Edit

Share via

dotnet nuget why

  • Article

This article applies to: ✔️ .NET 8.0.4xx SDK and later versions

Name

dotnet nuget why - Shows the dependency graph for a particular package.

Synopsis

dotnet nuget why <PROJECT|SOLUTION> <PACKAGE> [-f|--framework <FRAMEWORK>]

dotnet nuget why -h|--help

Description

The dotnet nuget why command shows the dependency graph for a particular package for a given project or solution.

Starting from the .NET 9 SDK, it's possible to pass a NuGet assets file in place of the project file, in order to use the command with projects that can't be restored with the .NET SDK. First, restore the project in Visual Studio, or msbuild.exe. By default the assets file is in the project's obj\ directory, but you can find the location with msbuild.exe path\to\project.proj -getProperty:ProjectAssetsFile. Finally, run dotnet nuget why path\to\project.assets.json SomePackage.

Starting with version 9.0.200, the command introduces support for runtime identifier (RID) specific packages by generating separate dependency trees for each RID and framework combination. For example, if a project targets net9.0 with the win-x64 RID, the command generates trees for net9.0/win-x64 and net9.0.

Arguments

  • PROJECT|SOLUTION

    The project or solution file to operate on. If a directory is specified, the command searches the directory for a project or solution file. If more than one project or solution is found, an error is thrown.

  • PACKAGE

    The package name to look up in the dependency graph.

Options

  • -f|--framework <FRAMEWORK>

    The target framework(s) for which dependency graphs are shown. You can pass multiple --framework options to see graphs for more than one framework.

  • -?|-h|--help

    Prints out a description of how to use the command.

Examples

  • Show the dependency graph for the package "System.Text.Json" for a given solution:

    dotnet nuget why .\DotnetNuGetWhyPackage.sln System.Text.Json

    Example: Solution with multiple projects

  • Show the dependency graph for the package "System.Text.Json" for a single project:

    dotnet nuget why .\DotnetNuGetWhyPackage.csproj System.Text.Json

  • Show the dependency graph for a specific target framework:

    dotnet nuget why .\DotnetNuGetWhyPackage.csproj System.Text.Json --framework net6.0