What's new in the SDK and tooling for .NET 10

This article describes new features and enhancements in the .NET SDK for .NET 10. It's updated for Preview 3.

Pruning of framework-provided package references

Starting in .NET 10, the NuGet Audit feature can now prune framework-provided package references that aren't used by the project. This feature is enabled by default for all net target frameworks (for example, net8.0 and net10.0) and .NET Standard 2.0 and greater target frameworks. This change helps reduce the number of packages that are restored and analyzed during the build process, which can lead to faster build times and reduced disk space usage. It also can lead to a reduction in false positives from NuGet Audit and other dependency-scanning mechanisms.

When this feature is enabled, you may see a reduction in the contents of your applications' generated .deps.json files. Any package references supplied by the .NET runtime are automatically removed from the generated dependency file.

While this feature is enabled by default for the listed TFMs, you can disable it by setting the RestoreEnablePackagePruning property to false in your project file or Directory.Build.props file.

More consistent command order

Starting in .NET 10, the dotnet CLI tool includes new aliases for common commands to make them easier to remember and type. The new commands are shown in the following table.

The new noun-first forms align with general CLI standards, making the dotnet CLI more consistent with other tools. While the verb-first forms continue to work, it's better to use the noun-first forms for improved readability and consistency in scripts and documentation.

CLI commands default to interactive mode in interactive terminals

The --interactive flag is now enabled by default for CLI commands in interactive terminals. This change allows commands to dynamically retrieve credentials or perform other interactive behaviors without requiring the flag to be explicitly set. For noninteractive scenarios, you can disable interactivity by specifying --interactive false.

Native shell tab-completion scripts

The dotnet CLI now supports generating native tab-completion scripts for popular shells using the dotnet completions generate [SHELL] command. Supported shells include bash, fish, nushell, powershell, and zsh. These scripts improve usability by providing faster and more integrated tab-completion features. For example, in PowerShell, you can enable completions by adding the following to your $PROFILE:

dotnet completions script pwsh | out-String | Invoke-Expression -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Console apps can natively create container images

Console apps can now create container images via dotnet publish /t:PublishContainer without requiring the <EnableSdkContainerSupport> property in the project file. This aligns console apps with the behavior of ASP.NET Core and Worker SDK apps.

Explicitly control the image format of containers

A new <ContainerImageFormat> property allows you to explicitly set the format of container images to either Docker or OCI. This property overrides the default behavior, which depends on the base image format and whether the container is multi-architecture.

Support for Microsoft Testing Platform in dotnet test

Starting in .NET 10, dotnet test natively supports the Microsoft.Testing.Platform. To enable this feature, add the following configuration to your dotnet.config file:

[dotnet.test:runner]
name = "Microsoft.Testing.Platform"

For more details, see Testing with dotnet test.