dotnet-inspect: decompiler and IL

Use this skill to understand how code actually works from the assembly you have. The decompiler runs locally against the acquired assembly, and the IL and annotated views can reveal facts absent from PDB-mapped source. Package and PDB acquisition can use the network; add --offline to prohibit network access. For PDB-mapped source, use the sourcelink skill and follow its checksum and provenance boundaries before interpreting fetched content.

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- <command>

Decompiled source and IL

A selected Type or exact Member supports explicit authored-first -S Source. It prefers verified authored source and uses the shared fallback policy when that source is unavailable, retaining provider and fallback context. Use PDB Source when only the Portable-PDB-selected provider is wanted, or Decompiled Source when only locally reconstructed C# is wanted.

A selected overload renders its bounded Signature overview by default; use -S Signature to request it explicitly. Select Decompiled Source explicitly when implementation evidence is the question. Use -S "Decompiled Source,Annotated Source,IL" --offline for the full zero-network evidence set:

Decompiled Source — raised, lowered C# (readable best-effort); locals without PDB names use byte-preserving type/role-derived names by default.
Annotated Source — C# with hidden-fact comments and interleaved IL.
IL — raw IL, the highest-fidelity view.

Use Annotated Source or IL when exact opcodes, offsets, branches, tokens, or calls matter. One selected Type or Member source payload writes native source by default; add --markdown when document framing is useful. -S @Source is broader and may fetch network PDB Source content when SourceLink is available; the fetch follows host-permitted redirects and returns the body only when it matches the PDB checksum, without treating the final destination as source provenance. --project reads existing restored assets; restore/build first if dependencies changed.

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- type JsonSerializer --package System.Text.Json -S Source
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member JsonSerializer --package System.Text.Json \
  Serialize:1 -S Source
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member JsonSerializer --platform System.Text.Json \
  Serialize:1 -S "Decompiled Source,Annotated Source,IL" --offline
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member JsonSerializer --platform System.Text.Json Serialize:1 -S "Annotated Source"
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- type JsonSerializer --platform System.Text.Json -S "Decompiled Source"
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member Command --project ./src/App Add:1 -S "Decompiled Source,Annotated Source,IL"

Search rendered body shapes

Use the library Body Shapes section when the question is "which public API methods contain this C# syntax?" The query is exact and assembly-scoped: Kind accepts a stable ID such as ObjectCreationExpression, TryStatement, or ElementAccessExpression, not an IR class name or text pattern. Discover the IDs instead of guessing them:

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- vocabulary -S "C# Body Kinds"
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- library MyLib.dll \
  --where "Kind=ObjectCreationExpression" --jsonl
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- library System.Text.Json \
  --where "Kind=TryStatement" --columns "Member;Token;Match" --rows 10
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- library MyLib.dll \
  --where "Kind=InvocationExpression" \
  --where "Finding=analysis.call-site" \
  --where "Shape=sync-call-in-async" --jsonl
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- type JsonDocument \
  --platform System.Text.Json \
  --where "Kind=ObjectCreationExpression" --jsonl
dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member JsonDocument RootElement:1 \
  --platform System.Text.Json \
  --where "Kind=ObjectCreationExpression" --jsonl

Kind=... auto-selects the explicit-only section when no -S selection is present. Results include a round-tripping qualified member selector, MethodDef token, one-based start/end range in the method's rendered C# body, and exact selected text. These are not IL offsets or original source-file coordinates. Bodies below Full fidelity are skipped and reported; add --verbose for per-member detail. At library scope, repeat --where with Performance Triage fields to AND those predicates before decompilation. The query maps matching opportunities through their typed source owner and searches only those MethodDef bodies; select a Performance section separately for the canonical evidence receipt. Performance --top and --order-by do not compose; use --rows to limit Body Shapes output. Without narrowing, the search runs the decompiler for each API-surface candidate body and may be expensive on a large library.

