Transfer the MCP Server project template from extensions to aspnetcore by jeffhandley · Pull Request #66260 · dotnet/aspnetcore

jeffhandley · 2026-04-10T08:37:17Z

The ultimate goal is to include the mcpserver project template in the .NET SDK. To accomplish this, we will:

Move the template project from the dotnet/extensions repo into the aspnetcore repo
Add the template to dotnet/sdk as an additional Bundled Template

The aspnetcore repo is a good fit for this because:

The mcpserver template offers a "remote" transport option that uses ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore and the ASP.NET Core ref pack
The aspnetcore repo is already part of dependency flow into the SDK
The aspnetcore repo is already part of the VMR (the extensions repo is not)
The aspnetcore repo already includes other project templates that get added into the SDK as Bundled Templates
There's good project template testing infrastructure to reuse

See also: Add Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates as BundledTemplate (dotnet/sdk#53802)

Port the mcpserver template from dotnet/extensions into dotnet/aspnetcore as a new Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates template package. - Create McpServer.ProjectTemplates/ with template content (local/remote transports) - Add .csproj-in files with version placeholders for GenerateContent.targets - Add ModelContextProtocol/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore version tracking - Add McpServerTemplateTest covering local/remote, self-contained, and AOT flavors - Wire into AspNetCore.slnx and ProjectTemplates.slnf Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Replace modelcontextprotocol.github.io/csharp-sdk with csharp.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/ in both local and remote transport README templates. Remove references to the template and MCP Server usage being preview. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

- Split parameterized theories into individual ConditionalFact methods - Replace stale global AOT skip with SkipOnHelix for specific queues - Add template-baselines.json entries for local and remote transport - Add VerifyLaunchSettings for remote transport - Add run verification for remote transport (built + published) - Default args parameter to null in core method - Add skipRestore symbol and --no-restore CLI mapping to template config - Add NuGet restore post-action to template - Register McpServer.ProjectTemplates in TemplatePackageInstaller - Add .gitignore for generated .csproj files Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR brings the mcpserver project template into the aspnetcore repo so it can participate in the existing template-pack build/test infrastructure and dependency flow toward eventually bundling it in the .NET SDK.

Changes:

Adds a new template pack project (Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates) containing local (stdio) and remote (HTTP) MCP server template variants.
Wires the new template into the ProjectTemplates solution(s) and template test infrastructure (baselines + new E2E test).
Introduces version plumbing for ModelContextProtocol packages and updates build exclusions for generated template project files.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 26 out of 27 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/ProjectTemplates/test/Templates.Tests/Templates.Tests.csproj	Adds content + project reference so template tests can access/build the new template pack.
src/ProjectTemplates/test/Templates.Tests/template-baselines.json	Adds baselines for `mcpserver` local/remote variants.
src/ProjectTemplates/test/Templates.Tests/McpServerTemplateTest.cs	Adds E2E coverage for creating/publishing/running the new template variants (including AOT scenarios).
src/ProjectTemplates/Shared/TemplatePackageInstaller.cs	Includes the new template pack in the list of template packages installed for tests and updates expected package count.
src/ProjectTemplates/ProjectTemplates.slnf	Includes the new template pack project in the ProjectTemplates solution filter.
src/ProjectTemplates/McpServer.ProjectTemplates/Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates.csproj	New template pack project that generates the variant-specific .csproj files from `.csproj.in` inputs.
src/ProjectTemplates/McpServer.ProjectTemplates/*.csproj.in	Defines generated project files for local/remote template variants with optional self-contained / AOT publishing settings.
src/ProjectTemplates/McpServer.ProjectTemplates/content/**	Adds the actual template content (template.json, host configs, README/Program files, launchSettings/http file, tool sample, icon).
src/ProjectTemplates/McpServer.ProjectTemplates/.gitignore	Ignores generated project files emitted during template-pack build.
eng/Versions.props	Adds ModelContextProtocol package version properties used during template content generation.
eng/Dependencies.props	Adds ModelContextProtocol packages to latest-package tracking.
eng/Build.props	Excludes generated template project files under the new template pack from general repo globbing.
AspNetCore.slnx	Adds the new template pack project to the main solution.

wtgodbe

LGTM modulo a few questions

wtgodbe · 2026-04-13T19:21:32Z

+    "AI",
+    "MCP"
+  ],
+  "identity": "Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates.McpServer.CSharp",


