NanoByte.CloneGenerator 0.1.1

dotnet add package NanoByte.CloneGenerator --version 0.1.1

NuGet\Install-Package NanoByte.CloneGenerator -Version 0.1.1

This command is intended to be used within the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio, as it uses the NuGet module's version of Install-Package.

<PackageReference Include="NanoByte.CloneGenerator" Version="0.1.1">
  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers</IncludeAssets>
</PackageReference>

For projects that support PackageReference, copy this XML node into the project file to reference the package.

<PackageVersion Include="NanoByte.CloneGenerator" Version="0.1.1" />
                    

                            Directory.Packages.props

<PackageReference Include="NanoByte.CloneGenerator">
  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers</IncludeAssets>
</PackageReference>
                    

                            Project file

For projects that support Central Package Management (CPM), copy this XML node into the solution Directory.Packages.props file to version the package.

paket add NanoByte.CloneGenerator --version 0.1.1

The NuGet Team does not provide support for this client. Please contact its maintainers for support.

#r "nuget: NanoByte.CloneGenerator, 0.1.1"

#r directive can be used in F# Interactive and Polyglot Notebooks. Copy this into the interactive tool or source code of the script to reference the package.

#:package NanoByte.CloneGenerator@0.1.1

#:package directive can be used in C# file-based apps starting in .NET 10 preview 4. Copy this into a .cs file before any lines of code to reference the package.

#addin nuget:?package=NanoByte.CloneGenerator&version=0.1.1
                    

                            Install as a Cake Addin

#tool nuget:?package=NanoByte.CloneGenerator&version=0.1.1
                    

                            Install as a Cake Tool

The NuGet Team does not provide support for this client. Please contact its maintainers for support.

NanoByte Clone Generator

A Roslyn source generator for deep Clone() methods.

Annotate a partial class with [Cloneable] and the member-by-member copy is generated at compile time. No reflection, no runtime dependency, trim- and AOT-safe.

using NanoByte.CloneGenerator;

[Cloneable]
public partial class Contact
{
    public required string LastName { get; set; }
    public string? FirstName { get; set; }
    public Address? WorkAddress { get; set; }
    public List<PhoneNumber> PhoneNumbers { get; } = [];
}

gives you:

public virtual Contact Clone()
{
    var from = this;
    var to = new Contact {LastName = from.LastName};
    CloneFromTo(from, to);
    return to;
}

protected static void CloneFromTo(Contact from, Contact to)
{
    to.FirstName = from.FirstName;
    to.WorkAddress = from.WorkAddress?.Clone();
    foreach (var item in from.PhoneNumbers) to.PhoneNumbers.Add(item?.Clone()!);
}

Full documentation: https://clone-generator.nano-byte.net/

Installation

dotnet add package NanoByte.CloneGenerator

The package is an analyzer, so mark it as a build-time-only dependency:

<PackageReference Include="NanoByte.CloneGenerator" PrivateAssets="All" />

Clone interfaces

The generator adapts to whichever cloning contract your type already declares:

Your type declares	Generated
nothing	`public virtual T Clone()`
`ICloneable<T>` (any namespace, e.g. `NanoByte.Common`)	`public virtual T Clone()`, implicitly implementing it
`System.ICloneable`	plus `object System.ICloneable.Clone()` as an explicit implementation
both	both

ICloneable<T> is matched structurally: any interface named ICloneable with one type parameter and a T Clone() method, regardless of namespace.

What gets copied

Rules are applied in order, per property and field:

Condition	Result
`static`, `const`, indexer, write-only, `readonly` field, `[IgnoreClone]`	skipped
`required` or `init`-only	set in the leaf object initializer
get-only collection	contents copied into the existing instance, elements cloned if cloneable
type is cloneable	`from.X?.Clone()`
settable collection	new instance, elements cloned if cloneable; falls back to a copy constructor
primitive, `string`, `enum`, value type, registered shallow	copied directly
type parameter	classified by its constraints
`record`	`from.X with {}`
anything else	copied by reference, with a warning

Attributes

Attribute	Target	Meaning
`[Cloneable]`	class	Opt in. `MethodName` overrides the generated method name.
`[IgnoreClone]`	property/field	Exclude; the clone keeps the default value.
`[ShallowClone]`	property/field	Copy by reference even if the type is cloneable.
`[assembly: CloneShallow(typeof(T))]`	assembly	Register an immutable type once, instead of annotating every member of it.

Limitations

Classes only.
No nested types.
No cycle detection.
Back-references are deep-copied like anything else, which detaches them from the new graph. Use [ShallowClone] where you need identity preserved.

Building

The source code is in src/, config for building the API documentation is in doc/ and generated build artifacts are placed in artifacts/. The source code does not contain version numbers. Instead the version is determined during CI using GitVersion.

To build run .\build.ps1 or ./build.sh (.NET SDK is automatically downloaded if missing using 0install).

Contributing

We welcome contributions to this project such as bug reports, recommendations and pull requests.

This repository contains an EditorConfig file. Please make sure to use an editor that supports it to ensure consistent code style, file encoding, etc.. For full tooling support for all style and naming conventions consider using JetBrains' ReSharper or Rider products.

There are no supported framework assets in this package.

Learn more about Target Frameworks and .NET Standard.

This package has no dependencies.

NuGet packages

This package is not used by any NuGet packages.

GitHub repositories

This package is not used by any popular GitHub repositories.

Version	Downloads	Last Updated
0.1.1	0	8/27/2026
0.1.0	0	8/27/2026