skills README

The project's README from github.com/dotnet/skills. As one markdown file: README.md.

.NET Agent Skills

Dashboard

This repository contains the .NET team's curated set of core skills and custom agents for coding agents. For information about the Agent Skills standard, see agentskills.io.

[!TIP] Compare skill value: Open the Skill Value dashboard See token use, elapsed time, activation, and not-passed rates by plugin, skill, executor model, and judge model.

What's Included

Plugin Description
dotnet C# language server (LSP) integration for coding agents and high-level .NET development skills.
dotnet-advanced Collection of .NET skills for handling specific .NET tasks for special scenarios.
dotnet-data Skills for .NET data access and Entity Framework related tasks.
dotnet-diag Skills for .NET performance investigations, debugging, and incident analysis.
dotnet-msbuild Comprehensive MSBuild and .NET build skills: failure diagnosis, performance optimization, code quality, and modernization.
dotnet-nuget NuGet and .NET package management: dependency management and modernization.
dotnet-upgrade Skills for migrating and upgrading .NET projects across framework versions, language features, and compatibility targets.
dotnet-maui Skills for .NET MAUI development: environment setup, diagnostics, and troubleshooting.
dotnet-ai AI and ML skills for .NET: technology selection, LLM integration, agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, MCP, and classic ML with ML.NET.
dotnet-template-engine .NET Template Engine skills: template discovery, project scaffolding, and template authoring.
dotnet-test Skills for running, generating, analyzing, and improving .NET tests: test execution, filtering, platform detection, coverage, testability, and MSTest workflows.
dotnet-test-migration Skills and an orchestrator agent for migrating .NET test frameworks and platforms: MSTest and xUnit version upgrades, xUnit-to-MSTest conversion, and VSTest to Microsoft.Testing.Platform.
dotnet-aspnetcore ASP.NET Core web development skills including middleware, endpoints, real-time communication, and API patterns.
dotnet-blazor Skills for Blazor development: component authoring, interactivity, and web application patterns.
dotnet11 Skills for new .NET 11 APIs and language features.

Installation

🚀 Plugins - Copilot CLI / Claude Code

  1. Launch Copilot CLI or Claude Code
  2. Add the marketplace:
    /plugin marketplace add dotnet/skills
  3. Install a plugin:
    /plugin install <plugin>@dotnet-agent-skills
  4. Restart to load the new plugins
  5. View available skills:
    /skills
  6. View available agents:
    /agents
  7. Update plugin (on demand):
    /plugin update <plugin>@dotnet-agent-skills

VS Code / VS Code Insiders (Preview)

[!IMPORTANT]
VS Code plugin support is a preview feature and subject to change. You may need to enable it first.

// settings.json
{
  "chat.plugins.enabled": true,
  "chat.plugins.marketplaces": ["dotnet/skills"]
}

Once configured, type /plugins in Copilot Chat or use the @agentPlugins filter in Extensions to browse and install plugins from the marketplace.

Cursor

This repository is a Cursor plugin marketplace. You can discover and install published plugins directly in Cursor:

  1. Open the marketplace panel in Cursor
  2. Search for .NET or browse cursor.com/marketplace
  3. Install the desired plugins

For local development or unpublished changes, import plugins from a local checkout:

  1. Copy or symlink your local checkout to ~/.cursor/plugins/local/dotnet-agent-skills
  2. Restart Cursor or run Developer: Reload Window

Codex CLI

Skills in this repository follow the agentskills.io open standard and are compatible with OpenAI Codex.

Codex CLI v0.121.0 and later supports a plugin marketplace. This repository ships a Codex-native marketplace manifest at .agents/plugins/marketplace.json, so you can register dotnet/skills as a marketplace and install plugins from it directly.

  1. Add the marketplace:
    codex plugin marketplace add dotnet/skills
  2. Launch Codex and open the plugin browser:
    /plugins
  3. Browse the dotnet-agent-skills tab and install the desired plugins.
  4. Update plugins on demand:
    codex plugin marketplace upgrade dotnet-agent-skills

Individual skills

You can also install individual skills using the skill-installer CLI with the GitHub URL:

$ skill-installer install https://github.com/dotnet/skills/tree/main/plugins/<plugin>/skills/<skill-name>

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines and how to add a new plugin.

License

See LICENSE for details.

skills (dotnet/skills)

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5.7K ·GitHub
Skills
What is this?It's the .NET team's curated set of skills and custom agents that plug into AI coding agents, giving them expert help with .NET and C# development tasks.
So what am I actually installing — an app, or something my coding agent picks up?Plugins, not apps. The repo works as a plugin marketplace for coding agents: each plugin bundles skills that follow the agentskills.io open standard, and you install only the ones you need.
How do I get these into my coding agent?In Copilot CLI or Claude Code: add the marketplace, install a plugin, then restart to load it. Cursor has its own marketplace panel, and Codex CLI v0.121.0+ registers the same marketplace natively via .agents/plugins/marketplace.json.
Which coding agents can use it?Copilot CLI, Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenAI Codex are supported. VS Code and VS Code Insiders work too, but only as a preview you may need to enable first.
Any rough edges I should know about before installing?The VS Code plugin support is explicitly a preview — subject to change, and you may need to enable it before plugins show up in Copilot Chat. The CLI agents and Cursor follow the documented marketplace flow.
Will this work on my machine, or is it tied to Visual Studio on Windows?The skills live inside your coding agent, so they work wherever those agents run — Windows, macOS, and Linux builds of Claude Code, Copilot CLI, Codex CLI, Cursor, and VS Code.
What does the base dotnet plugin add to my agent?C# language server (LSP) integration for the coding agent, plus high-level .NET development skills — so the agent can lean on real language tooling.
I maintain an old .NET Framework app — can these skills help modernize it?Yes — dotnet-upgrade covers migration across framework versions, language features, and compatibility targets, and dotnet-test-migration converts xUnit suites to MSTest and moves projects from VSTest to Microsoft.Testing.Platform.
How can I tell if a skill is actually worth its token cost?The repo ships a Skill Value dashboard: token use, elapsed time, activation, and not-passed rates, broken down by plugin, skill, executor model, and judge model.
Does it cover AI development in C#?Yes — the dotnet-ai plugin spans technology selection, LLM integration, agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, MCP, and classic ML with ML.NET.
What are similar projects?superpowers-zh, agents, unity-mcp, awesome-copilot, headroom, skills, compound-engineering-plugin, planning-with-files
Which topics is it in?blazor, migration, marketplace, github-copilot, vscode, dotnet, c#, csharp, cursor, testing, coding-agent, plugin
Creator
dotnet
Size
375.2 MB
Stars
5.7K
Updated
CommitOct 16Releasev1.0.0Apr 21
Age
8mo
Commits · 90 Days