dotnet/msbuild

The Microsoft Build Engine (MSBuild) is the build platform for .NET and Visual Studio. observed · 2026-08-28

github.com/dotnet/msbuild · homepage · C# · MIT (permissive) observed · 2026-08-28

Health v2 · maintenance only

98/100

Activity 99
Release rhythm 97
Longevity 100

How is this computed?

round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.

gap_med: 20.5
age_days: 4193
days_rel: 22
days_push: 7
n_releases_24m: 23

Full methodology

Adoption not part of the score

5547 stars · 1447 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

MSBuild is Microsoft's build engine for .NET and Visual Studio, providing an XML schema for project files that controls how software is compiled and built. It can run standalone via msbuild.exe or dotnet build, without requiring Visual Studio.

Use cases

build .NET projects from the command line
customize build processes with XML project files
build solutions in CI without Visual Studio installed
extend or modify Visual Studio project build behavior
orchestrate multi-project builds on Linux or macOS

When to choose

you build .NET or Visual Studio projects
you need headless builds in CI/CD pipelines
you want fine-grained control over build targets and tasks

When to avoid

you build non-.NET projects with different toolchains (e.g., Make, CMake)
you need a lightweight scripting-based build system
you only build simple projects where dotnet build suffices

Facets

framework · maturity stable

build-tool cli developer-tools developer-tools cross-platform windows dotnet cli msbuild build-engine xml-project-files visual-studio dotnet microsoft devops linux macos

3 sources

readme: https://github.com/dotnet/msbuild · fetched 2026-08-28 · 8fe2fe45b85f
homepage: https://docs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/msbuild/msbuild · fetched 2026-08-29 · fa01342371ea
site_page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/internet-explorer-microsoft-edge · fetched 2026-08-29 · c363b2f43d4b

Member repositories

Repository	Role	Health v2
dotnet/msbuild	main	98

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="dotnet/msbuild")

Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem