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CLI Reference — Complete Command Reference

The Aspire CLI (aspire) is the primary interface for creating, running, and publishing distributed applications. It is cross-platform and installed standalone (not coupled to the .NET CLI, though dotnet commands also work).

Tested against: Aspire CLI 13.1.0

Installation

# Linux / macOS
curl -sSL https://aspire.dev/install.sh | bash

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://aspire.dev/install.ps1 | iex

# Verify
aspire --version

# Update the CLI itself
aspire update --self

Global Options

All commands support these options:

Option Description
-d, --debug Enable debug logging to the console
--non-interactive Disable all interactive prompts and spinners
--wait-for-debugger Wait for a debugger to attach before executing
-?, -h, --help Show help and usage information
--version Show version information

Command Reference

aspire new

Create a new project from a template.

aspire new [<template>] [options]

# Options:
#   -n, --name <name>        Project name
#   -o, --output <dir>       Output directory
#   -s, --source <source>    NuGet source for templates
#   -v, --version <version>  Version of templates to use
#   --channel <channel>      Channel (stable, daily)

# Examples:
aspire new aspire-starter
aspire new aspire-starter -n MyApp -o ./my-app
aspire new aspire-ts-cs-starter
aspire new aspire-py-starter
aspire new aspire-apphost-singlefile

Available templates:

  • aspire-starter — ASP.NET Core/Blazor starter + AppHost + tests
  • aspire-ts-cs-starter — ASP.NET Core/React + AppHost
  • aspire-py-starter — FastAPI/React + AppHost
  • aspire-apphost-singlefile — Empty single-file AppHost

aspire init

Initialize Aspire in an existing project or solution.

aspire init [options]

# Options:
#   -s, --source <source>    NuGet source for templates
#   -v, --version <version>  Version of templates to use
#   --channel <channel>      Channel (stable, daily)

# Example:
cd my-existing-solution
aspire init

Adds AppHost and ServiceDefaults projects to an existing solution. Interactive prompts guide you through selecting which projects to orchestrate.

aspire run

Start all resources locally using the DCP (Developer Control Plane).

aspire run [options] [-- <additional arguments>]

# Options:
#   --project <path>       Path to AppHost project file

# Examples:
aspire run
aspire run --project ./src/MyApp.AppHost

Behavior:

  1. Builds the AppHost project
  2. Starts the DCP engine
  3. Creates resources in dependency order (DAG)
  4. Waits for health checks on gated resources
  5. Opens the dashboard in the default browser
  6. Streams logs to the terminal

Press Ctrl+C to gracefully stop all resources.

aspire add

Add a hosting integration to the AppHost.

aspire add [<integration>] [options]

# Options:
#   --project <path>         Target project file
#   -v, --version <version>  Version of integration to add
#   -s, --source <source>    NuGet source for integration

# Examples:
aspire add redis
aspire add postgresql
aspire add mongodb

aspire publish (Preview)

Generate deployment manifests from the AppHost resource model.

aspire publish [options] [-- <additional arguments>]

# Options:
#   --project <path>                   Path to AppHost project file
#   -o, --output-path <path>           Output directory (default: ./aspire-output)
#   --log-level <level>                Log level (trace, debug, information, warning, error, critical)
#   -e, --environment <env>            Environment (default: Production)
#   --include-exception-details        Include stack traces in pipeline logs

# Examples:
aspire publish
aspire publish --output-path ./deploy
aspire publish -e Staging

aspire config

Manage Aspire configuration settings.

aspire config <subcommand>

# Subcommands:
#   get <key>              Get a configuration value
#   set <key> <value>      Set a configuration value
#   list                   List all configuration values
#   delete <key>           Delete a configuration value

# Examples:
aspire config list
aspire config set telemetry.enabled false
aspire config get telemetry.enabled
aspire config delete telemetry.enabled

aspire cache

Manage disk cache for CLI operations.

aspire cache <subcommand>

# Subcommands:
#   clear                  Clear all cache entries

# Example:
aspire cache clear

aspire deploy (Preview)

Deploy the contents of an Aspire apphost to its defined deployment targets.

aspire deploy [options] [-- <additional arguments>]

# Options:
#   --project <path>                   Path to AppHost project file
#   -o, --output-path <path>           Output path for deployment artifacts
#   --log-level <level>                Log level (trace, debug, information, warning, error, critical)
#   -e, --environment <env>            Environment (default: Production)
#   --include-exception-details        Include stack traces in pipeline logs
#   --clear-cache                      Clear deployment cache for current environment

# Example:
aspire deploy --project ./src/MyApp.AppHost

aspire do (Preview)

Execute a specific pipeline step and its dependencies.

aspire do <step> [options] [-- <additional arguments>]

# Options:
#   --project <path>                   Path to AppHost project file
#   -o, --output-path <path>           Output path for artifacts
#   --log-level <level>                Log level (trace, debug, information, warning, error, critical)
#   -e, --environment <env>            Environment (default: Production)
#   --include-exception-details        Include stack traces in pipeline logs

# Example:
aspire do build-images --project ./src/MyApp.AppHost

aspire update (Preview)

Update integrations in the Aspire project, or update the CLI itself.

aspire update [options]

# Options:
#   --project <path>       Path to AppHost project file
#   --self                 Update the Aspire CLI itself to the latest version
#   --channel <channel>    Channel to update to (stable, daily)

# Examples:
aspire update                          # Update project integrations
aspire update --self                   # Update the CLI itself
aspire update --self --channel daily   # Update CLI to daily build

aspire mcp

Manage the MCP (Model Context Protocol) server.

aspire mcp <subcommand>

# Subcommands:
#   init    Initialize MCP server configuration for detected agent environments
#   start   Start the MCP server

aspire mcp init

aspire mcp init

# Interactive — detects your AI environment and creates config files.
# Supported environments:
# - VS Code (GitHub Copilot)
# - Copilot CLI
# - Claude Code
# - OpenCode

Generates the appropriate configuration file for your detected AI tool. See MCP Server for details.

aspire mcp start

aspire mcp start

# Starts the MCP server using STDIO transport.
# This is typically invoked by your AI tool, not run manually.

Commands That Do NOT Exist

The following commands are not valid in Aspire CLI 13.1. Use alternatives:

Invalid Command Alternative
aspire build Use dotnet build ./AppHost
aspire test Use dotnet test ./Tests
aspire dev Use aspire run (includes file watching)
aspire list Use aspire new --help for templates, aspire add for integrations

.NET CLI equivalents

The dotnet CLI can perform some Aspire tasks:

Aspire CLI .NET CLI Equivalent
aspire new aspire-starter dotnet new aspire-starter
aspire run dotnet run --project ./AppHost
N/A dotnet build ./AppHost
N/A dotnet test ./Tests

The Aspire CLI adds value with publish, deploy, add, mcp, config, cache, do, and update — commands that have no direct dotnet equivalent.