How does this template handle precedence? We usually have a value that we update w/ every major version so that the net12.0 version will take precedence over the net11.0 version, etc:

aspnetcore/src/ProjectTemplates/Web.ItemTemplates/content/Protobuf/.template.config/template.json

Line 16 in 062d180

"precedence": "11000",

Oh, nice; thanks. Here's what would be fantastic but I don't know if it can be achieved. Can you advise?

net12.0 version takes precedence over net11.0 version

net11.0 version takes precedence over net10.0 version

The intent is to get this into the May servicing release of the SDK again net10.0

net10.0 version takes precedence over the OOB Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates package

However, if needed, have the ability to release an updated OOB Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates package that could take precedence over the SDK versions, with the ability to then bump the precedence in the subsequent SDK update that includes that version, for the SDK versions to take precedence again.

I'm not sure how that would work - someone from dotnet/templating might know more about the specifics

I'm not going to block on that ideal behavior. But I added the precedence and I also found that I needed to suffix the package name with the version number (.11.0) like the other templates do.

I believe precedence is still missing

dotnet-policy-service · 2026-04-21T03:05:37Z

Looks like this PR hasn't been active for some time and the codebase could have been changed in the meantime.
To make sure no conflicting changes have occurred, please rerun validation before merging. You can do this by leaving an /azp run comment here (requires commit rights), or by simply closing and reopening.

…le RID before restore Add preRestoreAction callback to Project.RunDotNetNewAsync to allow template tests to modify the generated csproj between template creation and restore. MCP Server self-contained tests use this to replace the 6-RID RuntimeIdentifiers with a single RuntimeIdentifier matching the current platform, avoiding NU1102 restore failures in CI where runtime packages for all RIDs are unavailable. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Self-contained template restore requires RID-specific runtime packages at version 11.0.0-ci which are unavailable on CI feeds. The single-RID replacement approach didn't fix this since even one RID still needs the unavailable package. Instead, skip default (self-contained) tests on Helix and rely on the --self-contained false variants for CI coverage. Reverts the preRestoreAction parameter added to RunDotNetNewAsync since it is no longer needed. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

NativeAOT implies SelfContained in the template, hitting the same NU1102 runtime package resolution failure as the default self-contained tests. Remove the queue filter so NativeAOT tests skip on all Helix queues, not just NativeAotNotSupportedHelixQueues. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

jeffhandley and others added 3 commits April 10, 2026 00:53

jeffhandley requested a review from baronfel April 10, 2026 08:37

jeffhandley requested review from a team and wtgodbe as code owners April 10, 2026 08:37

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 10, 2026 08:37

github-actions Bot added the area-mvc Includes: MVC, Actions and Controllers, Localization, CORS, most templates label Apr 10, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of jeffhandley April 10, 2026 08:38 View session

jeffhandley mentioned this pull request Apr 10, 2026

Add Microsoft.McpServer.ProjectTemplates as BundledTemplate dotnet/sdk#53802

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Copilot AI reviewed Apr 10, 2026

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Comment thread src/ProjectTemplates/test/Templates.Tests/McpServerTemplateTest.cs

Comment thread src/ProjectTemplates/test/Templates.Tests/McpServerTemplateTest.cs

wtgodbe approved these changes Apr 13, 2026

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dotnet-policy-service Bot added the pending-ci-rerun When assigned to a PR indicates that the CI checks should be rerun label Apr 21, 2026

jeffhandley added 2 commits April 24, 2026 02:28

Suffix the MCP project template package with the version. Add test/doc.

e7b3b49

Merge branch 'main' into jeffhandley/mcpserver-aspnetcore

0742a4b

github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request Apr 25, 2026

[test-quarantine] Unquarantine CacheTagHelperTest.ProcessAsync_AwaitersUseTheResultOfExecutor #66474

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build-analysis Bot mentioned this pull request Apr 27, 2026

[Known Build Error] TestServerTests.LongPollingWorks - ObjectDisposedException in OnDisconnectedAsync during shutdown #65702

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jeffhandley and others added 2 commits April 26, 2026 23:21

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Transfer the MCP Server project template from extensions to aspnetcore#66260

Transfer the MCP Server project template from extensions to aspnetcore#66260
jeffhandley wants to merge 8 commits intodotnet:mainfrom
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jeffhandley commented Apr 10, 2026 •

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jeffhandley commented Apr 10, 2026 •

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