Browse skills

Remove repeated NuGet restores from multi-step .NET builds safely. USE FOR: build/test/publish steps that each restore, Directory.Build.rsp with -restore, safe restore suppression, NETSDK1004/NETSDK1047 after --no-restore. DO NOT USE FOR: slow first restore, only one restore, version or lock errors, unranked build slowness (use build-perf-baseline).

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Assess tests for an identified code or test change, feature, PR or commit. USE FOR: review changed behavior or regression tests, prove pre-fix/missing behavior is detected, revision-bound red-green evidence. Polyglot. DO NOT USE without an identified change: hypothetical mutations or general suite blind spots (test-gap-analysis). Also exclude per-test readiness/A-F grades (grade-tests), coverage (coverage-analysis), new suites (code-testing), or mutation engines.

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Provides guidance on the new System.Diagnostics.Process APIs introduced in .NET 11: Process.Run, Process.RunAndCaptureText, Process.StartAndForget, Process.ReadAllText/Bytes/Lines, KillOnParentExit, InheritedHandles, and StartDetached. USE FOR: starting, orchestrating, or capturing output from external processes in applications targeting net11.0 or later. DO NOT USE FOR: applications targeting .NET 10 or earlier, or basic pre-.NET 11 Process.Start usage without new APIs.

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Route C# and .NET requests to the exact installed specialist or smallest dotnet/skills marketplace plugin. USE FOR: "which specialist should own this" or "how do I add the skill" requests involving ASP.NET Core endpoints, Blazor, MAUI binding, Windows Forms specialist selection or installation, EF Core queries, test or framework migration, runtime CPU/allocation evidence, file-based C#, editor/compiler defects, a surviving MSBuild `.binlog`, or a plugin missing from `/skills`; also use for C# semantics when no narrower specialist exists. DO NOT USE FOR: requests that already name the exact installed specialist to invoke, or work unrelated to C# or .NET.

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ALWAYS USE for test work that requires changes: write, add, generate, repair, or strengthen tests for existing code in xUnit, MSTest, NUnit, pytest, Vitest/Jest, Go, or another framework. Includes regression cases, failing or flaky tests, coverage-driven additions, and audit-then-fix requests. Focused work stays direct; broad or multi-stage work invokes test-engineer. DO NOT USE for only running tests, analysis-only audits, framework/platform migrations, a test blocked on a missing production seam (testability-obstacle), or MSTest API/configuration corrections that do not design new cases (writing-mstest-tests). Within an active test-engineer pipeline, reuse supplied guidance and do not re-enter this skill.

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

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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).

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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.

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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.

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Scaffolds eval.yaml evaluation specs for skills, custom agents, and redistributable gh-aw workflow packages in the dotnet/skills repository. Use when creating skill or workflow-package 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).

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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).

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Legacy compatibility alias for the code-testing skill. Do not self-activate for user requests and do not treat this name as a custom agent. When invoked explicitly by older instructions, load code-testing and follow it instead.

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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.

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Imperative guidance for the System.Text.Json APIs added in .NET 11: the built-in `JsonNamingPolicy.PascalCase` naming policy, and the strongly-typed generic `JsonSerializerOptions.GetTypeInfo` and `JsonSerializerOptions.TryGetTypeInfo` metadata accessors (generic overloads that return a typed `JsonTypeInfo`). 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 generic `JsonTypeInfo` 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.

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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.

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Safely refactors C#/.NET code without changing behavior. USE FOR any request to refactor, rename, move, extract, inline, merge, consolidate, deduplicate, split, or modernize C# code, including partial/generated declarations, wrappers, public APIs, serialization/reflection/configuration names, friend assemblies, conditional compilation, and multi-targeted projects. Also use when a request calls a feature, bug fix, package/framework upgrade, or public nullability change a refactor and the behavior-changing part must be separated or declined. DO NOT USE FOR ordinary feature or bug fixes not presented as refactoring; standalone upgrades after reclassification (use dotnet-upgrade); adding tests; or formatting-only work.

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Diagnose and fix concrete MSBuild property defects in projects and existing shared-file hierarchies. USE FOR: conditions, defaults, append versus overwrite, last-write-wins values, OS/TFM checks, portable paths, normalization, and reviews centered on those property defects. Property defects in Directory.Build.* remain in scope, including overwritten values across parent/child imports and conditions that run before TargetFramework is set, even when the fix changes import order or moves a property group to .targets. DO NOT USE FOR: placement-only or import-only requests with no concrete property defect, such as discovering shared files or choosing which file owns a target or customization (use directory-build-organization); item operations; target structure; broad reviews without a concrete property defect; non-MSBuild work.

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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.

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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).

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Use only for MSBuild failure investigation, build-performance analysis, or review of existing build XML/extension contracts. A plan to convert a working legacy/non-SDK project to SDK style or migrate packages.config is a project-system migration, NOT a build-file review: do not activate, even to check scope. Framework/API upgrades are also excluded. Activate for advisory Import/Exists hook and NuGet packed-import questions even without a checkout or failed build; .csproj/.fsproj/.vbproj/.props/.targets conditions; custom-target inputs/outputs; .binlog capture/replay; failing dotnet build/restore/pack/publish or MSBuild-based test builds; slow evaluation, compilation, copying, or no-change builds; and controlled timing comparisons. Exclude SDK installation alone, C# refactoring, runtime profiling, assertions after successful builds, and non-MSBuild builds.

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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.

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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 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.

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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, an Import of Microsoft.CSharp.targets via $(MSBuildToolsPath), .csproj files over 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.

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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.

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