--- title: Using and authoring .NET tools | daily.dev description: .NET tools are programs distributed via NuGet that can be installed globally or locally using the .NET SDK. When authoring tools, developers face challenges... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/using-and-authoring-net-tools-mr9rhw4pr twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Using and authoring .NET tools | daily.dev og:description: .NET tools are programs distributed via NuGet that can be installed globally or locally using the .NET SDK. When authoring tools, developers face challenges... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/using-and-authoring-net-tools-mr9rhw4pr og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/mr9RhW4Pr.png og:image:alt: Using and authoring .NET tools og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Using and authoring .NET tools **[.NET Escapades](https://daily.dev/sources/andrewlock)** · 11 min read · 15 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary .NET tools are programs distributed via NuGet that can be installed globally or locally using the .NET SDK. When authoring tools, developers face challenges around supporting multiple .NET runtime versions through multi-targeting or using RollForward configuration. Local tools use a dotnet-tools.json manifest for version control and team collaboration. Key considerations include compatibility across runtime versions, package size optimization, and testing strategies in CI environments using flags like --source, --tool-path, --prerelease, and --allow-downgrade. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@eldonelledge** · 0 upvotes > Great article. We need more .NET content on here. **@crossplatform** · 0 upvotes > Senior developers use dotnet-install script. It always upgrade minor version since 2016 without rollforward. --- Tags: [#devops](https://daily.dev/tags/devops), [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#cli](https://daily.dev/tags/cli), [#nuget](https://daily.dev/tags/nuget) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/using-and-authoring-net-tools-mr9rhw4pr) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Using and authoring .NET tools","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/using-and-authoring-net-tools-mr9rhw4pr","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/using-and-authoring-net-tools-mr9rhw4pr"},"datePublished":"2025-09-02T10:22:22.764Z","dateModified":"2025-09-02T10:22:42.353Z","description":".NET tools are programs distributed via NuGet that can be installed globally or locally using the .NET SDK. 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We need more .NET content on here.","datePublished":"2025-09-12T12:20:35.746Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mr9RhW4Pr#c-Gwv6qx7PJ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Eldon Elledge","url":"https://daily.dev/eldonelledge","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--KHM8dMAz--/f_auto/v1775035233/avatars/avatar_CXPzPzz1E2gsZ40wcSkEe?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Senior developers use dotnet-install script. It always upgrade minor version since 2016 without rollforward.","datePublished":"2025-09-03T05:30:55.935Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mr9RhW4Pr#c-slkduCaCz","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Volodymyr Hoida","url":"https://daily.dev/crossplatform","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--mecc21JQ--/f_auto/v1777930646/avatars/avatar_oFvh25hEfEcJLoQ3TZnTq?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"}}]} ```