Topic: skills
17,247 skills in this topic.
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msbuild-modernization
Guide for modernizing and migrating MSBuild project files to SDK-style format. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. 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, <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)">, .csproj files > 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. INVOKES: dotnet try-convert, upgrade-assistant tools.
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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optimizing-ef-core-queries
Optimize Entity Framework Core queries by fixing N+1 problems, choosing correct tracking modes, using compiled queries, and avoiding common performance traps. Use when EF Core queries are slow, generating excessive SQL, or causing high database load.
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dotnet-managedcode-communication
Use ManagedCode.Communication when a .NET application needs explicit result objects, structured errors, and predictable service or API boundaries instead of exception-driven control flow.
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maui-theming
Guide for theming .NET MAUI apps — light/dark mode via AppThemeBinding, ResourceDictionary theme switching, DynamicResource bindings, system theme detection, and user theme preferences. Use when: "dark mode", "light mode", "theming", "AppThemeBinding", "theme switching", "ResourceDictionary theme", "dynamic resources", "system theme detection", "color scheme", "app theme", "DynamicResource". Do not use for: localization or language switching (see .NET MAUI localization documentation), accessibility visual adjustments (see .NET MAUI accessibility documentation), app icons or splash screens (see .NET MAUI app icons documentation), or Bootstrap-style class theming (see Plugin.Maui.BootstrapTheme NuGet package).
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exp-assertion-quality
Analyzes the variety and depth of assertions across .NET test suites. Use when the user asks to evaluate assertion quality, find shallow testing, identify tests with only trivial assertions, measure assertion coverage diversity, or audit whether tests verify different facets of correctness. Produces metrics and actionable recommendations. Works with MSTest, xUnit, NUnit, and TUnit. DO NOT USE FOR: writing new tests (use writing-mstest-tests), detecting anti-patterns (use test-anti-patterns), or fixing existing assertions.
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dotnet-eslint
Use ESLint in .NET repositories that ship JavaScript, TypeScript, React, or other Node-based frontend assets. Use when a repo needs a configurable CLI lint gate for frontend correctness, import hygiene, unsafe patterns, or framework-specific rules.
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maui-safe-area
.NET MAUI safe area and edge-to-edge layout guidance for .NET 10+. Covers the new SafeAreaEdges property, SafeAreaRegions enum, per-edge control, keyboard avoidance, Blazor Hybrid CSS safe areas, migration from legacy iOS-only APIs, and platform-specific behavior for Android, iOS, and Mac Catalyst. USE FOR: "safe area", "edge-to-edge", "SafeAreaEdges", "SafeAreaRegions", "keyboard avoidance", "notch insets", "status bar overlap", "iOS safe area", "Android edge-to-edge", "content behind status bar", "UseSafeArea migration", "soft input keyboard", "IgnoreSafeArea replacement". DO NOT USE FOR: general layout or grid design (use Grid and StackLayout), app lifecycle handling (use maui-app-lifecycle), theming or styling (use maui-theming), or Shell navigation structure.
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build-perf-diagnostics
Diagnose MSBuild build performance bottlenecks using binary log analysis. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. USE FOR: identifying why builds are slow by analyzing binlog performance summaries, detecting ResolveAssemblyReference (RAR) taking >5s, Roslyn analyzers consuming >30% of Csc time, single targets dominating >50% of build time, node utilization below 80%, excessive Copy tasks, NuGet restore running every build. Covers timeline analysis, Target/Task Performance Summary interpretation, and 7 common bottleneck categories. Use after build-perf-baseline has established measurements. DO NOT USE FOR: establishing initial baselines (use build-perf-baseline first), fixing incremental build issues (use incremental-build), parallelism tuning (use build-parallelism), non-MSBuild build systems. INVOKES: dotnet msbuild binlog replay with performancesummary, grep for analysis.
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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dotnet-winforms
Build, maintain, or modernize Windows Forms applications with practical guidance on designer-driven UI, event handling, data binding, MVP separation, and migration to modern .NET. Use when working on WinForms projects or migrating from .NET Framework.
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dotnet-azure-functions
Build, review, or migrate Azure Functions in .NET with correct execution model, isolated worker setup, bindings, DI, and Durable Functions patterns.
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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dotnet-maui-doctor
Diagnoses and fixes .NET MAUI development environment issues. Validates .NET SDK, workloads, Java JDK, Android SDK, Xcode, and Windows SDK. All version requirements discovered dynamically from NuGet WorkloadDependencies.json — never hardcoded. Use when: setting up MAUI development, build errors mentioning SDK/workload/JDK/Android, "Android SDK not found", "Java version" errors, "Xcode not found", environment verification after updates, or any MAUI toolchain issues. Do not use for: non-MAUI .NET projects, Xamarin.Forms apps, runtime app crashes unrelated to environment setup, or app store publishing issues. Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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dotnet-stylelint
Use Stylelint in .NET repositories that ship CSS, SCSS, or other stylesheet assets alongside web frontends. Use when a repo needs a dedicated CLI lint gate for selectors, properties, duplicate styles, naming conventions, or design-system rule enforcement.
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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dotnet-test-frameworks
Reference data for .NET test framework detection patterns, assertion APIs, skip annotations, setup/teardown methods, and common test smell indicators across MSTest, xUnit, NUnit, and TUnit. DO NOT USE directly — loaded by test analysis skills (test-anti-patterns, exp-test-smell-detection, exp-assertion-quality, exp-test-maintainability, exp-test-tagging) when they need framework-specific lookup tables.
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dotnet-webhint
Use webhint in .NET repositories that ship browser-facing frontends. Use when a repo needs CLI audits for accessibility, performance, security headers, PWA signals, SEO, or runtime page quality against a served site or built frontend output.
