.NET Agent Skills

What is .NET Agent Skills?

.NET Agent Skills is a GitHub repository from the .NET team that bundles portable skills, MCP servers and host-specific custom agents for AI coding assistants. The skills follow the Agent Skills standard, so they work in GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Code, VS Code, Cursor and Codex CLI. The repository groups them into plugins for general .NET development, MSBuild and build diagnosis, NuGet package management, Entity Framework data access, performance diagnostics, project upgrades, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, Windows Forms, .NET MAUI, AI and ML work, testing and the new .NET 11 APIs. A dashboard compares token use, elapsed time and activation rates by skill and model. You install a plugin from the dotnet/skills marketplace with a single command, then list skills with /skills. The repository shows no pricing, and licensing details sit in its LICENSE file.

Use cases

• Diagnose MSBuild and .NET build failures
• Upgrade a project to a newer .NET version
• Generate and analyze .NET tests
• Manage NuGet package dependencies
• Build Blazor and ASP.NET Core features
• Investigate .NET performance problems
• Migrate from xUnit to MSTest

Who it's for

• .NET developers
• C# teams
• Engineering leads
• Open-source contributors

Why use .NET Agent Skills

• The skills come from the .NET team itself, so the guidance targets real .NET workflows.
• One marketplace feeds several coding agents, so a team does not rebuild the same prompts per tool.
• Plugins are split by topic, which lets you install only what your project needs.
• A public dashboard shows token use, elapsed time and activation rates for each skill.
• Installation takes a marketplace add plus a plugin install command.

.NET Agent Skills features

• Portable skills based on the Agent Skills standard
• Plugins for MSBuild, NuGet, EF data access and diagnostics
• Plugins for ASP.NET Core, Blazor, WinForms and .NET MAUI
• Test plugins for running, generating and migrating tests
• Upgrade skills across framework versions and language features
• AI and ML skills covering LLM integration, RAG, MCP and ML.NET
• C# language server (LSP) integration for supported hosts
• GitHub Agentic Workflows collection
• Skill Value dashboard for token use and activation rates

.NET Agent Skills integrations

• GitHub Copilot CLI
• Claude Code
• VS Code
• Cursor
• OpenAI Codex CLI
• GitHub Agentic Workflows
• MSTest
• xUnit
• NuGet
• ML.NET

How to get started with .NET Agent Skills

1. Open Copilot CLI or Claude Code and add the marketplace with /plugin marketplace add dotnet/skills.
2. Install a plugin with /plugin install and restart the host to load it.
3. Run /skills or /agents to see the skills and agents now available.
4. Ask your coding agent to work on .NET tasks, and update the plugins on demand when new versions arrive.

.NET Agent Skills limitations

• Custom agent files use GitHub Copilot conventions and are not installed as native Codex agents
• Plugin support varies by host, and VS Code plugin support is a preview feature
• Codex plugin installs do not expose the Copilot agent files or LSP declarations
• The repository shows no pricing and points to a LICENSE file for terms

.NET Agent Skills pricing

.NET Agent Skills is open source, so you can use and self-host it for free.

Prices can change and may vary by country or exclude tax. Check the official pricing page.

.NET Agent Skills alternatives

The main .NET Agent Skills alternatives listed on Debuly are Continue, Aider, Decipher, Potpie, Cline and GoCodeo. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

1. Ai

   Aider

   Open-source AI pair programming tool that runs in your terminal and edits code in your local git repository using the LLM you choose.

   CodingDeveloper platforms
   Open sourceVisit Aider (official site)
2. 

   Cline

   Open-source AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, the terminal and desktop that edits files and runs commands with your approval.

   CodingDeveloper platformsAutomation and agents
   Open sourceVisit Cline (official site)
3. 

   Continue

   Open-source AI coding assistant for VS Code and JetBrains with chat, agent, edit and autocomplete modes, now part of Cursor.

   CodingDeveloper platforms
   Open sourceVisit Continue (official site)
4. De

   Decipher

   AI-assisted testing and monitoring for web apps, with session replays, error alerts and user behavior insights.

   CodingDeveloper platformsAutomation and agents
   Visit Decipher (official site)
5. 

   GoCodeo

   AI coding agent for VS Code that builds apps, answers code questions and generates tests, with a free plan and paid tiers from $9 a month.

   CodingDeveloper platformsAutomation and agents
   FreemiumVisit GoCodeo (official site)
6. 

   Potpie

   Open-source platform that maps your codebase into a context graph and runs AI engineering agents on it, self-hosted or in your VPC.

   CodingDeveloper platformsAutomation and agents
   FreemiumVisit Potpie (official site)

.NET Agent Skills FAQ

Sources & verification

Facts on this page come from the official sources below, each with the date we read it. Written by Debuly; the vendor did not review this page.

Image credits

• Logo: from avatars.githubusercontent.com · fetched 24 Oct 2026 · Vendor trademark, used only to identify the product; removed on request
• Cover: none collected yet, so a generated tile is shown.

Spot an error? Report an issue with this listing. We also remove a logo or image on the owner's request.