NuGet in Visual Studio Code

NuGet is the package manager for .NET. It defines how packages for .NET are created, hosted, and consumed, and provides the tools for each of those roles. Importantly, NuGet also manages the dependency tree on behalf of a project, so you only need to focus on the packages that you're directly using in a project. For more information, go to the NuGet documentation.

Dependency management

Automatic NuGet restore

For a .NET project, a package restore happens automatically when you create a project from a template, build, load, or make changes to an SDK-style project.

For projects that use <PackageReference>, you can see the package references in the Solution Explorer section of Visual Studio Code.

Packages that don't install properly when a restore happens or you run a build will show error icons in Solution Explorer.

Note: At this time, you cannot right-click on projects to manage your NuGet packages and there is not a NuGet Package Manager user interface in Visual Studio Code. For more information on managing packages, see Install and manage NuGet packages with the dotnet CLI.