dotnet-vs

A global tool for running, managing and querying Visual Studio installations

Installing or updating (same command for both):

dotnet tool update -g dotnet-vs

To get the CI version:

dotnet tool update -g dotnet-vs --no-cache --add-source https://pkg.kzu.io/index.json

Command line parsing is done with Mono.Options so all the following variants for arguments are supported: -flag, --flag, /flag, -flag=value, --flag=value, /flag=value, -flag:value, --flag:value, /flag:value, -flag value, --flag value, /flag value.

Supported commands:

install

Installs a specific edition of Visual Studio

Usage: vs install [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	install preview version
int|internal	install internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
add:	A workload ID

You can add specific workload IDs by using the supported workload switches.

See the documentation for the Visual Studio installer command line options for the full list of arguments that can be provided.

Common options are --passive, quiet and --wait, for example.

Examples:

// Installs VS enterprise with the Xamarin/Mobile workload
vs install -sku:enterprise +mobile

// Install VS community with the .NET Core, ASP.NET and Azure workloads, 
// shows installation progress and waits for it to finish before returning
vs install +core +web +azure

run

This is default command, so typically it does not need to be provided as an argument.

Usage: vs run [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	run preview version
int|internal	run internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
exp|experimental	run experimental instance instead of regular.
id:	Run a specific instance by its ID
f|first	If more than one instance matches the criteria, run the first one sorted by descending build version.
v|version:	Run specific (semantic) version, such as 16.4 or 16.5.3.
w|wait	Wait for the started Visual Studio to exit.
nr|nodereuse	Disable MSBuild node reuse. Useful when testing analyzers, tasks and targets. Defaults to true when running experimental instance.
default	Set as the default version to run when no arguments are provided, or remove the current default (with --default-).
requires:	A workload ID

All workload switches are available too to filter the instance to run.

This command will remember the last VS that was located and run. So the next time you can just run the same instance by simply using vs (since run is the default command and can be omitted).

Examples:

// Runs the first VS enterprise with the Xamarin/Mobile workload
vs -sku:ent -first +mobile

// Runs VS 16.4
vs -v:16.4

// Runs VS 16.5 preview
vs -v:16.4 -pre

// Runs the last VS that was run
vs

where

Locates the installed version(s) of Visual Studio that satisfy the requested requirements, optionally retrieving installation properties from it.

Usage: vs where [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	show preview version
int|internal	show internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
all	show all instances.
prop|property:	The name of a property to return
requires:	A workload ID

Supports same options as vswhere.exe:

  -all           Finds all instances even if they are incomplete and may not launch.
  -prerelease    Also searches prereleases. By default, only releases are searched.
  -products arg  One or more product IDs to find. Defaults to Community, Professional, and Enterprise.
                 Specify "*" by itself to search all product instances installed.
                 See https://aka.ms/vs/workloads for a list of product IDs.
  -requires arg  One or more workload or component IDs required when finding instances.
                 All specified IDs must be installed unless -requiresAny is specified.
                 See https://aka.ms/vs/workloads for a list of workload and component IDs.
  -requiresAny   Find instances with any one or more workload or components IDs passed to -requires.
  -version arg   A version range for instances to find. Example: [15.0,16.0) will find versions 15.*.
  -latest        Return only the newest version and last installed.
  -sort          Sorts the instances from newest version and last installed to oldest.
                 When used with "find", first instances are sorted then files are sorted lexigraphically.
  -legacy        Also searches Visual Studio 2015 and older products. Information is limited.
                 This option cannot be used with either -products or -requires.
  -format arg    Return information about instances found in a format described below.
  -property arg  The name of a property to return. Defaults to "value" format.
                 Use delimiters ".", "/", or "_" to separate object and property names.
                 Example: "properties.nickname" will return the "nickname" property under "properties".
  -include arg   One or more extra properties to include, as described below.
  -find arg      Returns matching file paths under the installation path. Defaults to "value" format.
                 The following patterns are supported:
                 ?  Matches any one character except "\".
                 *  Matches zero or more characters except "\".
                 ** Searches the current directory and subdirectories for the remaining search pattern.
  -nologo        Do not show logo information. Some formats noted below will not show a logo anyway.
  -utf8          Use UTF-8 encoding (recommended for JSON).
  -?, -h, -help  Display this help message.


Extra properties:
  packages       Return an array of packages installed in this instance.
                 Supported only by the "json" and "xml" formats.

Formats:
  json           An array of JSON objects for each instance (no logo).
  text           Colon-delimited properties in separate blocks for each instance (default).
  value          A single property specified by the -property parameter (no logo).
  xml            An XML data set containing instances (no logo).

A shorthand notation is available for -requires [workload ID] via the supported workload ID switches (see below).

See also vswhere on GitHub.

update

Updates an installation of Visual Studio

Usage: vs update [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	Update preview version
int|internal	Update internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
'123'`

Examples:

modify

Modifies an installation of Visual Studio

Usage: vs modify [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	modify preview version
int|internal	modify internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
add:	A workload ID
remove:	A workload ID

Examples:

config

Opens the config folder

Usage: vs config [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	open preview version
int|internal	open internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
exp|experimental	open experimental instance instead of regular.

Examples:

log

Opens the folder containing the Activity.log file

Usage: vs log [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	open preview version
int|internal	open internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
exp|experimental	open experimental instance instead of regular.

Examples:

kill

Kills running devenv processes

Usage: vs kill [options]

Option	Description
pre|preview	kill preview version
int|internal	kill internal (aka 'dogfood') version
sku:	Edition, one of e|ent|enterprise, p|pro|professional, c|com|community b|build|buildtools or t|test|testagent
filter:	An expression to filter VS instances. E.g. x => x.InstanceId = '123'
exp|experimental	kill experimental instance instead of regular.
all	kill all instances.

Examples:

Workload ID switches

For commands that receive workload ID switches (i.e. vs where -requires [WORKLOAD_ID] or vs install --add [WORKLOAD_ID]), the following aliases are available:

Switch	Workload ID
--mobile	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetCrossPlat
--core	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetCoreTools
--azure	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Azure
--data	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Data
--desktop	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop
--unity	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedGame
--native	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop
--xamarin	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetCrossPlat
--web	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetWeb
--node	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Node
--office	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Office
--py	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Python
--python	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Python
--uwp	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Universal
--vsx	Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VisualStudioExtension

The switches are converted to the appropriate argument automatically, such as into -requires [ID] or --add [ID]. Additionally, the switches can also be specified with a + (like +mobile), which might make for a more intuitive command line, such as vs install +mobile -sku:enterprise or vs +mobile (runs the VS with the mobile workload installed).