Use the MSBuild API

MSBuild provides a public API surface so that your program can perform builds and inspect projects. Recent versions of the MSBuild APIs can be found in the following NuGet packages:

Package name	Description
Microsoft.Build	Contains the Microsoft.Build assembly which is used to create, edit, and evaluate MSBuild projects.
Microsoft.Build.Framework	Contains the common MSBuild framework assembly used by other MSBuild assemblies.
Microsoft.Build.Runtime	Delivers a complete executable copy of MSBuild. Reference this package only if your application needs to load projects or execute in-process builds without requiring installation of MSBuild. Successfully evaluating projects using this package requires aggregating additional components (like the compilers) into an application directory.
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core	Contains the Microsoft.Build.Tasks assembly which implements the commonly used tasks of MSBuild.
Microsoft.Build.Utilities.Core	Contains the Microsoft.Build.Utilities assembly which is used to implement custom MSBuild tasks.

In addition, NuGet also hosts a legacy assembly, Microsoft.Build.Engine, which is deprecated.

There are several different versions of the MSBuild API, and for versions 15 and 16, there are two distinct forms of the assemblies in the NuGet packages, one compiled with the .NET Framework, and another compiled with .NET Core, which is a subset of the .NET Framework API surface. The .NET Core version of MSBuild is used when you invoke the dotnet command, and when using MSBuild on Mac and Linux systems.

Documentation for the MSBuild API can be found by using the .NET API Browser, or by browsing the namespaces in the following list.

Namespace	Applies To	Description
Microsoft.Build.Construction	All	Contains types that the MSBuild object model uses to construct project roots with unevaluated values. Each project root corresponds to a project or targets file.
Microsoft.Build.Definition	All	Contains the ProjectOptions class, which supports project construction.
Microsoft.Build.Evaluation	All	Contains types that the MSBuild object model uses to evaluate projects. Each project is associated with one or more project roots.
Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Context	All	Contains the EvaluationContext class, used to store evaluation state across calls.
Microsoft.Build.Exceptions	All	Contains exception types that may be thrown during the build process.
Microsoft.Build.Execution	All	Contains types that the MSBuild object model uses to build projects.
Microsoft.Build.Framework	All	Contains the types that define how tasks and loggers interact with the MSBuild engine.
Microsoft.Build.Framework.Profiler	All	Contains the types that support performance profiling.
Microsoft.Build.Framework.XamlTypes	.NET Framework only	Contains classes used to represent XAML types parsed from files, rules, and other sources.
Microsoft.Build.Globbing	All	Contains classes that support wildcard processing.
Microsoft.Build.Globbing.Extensions	All	Contains types that support extensions to wildcard processing.
Microsoft.Build.Graph	All	Contains types that support the -graph MSBuild switch.
Microsoft.Build.Logging	All	Contains types used for logging the progress of a build.
Microsoft.Build.ObjectModelRemoting	All	Contains types that support remoting in MSBuild.
Microsoft.Build.Tasks	All	Contains the implementation of all tasks shipping with MSBuild.
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Deployment.Bootstrapper	.NET Framework only	Contains classes used internally by MSBuild.
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Deployment.ManifestUtilities	.NET Framework only	Contains classes that MSBuild uses.
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Hosting	All	Contains classes used internally by MSBuild.
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Xaml	.NET Framework only	Contains classes related to XAML build tasks.
Microsoft.Build.Utilities	All	Contains helper classes that you can use to create your own MSBuild loggers and tasks.

In the previous table, All in the Applies To column means the types in the namespace are available in both the .NET Framework and the .NET Core versions of the MSBuild API.