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tooling

Implementation details for the EF Core dotnet-ef CLI and tooling. Use when changing dotnet-ef commands, the ef wrapper, EFCore.Tools (PMC), or EFCore.Tasks MSBuild integration.

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dotnet/efcore
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October 8, 2026 at 18:29
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name
tooling
description
Implementation details for the EF Core dotnet-ef CLI and tooling. Use when changing dotnet-ef commands, the ef wrapper, EFCore.Tools (PMC), or EFCore.Tasks MSBuild integration.
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# Tooling The `dotnet ef` CLI and Visual Studio Package Manager Console commands for migrations, scaffolding, and compiled models. ## dotnet-ef CLI (`src/dotnet-ef/`) `RootCommand` parses global options. Subcommands implemented in `src/ef/Commands/`. Each invokes MSBuild to build, then shells out via `dotnet exec ef.dll`, which hosts `OperationExecutor`. ## PMC (`src/EFCore.Tools/`) PowerShell module: `Add-Migration`, `Update-Database`, `Scaffold-DbContext`, `Optimize-DbContext`, etc. ## MSBuild Tasks (`src/EFCore.Tasks/`) NuGet package `Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tasks` provides build/publish-time compiled model and precompiled query generation. Targets in `buildTransitive/Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tasks.targets`. ## Command Option Ownership Trace an option to the code that consumes it before changing command or operation contracts. The outer `dotnet-ef` launcher builds the project and forwards remaining command-line arguments to `ef.dll`; the inner command under `src/ef/Commands/` parses command-specific options. - Keep presentation-only behavior in the inner command. For example, suppressing the completion message from `MigrationsAddCommand.Execute()` should guard its `Reporter.WriteInformation()` call and must not change `IOperationExecutor.AddMigration()`. - Forward a value through `OperationExecutorBase` only when the design-time operation in `Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design` needs it. - Treat PMC and `EFCore.Tasks` as separate entry points. Change them only when the requested behavior applies to those surfaces too. ## Testing - CLI tests: `test/dotnet-ef.Tests/`, `test/ef.Tests/` - EFCore.Tasks has no dedicated test project — for task/target changes, create a test project and manually run `dotnet build` / `dotnet publish` with `EFOptimizeContext=true` to verify ## Validation - For tool changes, create a test project and manually run affected commands to verify behavior - `dotnet ef migrations script` output matches expected DDL
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