aspire

name

aspire

description

Orchestrates Aspire distributed applications using the Aspire CLI for running, debugging, deploying, and managing distributed apps. USE FOR: aspire start, aspire stop, start aspire app, aspire describe, list aspire integrations, debug aspire issues, view aspire logs, add aspire resource, aspire dashboard, update aspire apphost, aspire publish, aspire deploy, aspire secrets, aspire config. DO NOT USE FOR: non-Aspire .NET apps (use dotnet CLI), container-only deployments (use docker/podman). INVOKES: Aspire CLI commands (aspire start, aspire describe, aspire otel logs, aspire docs search, aspire add, aspire publish, aspire deploy), bash. FOR SINGLE OPERATIONS: Use Aspire CLI commands directly for quick resource status or doc lookups.

Aspire Skill

This repository uses Aspire to orchestrate its distributed application. Resources are defined in the AppHost project (apphost.cs or apphost.ts).

TypeScript AppHost (.modules folder)

When using a TypeScript AppHost (apphost.ts), the .modules/ folder at the project root contains auto-generated TypeScript modules that expose the Aspire APIs available to apphost.ts. Key files include aspire.ts (the main API surface with createBuilder and resource methods), base.ts, and transport.ts.

• Do not edit files in .modules/ directly — they are regenerated automatically.
• To add new APIs (e.g., a new integration), run aspire add <package>. This updates the NuGet references and regenerates the .modules/ folder with the new APIs.
• After running aspire add, check the updated .modules/aspire.ts to discover the newly available APIs.
• The tsconfig.json includes .modules/**/*.ts in its compilation scope.

CLI command reference

Task	Command
Create a new project	aspire new
Initialize Aspire in existing project	aspire init
Start the app (background)	aspire start
Start isolated (worktrees)	aspire start --isolated
Restart the app	aspire start (stops previous automatically)
Run the app (foreground)	aspire run
Wait for resource healthy	aspire wait <resource>
Wait with custom status/timeout	aspire wait <resource> --status up --timeout 60
Stop the app	aspire stop
List resources	aspire describe or aspire resources
Run resource command	aspire resource <resource> <command>
Start/stop/restart resource	aspire resource <resource> start|stop|restart
View console logs	aspire logs [resource]
View structured logs	aspire otel logs [resource]
View traces	aspire otel traces [resource]
View spans	aspire otel spans [resource]
Logs for a trace	aspire otel logs --trace-id <id>
Export telemetry and resource data to zip	aspire export [resource]
Add an integration	aspire add
List running AppHosts	aspire ps
Update AppHost packages	aspire update
Set a user secret	aspire secret set <key> <value>
Get a user secret	aspire secret get <key>
List user secrets	aspire secret list
Set CLI config	aspire config set <key> <value>
Get CLI config	aspire config get <key>
List CLI config	aspire config list
Search docs	aspire docs search <query>
Get doc page	aspire docs get <slug>
List doc pages	aspire docs list
Publish deployment artifacts	aspire publish
Deploy to targets	aspire deploy
Run a pipeline step	aspire do <step>
Environment diagnostics	aspire doctor
List resource MCP tools	aspire mcp tools
Call resource MCP tool	aspire mcp call <resource> <tool> --input <json>
Configure agent integrations	aspire agent init

Most commands support --format Json for machine-readable output. Use --apphost <path> to target a specific AppHost.

Key workflows

Running in agent environments

Use aspire start to run the AppHost in the background. When working in a git worktree, use --isolated to avoid port conflicts and to prevent sharing user secrets or other local state with other running instances:

aspire start --isolated

Use aspire wait <resource> to block until a resource is healthy before interacting with it:

aspire start --isolated
aspire wait myapi

Relaunching is safe — aspire start automatically stops any previous instance. Re-run aspire start whenever changes are made to the AppHost project.

Debugging issues

Before making code changes, inspect the app state:

1. aspire describe — check resource status
2. aspire otel logs <resource> — view structured logs
3. aspire logs <resource> — view console output
4. aspire otel traces <resource> — view distributed traces
5. aspire export — export telemetry and resource data to a zip for deeper analysis

Adding integrations

Use aspire docs search to find integration documentation, then aspire docs get to read the full guide. Use aspire add to add the integration package to the AppHost.

After adding an integration, restart the app with aspire start for the new resource to take effect.

Managing secrets

Use aspire secret to manage AppHost user secrets for connection strings, passwords, and API keys:

aspire secret set Parameters:postgres-password MySecretValue
aspire secret list

Publishing and deploying

Generate deployment artifacts (Bicep, Docker Compose, etc.):

aspire publish

Deploy to configured targets:

aspire deploy
aspire deploy --clear-cache  # reset cached deployment state

Using resource MCP tools

Some resources expose MCP tools (e.g. WithPostgresMcp() adds SQL query tools). Discover and call them via CLI:

aspire mcp tools                                              # list available tools
aspire mcp tools --format Json                                # includes input schemas
aspire mcp call <resource> <tool> --input '{"key":"value"}'   # invoke a tool

Important rules

• Always start the app first (aspire start) before making changes to verify the starting state.
• To restart, just run aspire start again — it automatically stops the previous instance. NEVER use aspire stop then aspire run. NEVER use aspire run at all — it blocks the terminal.
• Use --isolated when working in a worktree.
• Avoid persistent containers early in development to prevent state management issues.
• Never install the Aspire workload — it is obsolete.
• Prefer aspire.dev and learn.microsoft.com/microsoft/aspire for official documentation.

Playwright CLI

If configured, use Playwright CLI for functional testing of resources. Get endpoints via aspire describe. Run playwright-cli --help for available commands.