.NET nanoFramework Visual Studio Extension

The .NET nanoFramework Visual Studio extension provides the required tools to allow C# developers to code, deploy to .NET nanoFramework target boards and debug applications running right on the target device.

What is .NET nanoFramework?

.NET nanoFramework is an open-source platform that enables the writing of managed code applications for constrained embedded devices like IoT sensors, wearables, academic proof of concept, robotics, hobbyist/makers creations or even complex industrial equipment.

Developers can harness a powerful and familiar Microsoft Visual Studio IDE and their .NET C# knowledge to quickly write code without having to worry about the low-level hardware intricacies of a microcontroller. Desktop .NET developers will feel at home and are able to use their skills in embedded systems, enlarging the pool of qualified embedded developers.

It includes a reduced version of the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) and features a subset of the .NET base class libraries along with the most common APIs included in .NET IoT allowing code reuse from .NET IoT applications, thousands of code examples and open source projects. Using Microsoft Visual Studio, a developer can deploy and debug the code directly on the real hardware.

Supported platforms

We currently have support for ARM Cortex-M cores and Xtensa LX6 and LX7 (Espressif ESP32 and ESP32_S2). We have reference targets for several STM32 Nucleo and Discovery boards, ESP32 and ESP32_S2 boards, Texas Instruments CC3220 and CC1352 and also for NXP MIMXRT1060.

Starting a new project

A debugging session in progress

You can find out more in the project GitHub here.

To report issues go to our issue tracker on GitHub here.

For conversations, sharing ideas and support please join our Discord community here.

Please note that we also offer a VS extension compatible with VS2017 and another compatible with VS2022.