# natemcmaster/DotNetCorePlugins

.NET Core library for dynamically loading code

Repository: https://github.com/natemcmaster/DotNetCorePlugins
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/dotnetcoreplugins
Language: C#
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: dotnet-core
Last push: 2026-03-16T14:05:09+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 55/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 72, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3081, "days_push": 170, "days_rel": 605, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1820, forks 243 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:40.807105+00:00)

## What it is
A .NET library (McMaster.NETCore.Plugins) for dynamically loading .NET assemblies as plugins into a host application, with dependency isolation and type sharing control. It supports unloadable plugins and hot reload, and works with .NET 8+.

## Use cases
- load .NET dll plugins at runtime
- build a plugin architecture for a .NET app
- isolate plugin dependencies from the host application
- hot reload plugin assemblies without restarting the app
- share types between host and plugin assemblies
- unload plugins from memory at runtime

## When to choose
- you need fine-grained control over assembly isolation and shared types
- you want unloadable plugins or hot reload beyond the built-in AssemblyLoadContext API
- you're on .NET 8+ and want a battle-tested plugin loader

## When to avoid
- you only need basic plugin loading and can use the standard .NET AssemblyLoadContext tutorial
- you still target .NET versions older than 8 (use the 1.x releases instead)
- you need cross-language plugin systems rather than .NET assemblies

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: plugin-system, sdk, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform, programming-languages
- platform: dotnet, cross-platform, windows
- tags: assembly-loading, plugin-loader, hot-reload, extensibility, nuget-package, csharp, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- natemcmaster/DotNetCorePlugins (main) score 55

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:40.807105+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:19:59.601578+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/natemcmaster/DotNetCorePlugins (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:40.807105+00:00, sha 0da5d061a949)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.