richlander/dotnet-skills/dotnet-inspect

dotnet-inspect: .NET Metadata and IL Analysis Tool

Use dotnet-inspect to find evidence about compiled .NET code: discover APIs, follow relationships into implementation and source, investigate risks, and explain what changed. Skills teach basic tasks, command entrances and common arguments; installed evidence supplies the depth. Facts support judgment, not an automatic quality or safety verdict.

Run dnx dotnet-inspect -y -- <command-or-target>. -y skips confirmation; -- passes the remaining arguments to dotnet-inspect. If intent or result space is unclear, use a bare target and let the router choose. Otherwise start directly. Use skill <name> for a focused workflow only when the question needs it.

Common starts

Follow the evidence

• When you do not know the capability, bare explain gives routing hints and explain <task-text> searches installed capabilities. Follow a returned exact path or binding; a search miss does not prove the tool lacks the capability. Use command help or the relevant focused skill to recover. When the route is known, use -D for sections and -Q for facets/operators directly; neither requires a detour through the root.
• On Member, member --explain explains the command; member Type Method --explain explains the resolved group or exact selector. Add -E to retain ordinary stdout and put the explanation on stderr, or -E .tips for contextual suggestions. These are Member gestures, not universal flags.
• Use explain vocabularies --json for legal-value discovery. For supported vocabulary, query-space, facet and discovery readings, request .hal --json: _embedded is included data, _links supplies navigation. Cache the response, select locally with jq, preserve scope (profile, population and completeness), data_scope and applicable data states where emitted, and follow hrefs unchanged only for missing knowledge. Unselected values are unknown, not false. Do not fetch a contract or another copy merely to confirm an answered question.
• Preserve package/version, selected Library, TFM/RID and exact Type/Member identities. Read diagnostics, completion and boundaries before interpreting empty output. Platform queries use installed packs when available, otherwise package-backed sources; for a non-conventional install verify <root>/packs and set process-scoped DOTNET_ROOT, not PATH. --project reads restored assets: restore/build first when dependencies changed.
• Start with ordinary domain output. Use --table, --tsv, --jsonl or --json when needed; load skill query for section/field selection, row limits, envelopes and Share. Stop when the requested answer has sufficient evidence, or name the missing evidence. Unpinned packages use latest stable; --preview opts into prereleases. Quote generics and patterns, such as 'List<T>' and -S "Async*".

Interpret fixed text

• [Text omitted: required containment]: a complete value or document was not shared because it carried a text concern; this does not imply malicious intent.
• REDACTED: a URL query or credential-bearing path segment was removed.
• <unparsable-url>: no original locator was shown because an authority-like value could not be parsed into URL components.
• <absent> or (absent): a requested package document was not present; this is not containment or redaction.
• \u202E, \U0001F600, \^[, and similar backslash forms preserve source text as reversible visual spellings. Do not decode them into live control or format characters before display or persistence.