.NET Skills — Install & Live Demo

Name: .NET Skills (Claude Skill)
Author: Aaronontheweb

Why use it

Key features

.NET 8/9 idioms — primary constructors, collection expressions, required
xUnit + FluentAssertions test conventions
BenchmarkDotNet recipes — proper warmup, GC modes, exporters
Async correctness sub-agent — flags ConfigureAwait + cancellation issues
NuGet packaging — package metadata, source-link, trimming flags
Multi-targeting + APIs surface review

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

ready

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/dotnet"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/dotnet"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/dotnet"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/dotnet"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/dotnet"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills",
          "~/.claude/skills/dotnet"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb -- git clone https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills ~/.claude/skills/dotnet

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use .NET Skills

Audit a service for async/await correctness

👤 Backend .NET teams ⏱ ~45 min advanced

When to use: You inherited a service that deadlocks intermittently and you suspect async issues.

Prerequisites

Skill installed — git clone https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills ~/.claude/skills/dotnet

Flow

Scan

dotnet-skills async audit on src/. Flag: missing ConfigureAwait(false) in libraries, .Result/.Wait, async void (non-event), missing CancellationToken propagation.✓ Copied

→ Concrete file:line list with severity
Fix one cluster

Pick the highest-severity cluster (deadlock risk). Propose patches, file by file. Show diffs.✓ Copied

→ Surgical patches, not whole-file rewrites

Outcome: Async hygiene improved; one source of intermittent deadlocks gone.

Pitfalls

ConfigureAwait fix breaks UI thread code — Skill differentiates lib vs app code; respect that boundary

Combine with: filesystem

Benchmark a hot path with BenchmarkDotNet

👤 Perf-curious .NET devs ⏱ ~60 min advanced

When to use: Profiler points at a method; you need rigorous numbers.

Flow

Scaffold benchmark

Skill: scaffold a BenchmarkDotNet project for OrderCalc.Compute. Multiple input sizes. Memory diagnoser on. Markdown exporter.✓ Copied

→ Benchmark project compiles; runs under Release
Run + interpret

Run the bench. Report mean, allocated, gen0. What's the leading allocation?✓ Copied

→ Concrete attribution to allocator (probably string concat or LINQ)
Patch + re-bench

Replace LINQ with a hand-rolled loop. Re-run. Show before/after.✓ Copied

→ Allocations drop measurably

Outcome: Quantified perf improvement, not vibes.

Pitfalls

Running Debug builds — BenchmarkDotNet refuses Debug; ensure Release

Prep a library for NuGet release

👤 OSS authors ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: First NuGet release of your lib; you want it polished.

Flow

Audit packaging

dotnet-skills: audit MyLib.csproj for NuGet readiness. Check Description, Authors, License, RepositoryUrl, source-link, multi-targeting.✓ Copied

→ Concrete missing fields list
API surface review

Generate the public API surface; flag any leaked internal types or oddly-named publics.✓ Copied

→ API surface dump with concerns called out

Outcome: Clean package ready to push.

Pitfalls

License mismatch (LICENSE file vs <PackageLicenseExpression>) — Skill catches this; align them

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb + filesystem

Apply patches across the project

Apply the async_audit patches across src/. One commit per file.✓ Copied

dotnet-skills-aaronontheweb + github

PR up the bench results

Open a PR with the perf patch + before/after benchmark in the description.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call
async_audit	path	Codebase health check
scaffold_benchmark	target_method	Perf work
interpret_bench	bench_md	After running benchmark
nuget_audit	csproj	Pre-release
api_surface	assembly_or_proj	API review
test_conventions_check	test_path	PR review

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: N/A
Tokens per call: Audits scan code = larger token use; 5k–30k per pass
Monetary: Free
Tip: Audit one project at a time; don't fan out across a monorepo at once

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Minimum scopes: filesystem-read filesystem-write

Credential storage: None

Data egress: None

Skill is opinionated toward Aaron's conventions — adjust prompt if your team's style differs

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Audit too noisy

Specify severity threshold; skill defaults to all

Benchmark won't run

Must be Release build; BenchmarkDotNet refuses Debug

Verify: dotnet build -c Release

API surface includes internal types

Make sure InternalsVisibleTo is set correctly; skill reports as configured

Alternatives

.NET Skills vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
Roslyn analyzers in repo	You want CI-time enforcement	More setup; less interactive
ReSharper / Rider	You want IDE-time fixes	Paid; not LLM-driven
Aspire / .NET Cloud Native skills	Cloud-native focus	Different scope

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

🔍 Browse all 400+ MCP servers and Skills