Support local tool manifests for AppHost DNX invocation

[Damian Edwards (DamianEdwards)]

Description

C# AppHosts can now opt into DNX resolution that honors an in-scope .NET local tools manifest. This allows a repository to pin Aspire.Cli in .config/dotnet-tools.json and use that version when launching an AppHost through dotnet run.

The supported AspireCliInvocationMode values now behave as follows:

• Path continues to resolve a compatible aspire command from PATH, falling back to the Aspire.Cli version paired with AspireHostingSDKVersion through DNX.
• Dnx invokes the unversioned aspire.cli package through DNX, which honors an in-scope tool manifest or resolves the latest package when no manifest applies.
• DnxPinned forces DNX invocation using aspire.cli@$(AspireHostingSDKVersion).

User-facing usage

To use the Aspire.Cli version from an in-scope local tools manifest:

<PropertyGroup>
  <AspireUseCliBundle>true</AspireUseCliBundle>
  <AspireCliInvocationMode>Dnx</AspireCliInvocationMode>
</PropertyGroup>

Use DnxPinned instead when the CLI must match the AppHost SDK version exactly.

Fixes #19309

Checklist

• Is this feature complete?
  • Yes. Ready to ship.
  • No. Follow-up changes expected.
• Are you including unit tests for the changes and scenario tests if relevant?
  • Yes
  • No
• Did you add public API?
  • Yes
    • If yes, did you have an API Review for it?
      • Yes
      • No
    • Did you add <remarks /> and <code /> elements on your triple slash comments?
      • Yes
      • No
  • No
• Does the change make any security assumptions or guarantees?
  • Yes
    • If yes, have you done a threat model and had a security review?
      • Yes
      • No
  • No

[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 -- 19310

Or

• Run remotely in PowerShell:

iex "& { $(irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.ps1) } 19310"

[github-actions]

Tests selector (audit mode)

The full test matrix and all jobs still run in audit mode. The tests and jobs below are what selective CI would run under enforcement.

43 / 100 test projects · 2 jobs, from 3 changed files.

Selected test projects (43 / 100)

Aspire.EndToEnd.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Analyzers.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Kubernetes.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Kusto.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Blazor.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Browsers.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Containers.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.DevTunnels.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Docker.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Dotnet.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.DotnetTool.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.EntityFrameworkCore.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Foundry.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Garnet.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.GitHub.Models.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Go.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Keycloak.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Kubernetes.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Maui.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Milvus.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.MongoDB.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.MySql.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Nats.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.OpenAI.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Oracle.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Orleans.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.PostgreSQL.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Python.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Qdrant.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.RabbitMQ.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Radius.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Redis.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Sdk.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Seq.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.SqlServer.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Testing.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Valkey.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Yarp.Tests, Aspire.Playground.Tests

Selected jobs (2)

extension-e2e, typescript-api-compat

---

How these were chosen — grouped by what changed

⚠️ 41 of the 43 selected test projects come from a single change — src/Aspire.Hosting.AppHost/build/Aspire.Hosting.AppHost.in.targets.

🔧 src/Aspire.Hosting.AppHost/build/Aspire.Hosting.AppHost.in.targets (changed source)
→ 41 via the project graph

show 41

Aspire.Hosting.Analyzers.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Kubernetes.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Kusto.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Blazor.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Browsers.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Containers.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.DevTunnels.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Docker.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Dotnet.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.DotnetTool.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.EntityFrameworkCore.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Foundry.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Garnet.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.GitHub.Models.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Go.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Keycloak.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Kubernetes.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Maui.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Milvus.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.MongoDB.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.MySql.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Nats.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.OpenAI.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Oracle.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Orleans.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.PostgreSQL.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Python.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Qdrant.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.RabbitMQ.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Radius.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Redis.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Seq.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.SqlServer.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Testing.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Valkey.Tests, Aspire.Hosting.Yarp.Tests, Aspire.Playground.Tests

📦 affected project Aspire.Hosting.AppHost
→ 1 test: Aspire.EndToEnd.Tests

🧪 tests/Aspire.Hosting.Sdk.Tests/AppHostSdkTargetsTests.cs (changed test)
→ 1 directly: Aspire.Hosting.Sdk.Tests

Job reasons

Job	Triggered by
extension-e2e	• src/Aspire.Hosting.AppHost/build/Aspire.Hosting.AppHost.in.targets, src/Aspire.Hosting.Tasks/ResolveAspireCliInvocation.cs • affected project Aspire.Hosting.AppHost
typescript-api-compat	affected project Aspire.Hosting.AppHost

---

Selection computed for commit f61ce46.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds manifest-aware DNX resolution for AppHost CLI launches while preserving pinned behavior.

Changes:

• Makes Dnx manifest-aware.
• Adds DnxPinned for SDK-matched CLI resolution.
• Updates tests and diagnostics documentation.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
ResolveAspireCliInvocation.cs	Recognizes DnxPinned.
Aspire.Hosting.AppHost.in.targets	Selects pinned or unversioned DNX packages.
AppHostSdkTargetsTests.cs	Tests both DNX modes.
list-of-diagnostics.md	Documents updated behavior.

---

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[github-actions]

Retrying the failed CI jobs for this pull request from the CI run attempt. The rerun is being tracked in the rerun attempt.

[Damian Edwards (DamianEdwards)]

/backport to release/13.5

[github-actions]

Started backporting to release/13.5 (link to workflow run)

[aspire-repo-bot]

Pull request created: #1484

Generated by PR Documentation Check · auto · 91.3 AIC · ⌖ 11 AIC · ⊞ 19.6K

[aspire-repo-bot]

📝 Documentation has been drafted in microsoft/aspire.dev#1484 targeting release/13.5.

Added a new "Running with dotnet run" subsection to get-started/aspire-sdk.mdx documenting the AspireCliInvocationMode MSBuild property and its Path / Dnx / DnxPinned values, including how Dnx mode honors an in-scope .NET local tool manifest and the ASPIRE011 error/remediation. Signals triggered: diagnostic_documentation_changed (ASPIRE011 message text updated in docs/list-of-diagnostics.md), pr_body_has_user_facing_section (PR body's "User-facing usage" section with the XML snippet setting AspireCliInvocationMode).

Note

This draft PR needs human review before merging.