DotNetBrowser.AgentSkills 4.4.1

DotNetBrowser Agent Skills

This package contains the DotNetBrowser agent skill for AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. The skill tells the agent how to write code with DotNetBrowser and includes the API reference and an offline copy of the DotNetBrowser documentation, release notes, and migration guides for the same version as this package.

The package adds no assemblies or runtime dependencies to your application. Restoring or building the project does not copy the skill anywhere unless you choose your agent or the skills directory.

Installing the skill

Add the package with the same version as your DotNetBrowser packages:

<ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="DotNetBrowser.AgentSkills" Version="x.y.z" PrivateAssets="all" />
</ItemGroup>

Then choose your agent:

<PropertyGroup>
    <DotNetBrowserAgentSkillsAgent>ClaudeCode</DotNetBrowserAgentSkillsAgent>
</PropertyGroup>

When you build the project, the skill is installed in the dotnetbrowser subdirectory of the agent's skills directory in the project directory, normally before the code is compiled, so it is there even when the code does not compile. See the exceptions below.

Agents look for skills in the repository root, and some also in the directory where you start them. If the project is not in the repository root, or your agent is not listed, set the skills directory instead; check your agent's documentation for the directory it reads skills from. Set the skills directory itself, not its dotnetbrowser subdirectory, which the installation creates. A relative path is resolved from the project directory. MSBuild does not expand ~, so for a skills directory in your home directory, start the path with $(UserProfile) on Windows or $(HOME) on Linux and macOS. For example, for a project one level below the repository root:

<PropertyGroup>
    <DotNetBrowserAgentSkillsDirectory>..\.claude\skills</DotNetBrowserAgentSkillsDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>

When both properties are set, the skills directory is used.

The build installs the skill when it is not installed yet, when the package has a different version of the skill, or when installed files are missing. Otherwise it leaves the installed skill as is.

To install the skill without building, run this command with the path to your project:

dotnet msbuild MyApp.csproj -restore -t:InstallDotNetBrowserAgentSkills

In a setup with Visual Studio only, run the same command with msbuild instead of dotnet msbuild, for example in the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio. If neither property is set, this command installs the skill in .agents/skills/dotnetbrowser/ in the project directory.

Keep in mind:

• The installation requires MSBuild 16 (Visual Studio 2019) or later.
• When several projects share one skills directory, for example in the repository root, set the property in one of them only, not in a file that all of them import, such as Directory.Build.props, and run the command on that project only. Installations from projects that build at the same time are not synchronized.
• A project with several target frameworks installs the skill when you build it for all of them. Building one framework, for example with dotnet build -f net8.0, does not install the skill. Neither does a project that sets TargetFramework while it inherits TargetFrameworks, for example from Directory.Build.props; clear TargetFrameworks in that project or run the command above. In a static graph build (-graphBuild), a project with several target frameworks installs the skill after the code is compiled.
• Visual Studio skips the build of a project that it considers up to date, and then the installed skill is not checked either. To restore missing files right away, run the command above.

Installing with dotnet-package-skills

Instead of setting the properties, you can copy the skill with the dotnet-package-skills tool. It copies the skills of the packages that the project references into .agents/skills/, or into the directory you pass with --destination:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-package-skills --prerelease
dotnet-package-skills install

Run dotnet-package-skills install again after you update the package.

Use either the tool or the properties for a skills directory, not both:

• When the tool has copied the skill, the build leaves it as is and shows warning DNBAS001, and the InstallDotNetBrowserAgentSkills command fails. If MSBuild warnings are treated as errors (-warnaserror or MSBuildTreatWarningsAsErrors), the warning fails the build; remove the properties, or add DNBAS001 to NoWarn.
• When the build has installed the skill, the tool skips it with a warning and does not update it.

To switch from the tool to the properties, run dotnet-package-skills uninstall --package DotNetBrowser.AgentSkills, with --destination if you copied the skill into another directory, and then build the project. To switch from the properties to the tool, remove the properties and delete the installed dotnetbrowser directory before you run the tool.

Updating

When you update the package, build the project, or run the command above if neither property is set. The installation replaces the whole dotnetbrowser directory, so do not keep your own files there. If you have changed files in the installed skill by mistake, run the command above to restore them.

The installation replaces only a directory that it created itself. If you copied the skill into the same directory by hand, for example from the skill ZIP, delete that copy once before the first installation.

Do not commit the installed dotnetbrowser directory; add it to .gitignore instead, since the package installs it again. Keep the hidden .dotnetbrowser-agent-skill file in that directory: without it, the installation does not replace the directory.

Removing

Remove the package reference and the property from the project, then delete the installed dotnetbrowser directory. If you copied the skill with dotnet-package-skills, run dotnet-package-skills uninstall --package DotNetBrowser.AgentSkills instead of deleting the directory, so the tool also forgets it.