.NET Essentials
The Visual Studio / Rider experience you miss, inside VS Code. A complete tooling extension for .NET developers.
Features
NuGet Package Manager
- Search packages across multiple sources (nuget.org, Azure Artifacts, GitHub Packages, and any NuGet v3 feed)
- Package detail panel with authors, license, description, tags, and per-framework dependencies
- Outdated package detection with one-click Update All
- Install, remove, and update packages directly from the UI
- Resizable panels
Build, Rebuild & Clean
- Right-click any folder, .csproj, or .sln to Build, Rebuild, or Clean
Ctrl+Shift+B builds the solution from anywhere- Output streamed to the
.NET Essentials output channel
New Item Templates
- Class, Interface, Enum, Record
- Controller (API), Service, Repository, Middleware
- Namespace inferred automatically from folder path
New Project (dotnet new)
- 12 project templates: Console, Web API, MVC, Class Library, Blazor, Worker, gRPC, xUnit, NUnit, MSTest, Minimal API
- Optionally adds the new project to your solution automatically
Project References
- Add Project Reference — shows only unreferenced projects (multi-select)
- Remove Project Reference — shows existing references for removal
EF Core Migrations
- Add Migration, Update Database, Remove Migration — all from the context menu
- Auto-detects
DbContext classes in the project
- Prompts for startup project when no
IDesignTimeDbContextFactory is found
- Auto-installs
dotnet-ef global tool if not present
User Secrets
- Opens
secrets.json directly in the editor
- Initializes
UserSecretsId automatically if the project doesn't have one
Launch Profiles
Run Project reads launchSettings.json and lets you pick the profile (http, https, IIS Express, etc.)
Publish
- Choose configuration (Release/Debug), framework-dependent or self-contained, and runtime identifier
Workspace Configuration (auto-applied)
- File nesting for
appsettings.*.json, .csproj and .sln related files
- Hides
bin/ and obj/ folders automatically
- Applies Rider-style icon theme for
.cs, .csproj, .sln, .cshtml, .json files
Status Bar
- Displays the active solution or project name
- Click to build
Requirements
- .NET SDK installed and available on PATH
- For EF Core commands:
dotnet-ef global tool (the extension offers to install it automatically)
| Context |
Actions |
| Folder |
Build, Rebuild, Clean, New Item |
.csproj |
Build, Rebuild, Clean, New Item, Add Reference, Remove Reference, Manage NuGet, EF: Add Migration, EF: Update Database, EF: Remove Migration, Manage User Secrets |
.sln |
Build Solution, Rebuild Solution, Clean Solution |
Extension Settings
No configuration required. Workspace settings (file nesting, excludes, icon theme) are applied automatically when a .sln or .csproj is detected.
| |