For a counted overview, select -S "Body Shape Summary" with the same Kind predicate. Identical rendered Kind/Match values are grouped before row limits; --columns "Match;Count" gives a compact table. The existing Body Shapes section remains the locatable occurrence view. Column projection never groups rows, and --count counts groups in the summary or occurrences in the detail view after its row window. Both views are available at library, type, and member scope.

Type scope requires one exact type and decompiles only its MethodDef and accessor bodies. Member scope requires one exact member name or selector and decompiles only that member's MethodDef body. Unambiguous methods and single-accessor members are auto-selected; overloaded names require Name:N or Name~digest. A property or event with multiple body accessors requires an accessor selector; use Name~digest:1/Name~digest:2 when the owner is overloaded. Use --all to include non-public type members or select a non-public member.

Readability and taste

--readable-names replaces compiler-style local names such as V_0 where the body provides a stable readable alternative. It is independent of C# taste options. A tool-owned .dotnet-inspectconfig, discovered by walking up from the working directory, selects configured spellings; --taste requests the oracle-endorsed taste set for one invocation. Applied Taste reports which choices actually changed the rendered body.

Explicit local types are the default. Enable any independent var category with csharp_style_var_for_built_in_types = true, csharp_style_var_when_type_is_apparent = true, or csharp_style_var_elsewhere = true. These byte-neutral opt-ins are not part of --taste. Object creation is target-typed by default; set csharp_style_implicit_object_creation_when_type_is_apparent = false to retain the explicit constructed type. A var declaration keeps new T(...) because var x = new() has no target type. Compiler-shaped long constants use uppercase L by default; set dotnet_inspect_style_prefer_long_literal_suffix = false to retain explicit (long)N casts.

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member MyType Method:1 --library MyLib.dll \
  -S "Decompiled Source,Applied Taste" --taste --readable-names

Focusing annotations

By default every hidden fact renders as a trailing // comment. A fact with a long detail can push that comment far off the right edge. --focus promotes matching facts to a ^^^^ underline beneath the statement, wrapped into a readable block:

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member Cache --project ./src/App Pump:1 -S "Annotated Source" --focus allocation

The value matches an annotation category, an exact id, or a dotted-id prefix on a segment boundary (alloc selects alloc.box, not allocator.x). It promotes, it never filters — facts that do not match keep the trailing form, so --focus narrows attention without hiding anything. A focus that matches nothing says so and names the families the member does have.

Fidelity model

The decompiler degrades honestly: IL with no faithful C# spelling renders as a visible comment and lowers the result's fidelity level (Full -> Partial -> StructuredOnly -> IlOnly -> Failed) instead of emitting plausible-but-wrong source, with a stable DEC#### diagnostic on every degradation. Decompiled Source is lowered C#; raw/annotated IL is highest fidelity.

If decompiled output looks wrong, capture Decompiled Source, Annotated Source, PDB Source, Source Diff (via the sourcelink skill), and IL together; maintainers diagnose pipeline state with DecompilerHarness.

Select Fidelity Causes for the typed DEC#### cause census behind that fidelity grade. It distinguishes a Full method (complete, no causes), a method without a body (absent), and a failed inspection.

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- member MyType MyMethod:1 --library MyLib.dll -S "Fidelity Causes"

Locate code by IL offset

dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- library coordinate 0x06000001+0x5 --library Foo.dll

Use library coordinate 0x06000001+0x5 --library Foo.dll (MethodDef token plus IL offset) to compose its default source-location, member, instruction, exception, callsite, and return-address sections. Allocation, safety, and cost are opt-in; request them with -S "Context: Allocation,Context: Safety,Context: Cost". Use library coordinate --file coordinates.txt --library Foo.dll for a sparse file of up to 1,024 significant records; blank and comment lines do not count, and malformed rows remain visible in source-file order. For call edges (what a method calls, who calls it), see the relationships skill.

dotnet-inspect-decompiler