WebBundler.Core 1.0.0

WebBundler

Lightweight bundling and minification for .NET web projects without JavaScript toolchains.

WebBundler is a simple, deterministic and CI-friendly asset bundling tool for .NET web applications. It helps bundle and minify CSS and JavaScript files without requiring Node.js, npm, Vite, Webpack, or other heavyweight frontend tooling.

Why WebBundler exists

Many .NET web projects still need a small, reliable asset pipeline:

• concatenate a few CSS files
• bundle JavaScript files in a known order
• minify output during build
• integrate cleanly with MSBuild and CI/CD
• avoid introducing a full JavaScript toolchain for simple needs

WebBundler is built for that exact use case.

Goals

WebBundler aims to be:

• lightweight
• deterministic
• CI-friendly
• MSBuild-friendly
• easy to configure
• easy to maintain
• independent from JavaScript package managers and frontend bundlers

Who it is for

WebBundler is a good fit for:

• ASP.NET MVC projects
• Razor-based web applications
• legacy or hybrid .NET web projects
• enterprise and intranet applications
• teams that want straightforward CSS/JS bundling
• teams that prefer .NET-native build integration
• projects that do not want to introduce Node.js just for asset bundling

Who it is not for

WebBundler is not intended to replace modern frontend toolchains such as:

• Vite
• Webpack
• Rollup
• Parcel

It is not designed for:

• frontend framework development workflows
• hot module replacement
• dev servers
• advanced JavaScript transpilation pipelines
• full SPA asset ecosystems

If your project is heavily frontend-driven, a dedicated JavaScript toolchain is probably a better fit.

Features

Current capabilities include:

• CSS bundling
• JavaScript bundling
• minification
• JSON configuration via bundleconfig.json
• versioned JSON Schema for IDE completion
• deterministic output
• CLI usage
• MSBuild integration
• CI/CD support
• wildcard/glob input support
• configuration validation
• check mode for CI
• fingerprinting
• manifest generation via manifestOutput
• source maps for CSS and JavaScript via external sibling .map files
• support for additional asset-related scenarios

Design principles

WebBundler follows a few key principles:

1. CLI-first for automation and scripting
2. MSBuild-first for .NET project integration
3. Visual Studio friendly, but not IDE-dependent
4. Deterministic behavior so local and CI outputs match
5. Simple configuration and explicit behavior
6. Maintainable architecture with clean separation of concerns

Installation

CLI

Install the tool from NuGet:

dotnet tool install --global WebBundler.Tool

Run it from the project root:

webbundler build --config bundleconfig.json
webbundler check --config bundleconfig.json
webbundler validate --config bundleconfig.json

MSBuild

Add the package to a web project:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="WebBundler.MSBuild" Version="1.0.0" PrivateAssets="all" />
</ItemGroup>

The build target looks for bundleconfig.json in the project directory by default and runs once per build or publish invocation.

Useful MSBuild properties:

• WebBundlerConfigFile
• WebBundlerEnabled
• WebBundlerEnableFingerprinting
• WebBundlerWriteOutputs

Usage

• build writes bundled output files.
• build writes bundled output files and any configured manifest.
• validate checks configuration structure only.
• check validates configuration and asset inputs without writing files.

Docs

• Quickstart
• Migration guide
• Compatibility
• FAQ
• CLI reference
• Configuration
• Installation
• MSBuild
• Architecture

See the docs above for examples and implementation details.