The dotnet CLI verbs

The daily loop

dotnet new console -o MyApp    # scaffold a console project
cd MyApp
dotnet run                     # compile + execute
dotnet build                   # compile without running
dotnet test                    # run the test project(s)
dotnet publish -c Release      # ship-ready output

dotnet run is the edit–compile–execute loop; it rebuilds changed files and starts the program. build stops before running — use it to check compilation in CI. Outputs land in bin/ (executables) and obj/ (intermediate files); both are safe to delete and rebuilt on the next build — they're never committed.

Flags worth knowing early

• -c Release — optimized build (the default Debug is slower but debugger-friendly).
• --no-restore — skip package re-fetch when you know nothing changed.
• -o — target directory when scaffolding.

The CLI is scriptable — everything a GUI does, these verbs do, which is exactly what the sandbox grading uses.