Remove duplicated profiles block from empty C# AppHost aspire.config.json

[mitchdenny]

Description

Fixes #17660.

The embedded CLI template src/Aspire.Cli/Templating/Templates/empty-apphost/aspire.config.json shipped a profiles block that duplicated the content already in apphost.run.json. The canonical template at src/Aspire.ProjectTemplates/templates/aspire-apphost-singlefile/aspire.config.json intentionally has no profiles (per @DamianEdwards in the issue): aspire run / dotnet run apphost.cs / C# Dev Kit honor apphost.run.json when present, so aspire.config.json for the C# Empty template should only carry:

{ "appHost": { "path": "apphost.cs" } }

This was a regression introduced in the 13.4 cycle. In 13.3.5 only aspire.config.json was emitted; once apphost.run.json was added the embedded template was not trimmed to remove the now-duplicated profiles.

Changes

• src/Aspire.Cli/Templating/Templates/empty-apphost/aspire.config.json — removed the profiles block.
• tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Commands/NewCommandTests.cs — three tests previously asserted the duplicated content:
  • The two …EmitsAppHostRunJson… tests now assert aspire.config.json has no profiles block and that it pins appHost.path = "apphost.cs", while apphost.run.json carries the launch URLs (plain localhost and dev.localhost variants).
  • The …PromptsForLocalhostTld… test now asserts the dev-localhost URL lives in apphost.run.json and is absent from aspire.config.json.
  • Removed the obsolete AssertHttpsApplicationUrlMatches helper.

Safety

• DotNetAppHostProject reads apphost.run.json first and only falls back to aspire.config.json#profiles when apphost.run.json is missing, so removing profiles from a template that ships apphost.run.json is safe at runtime.
• ApplyLocalhostTldToScaffoldedRunProfileAsync only runs for non-C# scaffolded templates (TypeScript / Python); the C# path applies tokens via ApplyAllTokens to all files including apphost.run.json, so the localhost-TLD substitution still lands in the right file.
• E2E coverage already exists: tests/Aspire.Cli.EndToEnd.Tests/EmptyAppHostTemplateTests.CreateAndRunEmptyAppHostProject runs aspire new (C# Empty) → aspire start --format json → curls the dashboard URL for HTTP 200 → aspire stop. If the new layout broke startup it would catch it.
• Existing projects on disk are not modified; this only affects newly-scaffolded projects.

Tested

• All 77 NewCommandTests pass locally.
• All 50 NewCommandTemplateConfigPersistenceTests + NewCommandChannelResolutionTests pass locally.

Microsoft Reviewers: Open in CodeFlow

[github-actions]

🚀 Dogfood this PR with:

⚠️ WARNING: Do not do this without first carefully reviewing the code of this PR to satisfy yourself it is safe.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.sh | bash -s -- 17781

Or

• Run remotely in PowerShell:

iex "& { $(irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.ps1) } 17781"

[github-actions]

❓ CLI E2E Tests unknown — 110 passed, 0 failed, 2 unknown (commit 2e47d53)

View all recordings

Status	Test	Recording	Job	Artifacts
✅	AddPackageInteractiveWhileAppHostRunningDetached	Recording	#78793326181	Logs
✅	AddPackageWhileAppHostRunningDetached	Recording	#78793326181	Logs
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✅	AgentMcpListStructuredLogsReturnsLogsFromStarterApp_DevLocalhost	Recording	#78793326493	Logs
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✅	AspireUpdateRemovesAppHostPackageVersionFromDirectoryPackagesProps	Recording	#78793326482	Logs
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✅	CreateTypeScriptAppHostWithViteApp_AllowsGuestAppPackageManagerToDiffer	Recording	#78793326745	Logs
✅	CreateTypeScriptAppHostWithViteApp_UsesConfiguredToolchain	Recording	#78793326745	Logs
✅	DashboardRunWithAgentMcpListTracesReturnsNoTraces	Recording	#78793326216	Logs
✅	DashboardRunWithAgentMcpListTracesReturnsNoTraces_DevLocalhost	Recording	#78793326216	Logs
✅	DashboardRunWithOtelTracesReturnsNoTraces	Recording	#78793326216	Logs
✅	DashboardRunWithOtelTracesReturnsNoTraces_DevLocalhost	Recording	#78793326216	Logs
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✅	DocsCommand_RendersInteractiveMarkdownFromLocalSource	Recording	#78793326747	Logs
✅	DoctorCommand_DetectsDeprecatedAgentConfig	Recording	#78793326426	Logs
✅	DoctorCommand_TypeScriptAppHostReportsMissingConfiguredToolchain	Recording	#78793326443	Logs
✅	DoctorCommand_WithSslCertDir_ShowsTrusted	Recording	#78793326443	Logs
✅	DoctorCommand_WithoutSslCertDir_ShowsPartiallyTrusted	Recording	#78793326443	Logs
✅	GatewayWithoutExternalEndpoint_FailsPublishWithGuidance	Recording	#78793326146	Logs
✅	GeneratedAspireDevScript_StartsWatchMode_WithConfiguredToolchain	Recording	#78793326745	Logs
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❔	UpdateProjectChannelToStable_CSharpEmptyAppHost_PreservesAspireConfigChannel	Recording	#78793326691	Logs
✅	UpdateProjectChannelToStable_CSharpSingleFileInit_PreservesAspireConfigChannel	Recording	#78793326691	Logs
✅	UpdateProjectChannelToStable_TypeScriptSingleFileInit_PreservesAspireConfigChannel	Recording	#78793326691	Logs
✅	UpdateProjectChannelToStable_TypeScript_PreviewsStablePackagesAndPreservesChannel	Recording	#78793326691	Logs

