Install a Nuget package in Visual Studio Code

Question

How can I install a Nuget Package in Visual Studio Code? I know in Visual Studio, we can do this through the Nuget Package Manager console, but how do I do it in VS Code?

Aboutship

i would prefer console because the extension has no good reviews – Aboutship

The way i do it, is to use nuget.org, search, and just use the PackageReference (located with the other installment options). Works pretty good, and you get a good UI for the nuget it self. – Reck

Answer 1

From the command line or the terminal windows in VS Code editor:

dotnet add <PROJECT> package <PACKAGE_NAME> [options]

Ex.:

dotnet add MyApp package MySql.Data -Version 8.0.31

See this article by Scott Hanselman

Clambake

Note that this will work only on the new csproj-based .Net Core SDK 1.0, but not on the old project.json-based preview versions. – Seidler

That unfortunately does not support search or auto-complete. That is, you have to know the exact package name spelling. – Description

You can go to nuget.org to search packages as you might otherwise do in Visual Studio, then use the command line to install the package you want. – Tipton

Notes: (1) I had to use --version or -v ( not -Version); (2) I had to include the .csproj file extension. Full example that worked for me: dotnet add MyApp.csproj package MySql.Data --version 8.0.31 – Jamille

Answer 2

Edit: From the comments below:

22 June 2019: "This extension is now unpublished from Marketplace. You can choose to uninstall it." 2¢. – ruffin Jun 22 '19 at 13:23

The provided link above points to ".Net Core Project Manager (Nuget)" - try: marketplace.visualstudio.com/… – samis Oct 3 '19 at 16:14

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You can use the NuGet Package Manager extension.

After you've installed it, to add a package, press Ctrl+Shift+P, and type >nuget and press Enter:

Type a part of your package's name as search string:

Choose the package:

And finally the package version (you probably want the newest one):

Iva

This extension appears to not support the new workspaces feature – On

This extension seems back on the marketplace, just installed it and works fine for me. – Crispy

22 June 2019: "This extension is now unpublished from Marketplace. You can choose to uninstall it." 2¢. – Stateless

The provided link above points to ".Net Core Project Manager (Nuget)" - try: marketplace.visualstudio.com/… – Sturmabteilung

Answer 3

You can do it easily using "vscode-nuget-package-manager".

Go to the marketplace and install this. After That:

1. Press Ctrl+P or Ctrl+Shift+P (and skip 2)
2. Type ">"
3. Then select "Nuget Package Manager:Add Package"
4. Enter package name Ex: Dapper
5. select package name and version
6. Done.

Heeheebiejeebies

Answer 4

Nuget Gallery provides a GUI similar to the full Visual Studio. See below.

How To Use:

1. Install Nuget Gallery from extension marketplace.
2. Launch from the menu bar View > Command Palette or ⇧⌘P (Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows and Linux). Type Nuget: Open Gallery.
3. The GUI above is displayed. You can filter just like in regular Visual Studio.
4. Make sure the .csproj file checkbox is selected, select version from dropdown, and click install button.

UPDATE

Earlier versions, as noted in the comments, had an issue where the .csproj checkbox was not visible when a package in the csproj file was missing a version number like below.

<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.App" />

This has been fixed in newer versions of the extension so if you have an older version with this issue, please update it to the latest version.

Brecciate

Ahh, this is interesting. There is no .csproj file tick option in the current version. Maybe that's what my problem is. github.com/pcislo/vscode-nuget-gallery/issues/15 – Gagliano

Hi @woter324, the problem of the checkbox not showing was identified as some packages in the .csproj not having version numbers. See issue comment. I've updated my answer to include that. – Brecciate

Thanks! That was just what I needed to be able to install the Microsoft.Windows.Compatibility package! This Nuget Gallery actually works with .NET Core 3.1.2! So now I can use OleDbConnection to open a connection to a MS Access Database, while using .NET Core for the other things in Visual Studio Code! Cool! – Delighted

I have tested the latest version and it no longer has an issue with missing version numbers – Brecciate

What if you wanted to install the nuget package for a specific project if you have multiple projects in one solution? Would there be multiple csproj checkboxes? – Ballistic

@Ballistic yes there would be several csproj checkboxes if you have multiple projects. – Brecciate

Answer 5

Open extensions menu (Ctrl+Shift+X), and search ".NuGet Package Manager".

Infarct

Strange this manager cant find Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel. Below solution works. – Agnostic

Doesn't work any more since the migration to .csproj file format. – Vo

I can't see that extension when searching for it. – Bump

Answer 6

Example for .csproj file

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore" Version="1.1.2" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer" Version="1.1.2" />
    <PackageReference Include="MySql.Data.EntityFrameworkCore" Version="7.0.7-m61" />
  </ItemGroup>

Just get package name and version number from NuGet and add to .csproj then save. You will be prompted to run restore that will import new packages.

Doralynne

I'm sure this works but having to edit the XML manually seems a shame. – Bump

True, but VS Code is free (and really meant as an editor) so I'm not complaining. It would be different if I had to do this in VS. – Doralynne

Fair point. So are you editing C# projects entirely in VSCode without any version of Visual Studio installed? Or creating the project in Visual Studio (with sln + csproj files) and then just using VSCode as an editor? I'm guessing if you just use dotnet and VSCode then why would you even need those project files. – Bump

No, I actually utilize Visual Studio 2010 & 2015. Prefer 2010 though. All my real coding is also stored in Git repositories. VS Code is more to play around with on my Ubuntu system. – Doralynne

This is a problem with MS using XML for csproj files instead of something user friendly like yaml. – Twentieth

Answer 7

nuget package manager gui extension is a GUI tool that lets you easily update/remove/install packages from Nuget server for .NET Core/.Net 5 projects

> To install new package:

1. Open your project workspace in VSCode
2. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
3. Select > Nuget Package Manager GUI
4. Click Install New Package

For update/remove the packages click Update/Remove Packages

Fallon

That's plain beautiful – Bigamous

Answer 8

If you're working with .net core, you can use the dotnet CLI, for instance

dotnet add package <package name>

Cladoceran

Answer 9

1. Install NuGet Package Manager
2. Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows or Command+Shift+P on Mac
3. Search for NuGet Package Manager: Add Package
4. Enter package name i.e. AutoMapper
5. Select package & version
6. Restore if needed

Helainehelali

Answer 10

The answers above are good, but insufficient if you have more than 1 project (.csproj) in the same folder.

First, you easily add the "PackageReference" tag to the .csproj file (either manually, by using the nuget package manager or by using the dotnet add package command).

But then, you need to run the "restore" command manually so you can tell it which project you are trying to restore (if I just clicked the restore button that popped up, nothing happened). You can do that by running:

dotnet restore Project-File-Name.csproj

And that installs the package

Mellisa

Answer 11

Modify your project.json or *.csproj file. Add a dependency entry with the name of the package and the version desired.

JSON example:

{
   "dependencies" : {

     "AutoMapper": "5.2.0"
   }
}

Bake

Answer 12

Go to folder that have a sln file. Open a terminal (like cmd)

dotnet add package <package name>

Ferity

Answer 13

You can use .NET Add Command

Usage: dotnet add [PROJECT] [command] [options]

Arguments: PROJECT: The project file to operate on. If a file is not specified, the command will search the current directory for one.

Options: -?, -h, --help Show command line help.

Commands:

package <PACKAGE_NAME> Add a NuGet package reference to the project.

reference <PROJECT_PATH> Add a project-to-project reference to the project.

Ribbing

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