Multi-Project Solutions in .NET

I have previously used JetBrains Rider when working on C# projects. However, I’m currently giving VS Code a try instead. The .NET CLI program (dotnet) makes it pretty simple to manage projects and solutions, no fancy IDE needed!

Let’s take a look at how to set up a solution with multiple projects using only the dotnet command.

First, create an empty solution file:

$ dotnet new sln -o SnazzySolution

Next, create a couple of projects. How about an empty ASP.NET Core app and a console app.

$ dotnet new web -o SnazzySolution/AwesomeWebApp
$ dotnet new console -o SnazzySolution/CoolConsoleApp

If you check out the solution file (SnazzySolution/SnazzySolution.slnx) now, you will see that it is still empty:

<Solution>
</Solution>

To fix that, we need to link the projects to the solution.

$ cd SnazzySolution
$ dotnet sln add AwesomeWebApp/AwesomeWebApp.csproj
$ dotnet sln add CoolConsoleApp/CoolConsoleApp.csproj

Check it out now:

<Solution>
  <Project Path="AwesomeWebApp/AwesomeWebApp.csproj" />
  <Project Path="CoolConsoleApp/CoolConsoleApp.csproj" />
</Solution>

Looks good. Now, you can do things like run projects from the solution root:

$ dotnet run --project CoolConsoleApp/CoolConsoleApp.csproj
Hello, World!

Nice!