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_{📹 Recordings uploaded automatically from CI run #26736967130}

[mitchdenny]

PR #17781 Testing Report

PR Information

• PR Number: Remove duplicated profiles block from empty C# AppHost aspire.config.json #17781
• Title: Remove duplicated profiles block from empty C# AppHost aspire.config.json
• Head Commit: 2e47d53c5f391fa42415a0c219f7d3020b8d1bff
• Tested At: 2026-06-01 (local, macOS arm64)
• Fixes: [AspireE2E] Some content are duplicate in the apphost.run.json and aspire.config.json files of Aspire Empty C# (.NET) project #17660

CLI Version Verification

• Expected Commit: 2e47d53c
• Installed Version: 13.5.0-pr.17781.g2e47d53c
• Status: ✅ Verified — installed CLI matches the PR's head commit.

Changes Analyzed

Files Changed

• src/Aspire.Cli/Templating/Templates/empty-apphost/aspire.config.json — removed the profiles block; file is now just { "appHost": { "path": "apphost.cs" } }.
• tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Commands/NewCommandTests.cs — three tests updated to assert the new shape; obsolete AssertHttpsApplicationUrlMatches helper removed.

Change Categories

• CLI changes (embedded template content)
• Hosting integration changes
• Dashboard changes
• Test changes
• Aspire.ProjectTemplates changes
• Client/Component changes

Test Scenarios Executed

Scenario 1: Plain aspire new aspire-empty (C#, --localhost-tld false)

Objective: Confirm the generated aspire.config.json no longer carries a profiles block, while apphost.run.json still owns the launch profiles with plain localhost URLs.
Coverage Type: Happy path
Status: ✅ Passed

Steps:

1. aspire new aspire-empty --name PlainLocalhostApp --output … --language csharp --localhost-tld false --suppress-agent-init --non-interactive
2. Inspected aspire.config.json and apphost.run.json.

Evidence — aspire.config.json (exact contents):

{
  "appHost": {
    "path": "apphost.cs"
  }
}

No profiles key. Matches the canonical aspire-apphost-singlefile template shape.

Evidence — apphost.run.json (excerpt):

"profiles": {
  "https": {
    "commandName": "Project",
    "applicationUrl": "https://localhost:17289;http://localhost:15256",
    "environmentVariables": { … "ASPIRE_DASHBOARD_OTLP_ENDPOINT_URL": "https://localhost:21282" … }
  },
  "http": { … "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:15256" … }
}

Launch profiles present with ://localhost: URLs.

Observations:

• Issue [AspireE2E] Some content are duplicate in the apphost.run.json and aspire.config.json files of Aspire Empty C# (.NET) project #17660 reproduction would have shown a profiles block in aspire.config.json here. With the PR build, it is gone.

---

Scenario 2: aspire new aspire-empty --localhost-tld true

Objective: Confirm dev.localhost URLs land in apphost.run.json only and that aspire.config.json is identical to the plain case (no host TLD, no profiles).
Coverage Type: Happy path (option variant)
Status: ✅ Passed

Steps:

1. aspire new aspire-empty --name TldApp --output … --language csharp --localhost-tld true --suppress-agent-init --non-interactive
2. Inspected both config files.

Evidence — aspire.config.json (exact contents):

{
  "appHost": {
    "path": "apphost.cs"
  }
}

Identical to scenario 1 — no tldapp.dev.localhost reference, no profiles.

Evidence — apphost.run.json (excerpt):

"https": {
  "applicationUrl": "https://tldapp.dev.localhost:17005;http://tldapp.dev.localhost:15276",
  …
  "ASPIRE_DASHBOARD_OTLP_ENDPOINT_URL": "https://tldapp.dev.localhost:21117",
  "ASPIRE_RESOURCE_SERVICE_ENDPOINT_URL": "https://tldapp.dev.localhost:22296"
}

tldapp.dev.localhost substitution lands correctly in apphost.run.json via the C# template's token-replacement path.

