.NET Dependencies

Investigate and manage .NET project dependencies using built-in dotnet CLI commands.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke when the user needs to:

• Understand why a specific NuGet package is included
• List all project dependencies (NuGet packages or project references)
• Find outdated or vulnerable packages
• Trace transitive dependencies

Quick Reference

Investigate Package Dependencies

To understand why a package is included in your project:

# Why is this package included?
dotnet nuget why Newtonsoft.Json

# For a specific project
dotnet nuget why path/to/Project.csproj Newtonsoft.Json

# For a specific framework
dotnet nuget why Newtonsoft.Json --framework net8.0

Output shows the complete dependency chain from your project to the package.

List NuGet Packages

# Direct dependencies only
dotnet list package

# Include transitive (indirect) dependencies
dotnet list package --include-transitive

# For a specific project
dotnet list package --project path/to/Project.csproj

# JSON output for scripting
dotnet list package --format json

List Project References

# List project-to-project references
dotnet list reference --project path/to/Project.csproj

Transitive Project References

No built-in command shows transitive project dependencies. To find if Project A depends on Project B transitively:

1. Recursive approach: Run dotnet list reference on each referenced project
2. Parse .csproj files: Search for <ProjectReference> elements recursively:

# Find all ProjectReference elements
grep -r "ProjectReference" --include="*.csproj" .

Update Dependencies

Using dotnet outdated (Third-party)

If installed (dotnet tool install -g dotnet-outdated-tool):

# Check for outdated packages
dotnet outdated

# Auto-update to latest versions
dotnet outdated -u

# Update only specific packages
dotnet outdated -u -inc PackageName

Using built-in commands

# Check for outdated packages
dotnet list package --outdated

# Include prerelease versions
dotnet list package --outdated --include-prerelease

Progressive Disclosure

For security auditing (vulnerable, deprecated, outdated packages), load references/security-audit.md.

References

• dotnet nuget why
• dotnet list reference
• dotnet list package