that preserves the source project's conventions. USE FOR: creating a reusable dotnet new template from an existing project, bootstrapping .template.config/template.json with correct identity, shortName, parameters, and post-actions, adding parameters or conditional content to a template you are authoring, validating the template.json you are authoring before publishing, packaging templates as NuGet packages for distribution. DO NOT USE FOR: validating an existing template.json as a standalone task (use template-validation), finding or using existing templates (use template-discovery and template-instantiation), MSBuild project file issues unrelated to template authoring, NuGet package publishing (only template packaging structure).

Compares two or more dotnet new templates side by side to help users choose between them based on parameters, feature support, frameworks, and classifications. USE FOR: deciding between similar templates (webapi vs webapp, blazor vs blazorwasm, console vs worker), producing a side-by-side comparison of parameters and feature support, understanding how templates differ before creating a project. DO NOT USE FOR: creating a project from a template (use template-instantiation), authoring or validating custom templates (use template-authoring and template-validation), general single-template discovery (use template-discovery).

Helps find, inspect, and compare (at a high level) .NET project templates. Resolves natural-language project descriptions to ranked template matches with pre-filled parameters. USE FOR: finding the right dotnet new template for a task, inspecting a template's parameters and constraints, understanding what a template produces before creating a project, resolving intent like "web API with auth" to concrete template + parameters. DO NOT USE FOR: actually creating projects (use template-instantiation), authoring custom templates (use template-authoring), producing a detailed side-by-side comparison (use template-comparison), choosing cross-parameter defaults during creation (use template-smart-defaults), MSBuild or build issues (use dotnet-msbuild plugin), NuGet package management unrelated to template packages.

Creates .NET projects from templates with validated parameters, smart defaults, Central Package Management adaptation, and latest NuGet version resolution. USE FOR: creating new dotnet projects, scaffolding solutions with multiple projects, installing or uninstalling template packages, creating projects that respect Directory.Packages.props (CPM), composing multi-project solutions (API + tests + library), getting latest NuGet package versions in newly created projects. DO NOT USE FOR: finding templates (use template-discovery), producing a detailed side-by-side comparison of templates (use template-comparison), authoring custom templates (use template-authoring), deciding cross-parameter defaults such as which framework to pair with native AOT or whether to keep HTTPS when auth is enabled (use template-smart-defaults), modifying existing projects or adding NuGet packages to existing projects.

Applies cross-parameter default rules when creating .NET projects with dotnet new, filling gaps consistently without overriding values the user set explicitly. USE FOR: choosing which target framework to pair with native AOT, deciding whether to keep HTTPS when authentication is enabled, recognizing that controllers and minimal-API flags are mutually exclusive, filling unset related parameters during project creation, explaining why a default was applied and ensuring an explicit user value is never overridden. DO NOT USE FOR: creating the project itself (use template-instantiation), finding or comparing templates (use template-discovery and template-comparison), authoring or validating custom templates (use template-authoring and template-validation).

Validates custom dotnet new templates for correctness before publishing. Catches missing fields, parameter bugs, shortName conflicts, constraint issues, and common authoring mistakes that cause templates to fail silently. USE FOR: checking template.json files for errors before publishing or testing, diagnosing why a template doesn't appear after installation, reviewing template parameter definitions for type mismatches and missing defaults, finding shortName conflicts with dotnet CLI commands, validating post-action and constraint configuration. DO NOT USE FOR: finding or using existing templates (use template-discovery), creating projects from templates (use template-instantiation), creating templates from existing projects (use template-authoring).

Provides file paths to language-specific reference files for the test ANALYSIS skills (assertion-quality, test-anti-patterns, test-gap-analysis, test-smell-detection, test-tagging). Call this skill to discover available extension files (e.g., dotnet.md for .NET/MSTest/xUnit/NUnit/TUnit, python.md for pytest/unittest, typescript.md for Jest/Vitest/Mocha, java.md for JUnit/TestNG, etc.). Do not use directly — invoked by the test-quality-auditor agent and polyglot analysis skills that need framework-specific lookup tables (test markers, assertion APIs, skip annotations, sleep patterns, mystery guest indicators, integration markers, setup/teardown, tag-support capability).

