| name | dotnet-scope |
| description | Use dotnet-scope to diagnose .NET build errors. When a dotnet build fails, pipe the output to `dotnet-scope diagnose` to get enriched diagnostics with source context, documentation links, and suggestions for common errors like typos in method names. |
dotnet-scope
A diagnostic instrument for .NET source code. Use this tool when working with C# projects that have build errors or when you need to understand what external APIs a codebase uses.
Installation
dotnet tool install -g dotnet-scope
Commands
diagnose - Analyze build errors
Pipe build output to get enriched diagnostics:
dotnet build 2>&1 | dotnet-scope diagnose
This provides:
- Source context with line numbers
- Links to Microsoft documentation (for humans)
- Raw GitHub markdown links (for LLM consumption)
- Suggestions for common errors (e.g., case-sensitive method name typos)
symbols - Show symbols at a location
dotnet-scope symbols Program.cs:42 -c 2
Shows symbols in scope at a specific line with classification (UserDefined, Framework, External, Undefined).
scan - Discover external APIs
dotnet-scope scan src/ --packages
Lists which NuGet package APIs are used in the codebase.
docs - Generate API documentation
dotnet-scope docs src/
Shows documentation for packages used, with follow-up commands for deeper investigation.
Example Workflow
When a build fails:
- Run:
dotnet build 2>&1 | dotnet-scope diagnose
- Review the enriched output with source context
- For CS0117/CS1061 errors (member not found), check the "Did you mean?" suggestions
- Use the Raw: links to fetch full documentation if needed
- Fix the issues and rebuild
Supported Error Codes
dotnet-scope includes documentation for ~3,700 diagnostic codes:
- CS* - C# compiler (1969 codes)
- MSB* - MSBuild (692 codes)
- CA* - Code analysis (315 codes)
- NETSDK* - SDK (201 codes)
- SYSLIB* - Runtime (170 codes)
- And 14 more prefixes (Razor, ASP.NET, Blazor, Aspire, etc.)
