Sandbox::https://github.com/dotnet/extensions/pull/6772

jeffkl · 2025-09-04T21:14:42Z

This updates the MCP server template to have some new guidance particularly to use a self-contained, single file executable. It also allows for users to specify that they want to use AOT via a command-line argument.

Option	Default Value
`--framework`	`net9.0`
`--self-contained`	`true`
`--aot`	`false`

The matrix of possible values for some MSBuild properties is a little complicated, this table explains how certain arguments affect them:

Option	RuntimeIdentifiers	PublishSelfContained	PublishSingleFile	PublishAot	RollForward
--self-contained:true	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
--self-contained:false	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
--aot:true	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌

And the default values for RuntimeIdentifers is:

win-x64
win-arm64
osx-arm64
linux-x64
linux-arm64
linux-musl-x64

Microsoft Reviewers: Open in CodeFlow

joelverhagen · 2025-09-05T13:11:11Z

CC @baronfel, @jeffhandley, @timheuer, @MackinnonBuck

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

This PR updates the MCP server template to provide better guidance for users, particularly around creating self-contained, single-file executables. The update adds command-line options for users to specify framework targets, self-containment, and AOT compilation settings.

Adds support for --framework, --self-contained, and --aot command-line arguments with appropriate defaults
Updates project configuration to generate self-contained single-file executables by default
Includes conditional MSBuild properties based on template arguments for different deployment scenarios

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 22 out of 22 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
Multiple snapshot test files	Updated to reflect new template output with self-contained configurations
McpServerSnapshotTests.cs	Added test methods for new template argument scenarios
README.md	Enhanced documentation explaining self-contained vs framework-dependent deployment
McpServer-CSharp.csproj.in	Updated MSBuild properties with conditional logic for different deployment modes
template.json	Added new parameter symbols for framework, AOT, and self-contained options
ide.host.json	Made new template parameters visible in IDE
dotnetcli.host.json	Configured CLI parameter names and visibility

_{Tip: Customize your code reviews with copilot-instructions.md. Create the file or learn how to get started.}

jeffkl requested a review from joelverhagen September 4, 2025 21:14

github-actions Bot added the area-ai-templates Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Templates label Sep 4, 2025

dotnet-policy-service Bot assigned jeffkl Sep 4, 2025

jeffkl force-pushed the update-mcp-server-template branch 2 times, most recently from 318def4 to 81941d1 Compare September 4, 2025 23:01