.NET Modernization Tools

AI-powered tools for upgrading and modernizing .NET applications across multiple development environments.

Getting Started

Choose the development environment you use and follow the setup instructions.

Visual Studio Code

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code
• GitHub Copilot extension installed
• GitHub Copilot subscription (paid or free)

Install

1. Install the GitHub Copilot modernization extension from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open a workspace containing your .NET project
3. Open Copilot Chat and select modernize-dotnet from the Agent picker
4. Prompt the agent with the type of upgrade you would like to perform, for example: upgrade my project to .NET 10.

GitHub Copilot CLI

The modernize-dotnet plugin adds a modernization agent to Copilot CLI.

Prerequisites

• GitHub Copilot CLI installed
• GitHub Copilot subscription (paid or free)

Install

1. Add the marketplace:

   /plugin marketplace add dotnet/modernize-dotnet
   

2. Install the plugin:

   /plugin install modernize-dotnet@modernize-dotnet-plugins
   

3. Select the agent:

   /agent to select modernize-dotnet

4. Prompt the agent:

   upgrade my project to .NET 10
   

Note: You may need to restart Copilot CLI after installing the plugin before the agent becomes available (tracking issue).

GitHub Copilot Coding Agent

A custom agent definition and setup steps are provided for use with Copilot Coding Agent in GitHub. This allows Copilot to modernize .NET projects directly via pull requests.

See the coding-agent README for setup instructions.

Visual Studio

Prerequisites

• Windows operating system
• Visual Studio 2026 or Visual Studio 2022 version 17.14.17+
• .NET desktop development workload with the following components enabled
  • GitHub Copilot
  • GitHub Copilot app modernization
• GitHub Copilot subscription (paid or free)

Install

1. Right-click a project in Solution Explorer

2. Select Modernize

3. Alternatively, open GitHub Copilot Chat and run: @Modernize