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Overview

The .NET SDK is a set of libraries and tools used to create .NET apps. It consists of:

  • The .NET CLI
  • The .NET runtime and libraries
  • The dotnet driver
    • This tool:
      1. Runs framework-dependent apps
      2. Executes a command

environment variables

More information: .NET runtime environment variables
More information: .NET SDK and CLI environment variables

dotnet-install scripts

dotnet-install.ps1 (Windows) and dotnet-install.sh (MacOS/Linux) are used to install the .NET SDK and shared runtime.

global.json

The global.json file defines which .NET SDK version to use when executing .NET CLI commands.

Telemetry

The .NET SDK collects various telemetry and sends it to Microsoft. Some of this telemetry can be viewed at https://dotnet.microsoft.com/platform/telemetry.

opting out

To opt out of .NET SDK telemetry collection, set the DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT environment variable to 1 or true.