Dotnet Deploy

DevOps & Security

dotnet-deploy

Dotnet Deploy is an Agent Skill for devops & security published in the nixopus/nixopus repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.

Build and deploy .NET applications — ASP.NET Core, version detection, self-contained builds, and Dockerfile patterns. Use when deploying a .NET or C# project, or when a .csproj file is detected.

View on GitHub ↗

QUICK START

How to use this skill

Bring this guide into your coding agent with a prompt tailored to the tool you use.

Open your project in Codex.
Copy and paste the prompt below.
Review files and risks before approving any action.

Prompt to paste

Inspect the Agent Skill at https://github.com/nixopus/nixopus/blob/HEAD/api/skills/dotnet-deploy/SKILL.md and all supporting files. Report provenance, permissions, scripts, dependencies, and security risks. Propose an exact installation into .agents/skills/dotnet-deploy, but wait for my approval before writing files or running scripts.

Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use.

.NET Deployment

Detection

Project is .NET if a *.csproj file exists in the root.

Versions

*.csproj → TargetFramework (e.g. net8.0)
global.json → sdk.version
Defaults to 8.0

Build

Build Process

Restore: dotnet restore
Publish: dotnet publish --no-restore -c Release -o out
Output: ./out/<project_name>.dll or ./out/<project_name>.exe

Start Command

./out/<project_name> or dotnet ./out/<project_name>.dll
Project name from *.csproj filename (e.g. MyApp.csproj → MyApp)

Port Binding

ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://0.0.0.0:${PORT:-3000}

Ensures the app listens on all interfaces.

Runtime Packages

Package	Purpose
`libicu-dev`	Internationalization support

Framework Detection

Signal	Framework
`Microsoft.AspNetCore.App`	ASP.NET Core
`Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web`	Web SDK
`Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Worker`	Worker service
`Microsoft.NET.Sdk`	Console / class library

Install Stage Optimization

Copy project files first for layer caching:

*.csproj, *.sln
global.json, nuget.config, Directory.Build.props, Directory.Packages.props
Then src/

Caching

RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.nuget/packages \
    dotnet restore

Base Images

Stage	Image
Build	`mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0` or `mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0-alpine`
Runtime	`mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0` or `mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/runtime:8.0`

Use ASP.NET runtime for web apps; runtime for console/worker.

Dockerfile Patterns

ASP.NET Core

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY *.csproj ./
RUN dotnet restore
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish --no-restore -c Release -o out

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/out .
ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://0.0.0.0:3000
EXPOSE 3000
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "MyApp.dll"]

Multi-project (sln)

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY *.sln ./
COPY src/ ./src/
RUN dotnet restore
RUN dotnet publish src/MyApp/MyApp.csproj --no-restore -c Release -o out

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/out .
ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://0.0.0.0:3000
EXPOSE 3000
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "MyApp.dll"]

Self-contained (single binary)

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY *.csproj ./
RUN dotnet restore
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish --no-restore -c Release -o out -r linux-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/runtime-deps:8.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/out .
ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://0.0.0.0:3000
EXPOSE 3000
ENTRYPOINT ["./MyApp"]