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maui-app-lifecycle
.NET MAUI app lifecycle guidance — the four app states, cross-platform Window lifecycle events (Created, Activated, Deactivated, Stopped, Resumed, Destroying), platform-specific lifecycle mapping, backgrounding and resume behavior, and state-preservation patterns. USE FOR: "app lifecycle", "window lifecycle events", "save state on background", "resume app", "OnStopped", "OnResumed", "backgrounding", "deactivated event", "ConfigureLifecycleEvents", "platform lifecycle hooks". DO NOT USE FOR: navigation events (use maui-shell-navigation), dependency injection setup (use maui-dependency-injection), platform API invocation (use conditional compilation and partial classes).
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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dotnet-blazor
Build and review Blazor applications across server, WebAssembly, web app, and hybrid scenarios with correct component design, state flow, rendering, and hosting choices.
managedcode/dotnet-skills 302
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clr-activation-debugging
Diagnoses .NET Framework CLR activation issues using CLR activation logs (CLRLoad logs) produced by mscoree.dll. Use when: the shim picks the wrong runtime, fails to load any runtime, shows unexpected .NET 3.5 Feature-on-Demand (FOD) dialogs, unexpectedly does NOT show FOD dialogs, loads both v2 and v4 into the same process causing failures, or any time someone is wondering "what is happening with .NET Framework activation?"
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binlog-generation
Generate MSBuild binary logs (binlogs) for build diagnostics and analysis. Only activate in MSBuild/.NET build context. USE FOR: adding /bl:{} to any dotnet build, test, pack, publish, or restore command to capture a full build execution trace, prerequisite for binlog-failure-analysis and build-perf-diagnostics skills, enabling post-build investigation of errors or performance. Requires MSBuild 17.8+ / .NET 8 SDK+ for {} placeholder; PowerShell needs -bl:{{}}. DO NOT USE FOR: non-MSBuild build systems (npm, Maven, CMake), analyzing an existing binlog (use binlog-failure-analysis instead). INVOKES: shell commands (dotnet build /bl:{}).
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exp-dotnet-test-frameworks
Reference data for .NET test framework detection patterns, assertion APIs, skip annotations, setup/teardown methods, and common test smell indicators across MSTest, xUnit, NUnit, and TUnit. DO NOT USE directly — loaded by test analysis skills (exp-test-smell-detection, exp-assertion-quality, exp-test-maintainability, exp-test-tagging) when they need framework-specific lookup tables.
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platform-detection
Reference data for detecting the test platform (VSTest vs Microsoft.Testing.Platform) and test framework (MSTest, xUnit, NUnit, TUnit) from project files. DO NOT USE directly — loaded by run-tests, mtp-hot-reload, and migrate-vstest-to-mtp when they need detection logic.
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maui-shell-navigation
Guide for implementing Shell-based navigation in .NET MAUI apps. Covers AppShell setup, visual hierarchy (FlyoutItem, TabBar, Tab, ShellContent), URI-based navigation with GoToAsync, route registration, query parameters, back navigation, flyout and tab configuration, navigation events, and navigation guards. Use when: setting up Shell navigation, adding tabs or flyout menus, navigating between pages with GoToAsync, passing parameters between pages, registering routes, customizing back button behavior, or guarding navigation with confirmation dialogs. Do not use for: deep linking from external URLs (see .NET MAUI deep linking documentation), data binding on pages (use maui-data-binding), dependency injection setup (use maui-dependency-injection), or NavigationPage-only apps that don't use Shell.
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run-tests
Runs .NET tests with dotnet test. Use when user says "run tests", "execute tests", "dotnet test", "test filter", "filter by category", "filter by class", "run only specific tests", "tests not running", "hang timeout", "blame-hang", "blame-crash", "TUnit", "treenode-filter", or needs to detect the test platform (VSTest or Microsoft.Testing.Platform), identify the test framework, apply test filters, or troubleshoot test execution failures. Covers MSTest, xUnit, NUnit, and TUnit across both VSTest and MTP platforms. Also use for --filter-class, --filter-trait, and other framework-specific filter syntax. DO NOT USE FOR: writing or generating test code, CI/CD pipeline configuration, or debugging failing test logic.
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nuget-trusted-publishing
Set up NuGet trusted publishing (OIDC) on a GitHub Actions repo — replaces long-lived API keys with short-lived tokens. USE FOR: trusted publishing, NuGet OIDC, keyless NuGet publish, migrate from NuGet API key, NuGet/login, secure NuGet publishing. DO NOT USE FOR: publishing to private feeds or Azure Artifacts (OIDC is nuget.org only). INVOKES: shell (powershell or bash), edit, create, ask_user for guided repo setup.
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migrate-mstest-v1v2-to-v3
Migrate MSTest v1 or v2 test project to MSTest v3. Use when user says "upgrade MSTest", "upgrade to MSTest v3", "migrate to MSTest v3", "update test framework", "modernize tests", "MSTest v3 migration", "MSTest compatibility", "MSTest v2 to v3", or build errors after updating MSTest packages from 1.x/2.x to 3.x. USE FOR: upgrading from MSTest v1 assembly references (Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework) or MSTest v2 NuGet (MSTest.TestFramework 1.x-2.x) to MSTest v3, fixing assertion overload errors (AreEqual/AreNotEqual), updating DataRow constructors, replacing .testsettings with .runsettings, timeout behavior changes, target framework compatibility (.NET 5 dropped -- use .NET 6+; .NET Fx older than 4.6.2 dropped), adopting MSTest.Sdk. First step toward MSTest v4 -- after this, use migrate-mstest-v3-to-v4. DO NOT USE FOR: migrating to MSTest v4 (use migrate-mstest-v3-to-v4), migrating between frameworks (MSTest to xUnit/NUnit), or general .NET upgrades unrelated to MSTest.
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