All 15 .NET CLI, SDK & Project Structure (csproj) questions
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What is the .NET SDK, and how does it differ from the .NET Runtime? What does `dotnet new` do, and how do you list available project templates? What does the `dotnet watch` command do, and how does it speed up local development? What is the structure and purpose of a .csproj file in a modern SDK-style .NET project? What is a .sln (solution) file, and how does it relate to .csproj project files? How does target framework moniker (TFM) selection, like net8.0 or net8.0-windows, affect what a project can do? How do global.json files pin a specific .NET SDK version for a project or repository? What is the difference between framework-dependent deployment (FDD) and self-contained deployment (SCD)? How do you add, remove, and list NuGet package references using the dotnet CLI? What is the difference between dotnet build, dotnet publish, and dotnet run?
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What is the dotnet CLI, and what are some of its most commonly used commands?

Beginner

Answer

The dotnet CLI is the cross-platform command-line interface for creating, building, running, testing, and publishing .NET projects. Common commands include `dotnet new` (scaffold a project), `dotnet build`, `dotnet run`, `dotnet test`, `dotnet publish`, `dotnet add package`, and `dotnet restore`.
dotnet new webapi -n MyApi
cd MyApi
dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet run
Real-world example A developer onboarding to a new project runs `dotnet restore && dotnet build && dotnet test` as a single sequence to verify their environment is set up correctly before writing any code.

Common follow-ups: How does dotnet new differ from Visual Studio's project wizard?;What does dotnet restore actually do under the hood?

.NET CLI SDK & Project Structure (csproj);Assemblies & NuGet
All 15 .NET CLI, SDK & Project Structure (csproj) questions