dotnet-vs

A global tool for running, managing and querying Visual Studio installations

Installing or updating (same command for both):

dotnet tool update -g dotnet-vs

To get the CI version:

dotnet tool update -g dotnet-vs --no-cache --add-source https://pkg.kzu.io/index.json

Command line parsing is done with Mono.Options so all the following variants for arguments are supported: -flag, --flag, /flag, -flag=value, --flag=value, /flag=value, -flag:value, --flag:value, /flag:value, -flag value, --flag value, /flag value.

Supported commands:

alias

Shows the list of saved aliases

Usage: vs alias [options]

All built-in commands support a -save:[alias] option that will cause the command to be saved with that alias. From that point on, it's possible to just run the command (including all saved arguments) by just running the alias instead.

Examples:

# Save the first VS enterprise with the Xamarin/Mobile workload as the "mobile" alias
> vs -sku:ent -first +mobile -save:mobile

# Runs the saved alias with all the original arguments
> vs mobile

client

Launches Visual Studio in client mode

Usage: vs client [options]

config

Opens the config folder.

Usage: vs config [options]

install

Installs a specific edition of Visual Studio.

Usage: vs install [options]

You can add specific workload IDs by using the supported workload switches using the + prefix.

See the documentation for the Visual Studio installer command line options for the full list of arguments that can be provided.

Common options are --passive, quiet and --wait, for example.

Examples:

# Installs VS enterprise with the Maui/Mobile workload
# Note the -sku: switch/prefix is optional
> vs install Enterprise +mobile

# Install VS community with the .NET Core, ASP.NET and Azure workloads, 
# shows installation progress and waits for it to finish before returning
> vs install +core +web +azure

kill

Kills running devenv processes.

Usage: vs kill [options]

Examples:

# Kill all running instances of Visual Studio
> vs kill all

log

Opens the folder containing the Activity.log file.

Usage: vs log [options]

modify

Modifies an installation of Visual Studio.

Usage: vs modify [options]

A shorthand notation is available for add|remove [workload ID] via the supported workload ID switches/aliases, using the + (for add) and - (for remove) prefixes.

Examples:

# Add .NET Core Workload to installed Visual Studio Preview
> vs modify preview +core

run

This is default command, so typically it does not need to be provided as an argument.

Usage: vs run [options]

All workload switches are available too to filter the instance to run, including using the + prefix/alias syntax.

This command will remember the last VS that was located and run. So the next time you can just run the same instance by simply using vs (since run is the default command and can be omitted).

Examples:

# Runs the first VS enterprise with the Maui workload
> vs -sku:ent -first +maui

# Runs VS 16.8
> vs -v:16.8

# Runs VS 16.9 preview
> vs -v:16.9 -pre

# Runs the last VS that was run
> vs

update

Updates an installation of Visual Studio.

Usage: vs update [options]

where

Locates the installed version(s) of Visual Studio that satisfy the requested requirements, optionally retrieving installation properties from it.

Usage: vs where [options]

Supports same options as vswhere.exe:

  -all           Finds all instances even if they are incomplete and may not launch.
  -prerelease    Also searches prereleases. By default, only releases are searched.
  -products arg  One or more product IDs to find. Defaults to Community, Professional, and Enterprise.
                 Specify "*" by itself to search all product instances installed.
                 See https://aka.ms/vs/workloads for a list of product IDs.
  -requires arg  One or more workload or component IDs required when finding instances.
                 All specified IDs must be installed unless -requiresAny is specified.
                 See https://aka.ms/vs/workloads for a list of workload and component IDs.
  -requiresAny   Find instances with any one or more workload or components IDs passed to -requires.
  -version arg   A version range for instances to find. Example: [15.0,16.0) will find versions 15.*.
  -latest        Return only the newest version and last installed.
  -sort          Sorts the instances from newest version and last installed to oldest.
                 When used with "find", first instances are sorted then files are sorted lexigraphically.
  -legacy        Also searches Visual Studio 2015 and older products. Information is limited.
                 This option cannot be used with either -products or -requires.
  -format arg    Return information about instances found in a format described below.
  -property arg  The name of a property to return. Defaults to "value" format.
                 Use delimiters ".", "/", or "_" to separate object and property names.
                 Example: "properties.nickname" will return the "nickname" property under "properties".
  -include arg   One or more extra properties to include, as described below.
  -find arg      Returns matching file paths under the installation path. Defaults to "value" format.
                 The following patterns are supported:
                 ?  Matches any one character except "\".
                 *  Matches zero or more characters except "\".
                 ** Searches the current directory and subdirectories for the remaining search pattern.
  -nologo        Do not show logo information. Some formats noted below will not show a logo anyway.
  -utf8          Use UTF-8 encoding (recommended for JSON).
  -?, -h, -help  Display this help message.

Extra properties:
  packages       Return an array of packages installed in this instance.
                 Supported only by the "json" and "xml" formats.

Formats:
  json           An array of JSON objects for each instance (no logo).
  text           Colon-delimited properties in separate blocks for each instance (default).
  value          A single property specified by the -property parameter (no logo).
  xml            An XML data set containing instances (no logo).

A shorthand notation is available for -requires [workload ID] via the supported workload ID switches, using the + prefix (see below).

See also vswhere on GitHub.

Workload ID switches

For commands that receive workload ID switches (i.e. vs where -requires [WORKLOAD_ID] or vs install --add [WORKLOAD_ID]), the following aliases are available:

The aliases are converted to the appropriate switch automatically, such as into -requires [ID] or --add [ID]. Additionally, depending on the command being run, the aliases might use a + prefix (like +mobile), which might make for a more intuitive command line, such as vs install +mobile -sku:enterprise or vs +mobile (runs the VS with the mobile workload installed). The modify command uses + and - prefix to add or remove workloads respectively, for example.

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