Audit a test file or suite; produce a severity-ranked diagnostic report. ALWAYS USE for tests that verify nothing, missing/tautological assertions, swallowed/broad exceptions, flaky/order-dependent tests, duplication, or magic values. Polyglot. DO NOT USE for direct edits: writing-mstest-tests owns supplied MSTest assertions/attributes/lifecycle; code-testing-agent owns new tests. Exclude running tests, migration, assertion metrics (assertion-quality), raw .NET coverage collection (run-tests), non-.NET coverage collection/analysis (native tooling), project-wide .NET coverage/CRAP (coverage-analysis), named-target .NET CRAP (crap-score), behavioral/pseudo-mutation gaps (test-gap-analysis), test-mix/ happy-vs-error classification and trait distributions (test-tagging), or the testsmells.org catalog (test-smell-detection).

Pseudo-mutation analysis ONLY: answer whether tests would catch a bug if production code changed, which meaningful changes would still pass, or which caller-visible mutations existing assertions would miss; verify candidates when requested, then optionally close verified gaps. Activate for behavioral blind spots or missing edge cases tied to production behavior. Polyglot. DO NOT USE FOR: suite organization, taxonomy, metadata, or distribution reports (test-tagging); .NET line-vs-branch or Cobertura interpretation, arithmetic, plateaus, project-wide coverage gaps, or coverage-backed test/CRAP priorities (coverage-analysis; use native coverage tooling outside .NET); named-target CRAP (crap-score); new suites (code-testing-agent); assertion/smell audits; or mutation tools.

Guides migration of .NET Framework Thread.Abort usage to cooperative cancellation in modern .NET. USE FOR: modernizing code that calls Thread.Abort, catching ThreadAbortException, replacing Thread.ResetAbort, replacing Thread.Interrupt for thread termination, resolving PlatformNotSupportedException or SYSLIB0006 after retargeting to .NET 6+, migrating ASP.NET Response.End or Response.Redirect(url, true) which internally call Thread.Abort. DO NOT USE FOR: code that only uses Thread.Join, Thread.Sleep, or Thread.Start without any abort, interrupt, or ThreadAbortException usage — these APIs work identically in modern .NET and need no migration. Also not for projects staying on .NET Framework, or Thread.Abort usage inside third-party libraries you do not control.

Add, configure, or review Ignite UI for Blazor Lite component support in Blazor applications. USE FOR: installing IgniteUI.Blazor.Lite or IgniteUI.Blazor.GridLite, registering AddIgniteUIBlazor() in Blazor Server, WASM, Hybrid, or split Blazor Web App projects, adding @using IgniteUI.Blazor.Controls, wiring the theme stylesheet, picking the right host page, locating the GridLite stylesheet path, explaining single-project vs split Server/Client Web App setup differences, and checking where an interactive render mode is needed for Ignite UI components to work. DO NOT USE FOR: general Blazor component authoring without Ignite UI, choosing app architecture or render mode from scratch (see create-blazor-project), JavaScript interop (see use-js-interop), authentication (see configure-auth), prerendering (see support-prerendering), or layout/component design questions that need no Ignite UI setup.

Add, review, or fix JavaScript interop in Blazor components. USE FOR: calling JavaScript from Blazor, calling .NET from JavaScript, collocated .razor.js modules, IJSRuntime, IJSObjectReference lifecycle, DotNetObjectReference, ElementReference, timing rules for when JS is available, IAsyncDisposable disposal of JS references, server-side JS interop safety. DO NOT USE FOR: general Blazor component authoring without JS interop needs (use author-component), forms (use collect-user-input).

Design, implement, optimize, and review SIMD code in .NET. USE FOR: vectorizing scalar loops with TensorPrimitives, Vector64/128/256/512, or platform hardware intrinsics; reviewing existing SIMD code, including Vector<T>, for contract equivalence, tail handling, memory safety, portability, fallbacks, and measured performance. DO NOT USE FOR: performance work unrelated to SIMD or vectorization.

ALWAYS USE when asked to fix, rewrite, update, improve, modernize, show corrected code for, or explain existing MSTest tests or MSTest-specific configuration. Use for "review" when corrected code or edits are wanted, even for one pasted assertion or passing tests with bad failure output. Covers expected/actual labels; generic Boolean, collection, string, numeric, null, identity, exception, hard-cast, and object[] checks; TestContext/lifecycle; timeout/cancellation; OS/CI conditions, retry, cleanup, parallelization, MSTest.Sdk project setup, and MSTESTxxxx. Honor the installed MSTest version. DO NOT USE to design new test cases (code-testing-agent), perform report-only audits, create project files rather than explain MSTest setup, run tests, migrate frameworks, or handle non-MSTest/non-.NET code.