Observations:

• Localhost-TLD substitution did not regress; it just lives in a single file now instead of two.

---

Scenario 3: Runtime smoke — aspire start + dashboard reachability + aspire stop

Objective: Confirm aspire start honours the launch profile from apphost.run.json even though aspire.config.json no longer carries one, and that the dashboard is actually reachable.
Coverage Type: Happy path (runtime)
Status: ✅ Passed

Steps:

1. From the scenario 1 project: aspire start --apphost apphost.cs --format json.
2. Parsed the emitted JSON for dashboardUrl.
3. curl -ksSL -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "$dashboardUrl".
4. aspire stop --apphost apphost.cs.

Evidence — aspire start JSON:

{
  "appHostPath": ".../scenario1/PlainLocalhostApp/apphost.cs",
  "appHostPid": 39627,
  "cliPid": 39517,
  "dashboardUrl": "https://localhost:17289/login?t=2a85971cf034b51961f6113be996f1c6",
  …
}

Dashboard bound to port 17289 — exactly the HTTPS port from the apphost.run.json launch profile. This is the key positive signal: with profiles removed from aspire.config.json, the reader correctly used apphost.run.json instead of falling through to hardcoded defaults.

Evidence — dashboard reachability:

dashboard-http-200

Evidence — clean shutdown:

✅ apphost.cs stopped successfully.

Observations:

• End-to-end happy path works: scaffold → start → dashboard at the expected URL → curl 200 → stop.
• Equivalent to what the CI E2E test EmptyAppHostTemplateTests.CreateAndRunEmptyAppHostProject validated, but here against the PR build on a real macOS host.

---

Summary

Scenario	Status	Notes
1. Plain localhost — file shape	✅ Passed	aspire.config.json minimal; apphost.run.json carries profiles
2. Localhost-TLD — file shape	✅ Passed	TLD substitution lands in apphost.run.json only
3. Runtime smoke	✅ Passed	Dashboard bound at apphost.run.json port, HTTP 200, clean stop

Overall Result

✅ PR VERIFIED

Issue #17660 is fixed. The empty C# AppHost template no longer duplicates launch-profile content across apphost.run.json and aspire.config.json — profiles live only in apphost.run.json, and aspire.config.json is the minimal canonical shape { "appHost": { "path": "apphost.cs" } }. Runtime behavior (aspire start / dashboard reachability) is unaffected.

Recommendations

• None for this PR.
• (Out of scope per author) Drift detection between Aspire.Cli/Templating/Templates/empty-apphost/ and Aspire.ProjectTemplates/templates/aspire-apphost-singlefile/ is worth considering separately — that divergence is what allowed this duplication to survive for several months.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes a regression in the embedded Aspire CLI empty C# AppHost template where aspire.config.json redundantly carried a profiles block that is already provided via apphost.run.json (per #17660). The change aligns the embedded CLI template with the canonical single-file AppHost template behavior: aspire.config.json should only point at apphost.cs, while launch profiles live exclusively in apphost.run.json.

Changes:

• Removed the duplicated profiles block from src/Aspire.Cli/Templating/Templates/empty-apphost/aspire.config.json, leaving only "appHost": { "path": "apphost.cs" }.
• Updated NewCommandTests to assert that aspire.config.json has no profiles, and that URLs/profiles exist in apphost.run.json (including dev.localhost behavior).
• Removed the now-obsolete test helper that compared HTTPS URLs between the two files.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/Aspire.Cli/Templating/Templates/empty-apphost/aspire.config.json	Removes redundant launch profile configuration so the template relies on apphost.run.json as the single source of launch profiles.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Commands/NewCommandTests.cs	Updates assertions to validate the new split of responsibilities: minimal aspire.config.json and launch URLs/profiles in apphost.run.json.

Copilot's findings

• Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
• Comments generated: 0

[JamesNK]

Clean fix. The template change correctly removes the duplicated profiles block that's already in apphost.run.json, and the tests properly validate the new contract from multiple angles (plain localhost, dev.localhost TLD, and prompted TLD paths). No issues found.

[mitchdenny]

/backport to release/13.4

[github-actions]

Started backporting to release/13.4 (link to workflow run)

[aspire-repo-bot]

Pull request created: #1176

Generated by PR Documentation Check

[aspire-repo-bot]

📝 Documentation has been drafted in microsoft/aspire.dev#1176 targeting release/13.4.

Updated src/frontend/src/content/docs/app-host/configuration.mdx to distinguish between project-based C# AppHosts (profiles in launchSettings.json) and file-based C# AppHosts (profiles in apphost.run.json, with aspire.config.json holding only the entry-point reference). Added code examples for both files and a note explaining the runtime behavior.

Note

This draft PR needs human review before merging.