Aspire skill covering the Aspire CLI, AppHost orchestration, service discovery, integrations, MCP server, VS Code extension, Dev Containers, GitHub Codespaces, templates, dashboard, and deployment. Use when the user asks to create, run, debug, configure, deploy, or troubleshoot an Aspire distributed application.
Aspire is a code-first, polyglot toolchain for building observable, production-ready distributed applications. It orchestrates containers, executables, and cloud resources from a single AppHost project — regardless of whether the workloads are C#, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, Java, Rust, Bun, Deno, or PowerShell.
Mental model: The AppHost is a conductor — it doesn't play the instruments, it tells every service when to start, how to find each other, and watches for problems.
Detailed reference material lives in the references/ folder — load on demand.
| Reference | When to load |
|---|---|
| CLI Reference |
| Command flags, options, or detailed usage |
| MCP Server | Setting up MCP for AI assistants, available tools |
| Integrations Catalog | Discovering integrations via MCP tools, wiring patterns |
| Polyglot APIs | Method signatures, chaining options, language-specific patterns |
| Architecture | DCP internals, resource model, service discovery, networking, telemetry |
| Dashboard | Dashboard features, standalone mode, GenAI Visualizer |
| Deployment | Docker, Kubernetes, Azure Container Apps, App Service |
| Testing | Integration tests against the AppHost |
| Troubleshooting | Diagnostic codes, common errors, and fixes |
The Aspire team ships an MCP server that provides documentation tools directly inside your AI assistant. See MCP Server for setup details.
If running Aspire CLI 13.2 or later (aspire --version), the MCP server includes docs search tools:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
list_docs | Lists all available documentation from aspire.dev |
search_docs | Performs weighted lexical search across indexed documentation |
get_doc | Retrieves a specific document by its slug |
These tools were added in PR #14028. To update: aspire update --self --channel daily.
For more on this approach, see David Pine's post: https://davidpine.dev/posts/aspire-docs-mcp-tools/
On 13.1, the MCP server provides integration lookup but not docs search:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
list_integrations | Lists available Aspire hosting integrations |
get_integration_docs | Gets documentation for a specific integration package |
For general docs queries on 13.1, use Context7 as your primary source (see below).
Use Context7 (mcp_context7) when the Aspire MCP docs tools are unavailable (13.1) or the MCP server isn't running:
Step 1 — Resolve the library ID (one-time per session):
Call mcp_context7_resolve-library-id with libraryName: ".NET Aspire".
| Rank | Library ID | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | /microsoft/aspire.dev | Primary source. Guides, integrations, CLI reference, deployment. |
| 2 | /dotnet/aspire | API internals, source-level implementation details. |
| 3 | /communitytoolkit/aspire | Non-Microsoft polyglot integrations (Go, Java, Node.js, Ollama). |
Step 2 — Query docs:
libraryId: "/microsoft/aspire.dev", query: "Python integration AddPythonApp service discovery"
libraryId: "/communitytoolkit/aspire", query: "Golang Java Node.js community integrations"
Search the official docs repo on GitHub:
microsoft/aspire.dev — path: src/frontend/src/content/docs/dotnet/aspiredotnet/aspire-samplesCommunityToolkit/Aspire| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| .NET SDK | 10.0+ (required even for non-.NET workloads — the AppHost is .NET) |
| Container runtime | Docker Desktop, Podman, or Rancher Desktop |
| IDE (optional) | VS Code + C# Dev Kit, Visual Studio 2022, JetBrains Rider |
# Linux / macOS
curl -sSL https://aspire.dev/install.sh | bash
# Windows PowerShell
irm https://aspire.dev/install.ps1 | iex
# Verify
aspire --version
# Install templates
dotnet new install Aspire.ProjectTemplates
| Template | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|
| aspire-starter | aspire new aspire-starter | ASP.NET Core/Blazor starter + AppHost + tests |
| aspire-ts-cs-starter | aspire new aspire-ts-cs-starter | ASP.NET Core/React starter + AppHost |
| aspire-py-starter | aspire new aspire-py-starter | FastAPI/React starter + AppHost |
| aspire-apphost-singlefile | aspire new aspire-apphost-singlefile | Empty single-file AppHost |
The AppHost orchestrates all services. Non-.NET workloads run as containers or executables.
var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
// Infrastructure
var redis = builder.AddRedis("cache");
var postgres = builder.AddPostgres("pg").AddDatabase("catalog");
// .NET API
var api = builder.AddProject<Projects.CatalogApi>("api")
.WithReference(postgres).WithReference(redis);
// Python ML service
var ml = builder.AddPythonApp("ml-service", "../ml-service", "main.py")
.WithHttpEndpoint(targetPort: 8000).WithReference(redis);
// React frontend (Vite)
var web = builder.AddViteApp("web", "../frontend")
.WithHttpEndpoint(targetPort: 5173).WithReference(api);
// Go worker
var worker = builder.AddGolangApp("worker", "../go-worker")
.WithReference(redis);
builder.Build().Run();
For complete API signatures, see Polyglot APIs.
| Concept | Key point |
|---|---|
| Run vs Publish | aspire run = local dev (DCP engine). aspire publish = generate deployment manifests. |
| Service discovery | Automatic via env vars: ConnectionStrings__<name>, services__<name>__http__0 |
| Resource lifecycle | DAG ordering — dependencies start first. .WaitFor() gates on health checks. |
| Resource types | ProjectResource, ContainerResource, ExecutableResource, ParameterResource |
| Integrations | 144+ across 13 categories. Hosting package (AppHost) + Client package (service). |
| Dashboard | Real-time logs, traces, metrics, GenAI visualizer. Runs automatically with aspire run. |
| MCP Server | AI assistants can query running apps and search docs via CLI (STDIO). |
| Testing | Aspire.Hosting.Testing — spin up full AppHost in xUnit/MSTest/NUnit. |
| Deployment | Docker, Kubernetes, Azure Container Apps, Azure App Service. |
Valid commands in Aspire CLI 13.1:
| Command | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
aspire new <template> | Create from template | Stable |
aspire init | Initialize in existing project | Stable |
aspire run | Start all resources locally | Stable |
aspire add <integration> | Add an integration | Stable |
aspire publish | Generate deployment manifests | Preview |
aspire config | Manage configuration settings | Stable |
aspire cache | Manage disk cache | Stable |
aspire deploy | Deploy to defined targets | Preview |
aspire do <step> | Execute a pipeline step | Preview |
aspire update | Update integrations (or --self for CLI) | Preview |
aspire mcp init | Configure MCP for AI assistants | Stable |
aspire mcp start | Start the MCP server | Stable |
Full command reference with flags: CLI Reference.
Add*App() or AddProject<T>().WithReference().WaitFor() if neededaspire runaspire new aspire-apphost-singlefile (empty AppHost)docker-compose service with an Aspire resourcedepends_on → .WithReference() + .WaitFor()ports → .WithHttpEndpoint()environment → .WithEnvironment() or .WithReference()| Resource | URL |
|---|---|
| Documentation | https://aspire.dev |
| Runtime repo | https://github.com/dotnet/aspire |
| Docs repo | https://github.com/microsoft/aspire.dev |
| Samples | https://github.com/dotnet/aspire-samples |
| Community Toolkit | https://github.com/CommunityToolkit/Aspire |
| Dashboard image | mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire-dashboard |
| Discord | https://aka.ms/aspire/discord |
| https://www.reddit.com/r/aspiredotdev/ |