The NuGet (nuget.exe) CLI, provides the full extent of NuGet functionality to install, create, publish, and manage packages without making any changes to project files.
You can download the latest version from nuget.org/downloads.
nuget.exe file directly.nuget.exe to your PATH environment variable to use the CLI tool from anywhere.Available commands and applicability to package creation, package consumption, and publishing a package to a host:
| Commands | Applicable Roles | NuGet Version | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| pack | Creation | 2.7+ | Creates a NuGet package from a .nuspec or project file. When running on Mono, creating a package from a project file is not supported. |
| push | Publishing | All | Publishes a package to a package source. |
| config | All | All | Gets or sets NuGet configuration values. |
| help or ? | All | All | Displays help information or help for a command. |
| locals | Consumption | 3.3+ | Lists locations of the global-packages, http-cache, and temp folders and clears the contents of those folders. |
| restore | Consumption | 2.7+ | Restores all packages referenced by the package management format in use. When running on Mono, restoring packages using the PackageReference format is not supported. |
| setapikey | Publishing, Consumption | All | Saves an API key for a given package source when that package source requires a key for access. |
| spec | Creation | All | Generates a .nuspec file, using tokens if generating the file from a Visual Studio project. |
| Commands | Applicable Roles | NuGet Version | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| add | Publishing | 3.3+ | Adds a package to a non-HTTP package source using hierarchical layout. For HTTP sources, use push. |
| delete | Publishing | All | Removes or unlists a package from a package source. |
| init | Creation | 3.3+ | Adds packages from a folder to a package source using hierarchical layout. |
| install | Consumption | All | Installs a package into the current project but does not modify projects or reference files. |
| list | Consumption, perhaps Publishing | All | Displays packages from a given source. |
| mirror | Publishing | Deprecated in 3.2+ | Mirrors a package and its dependencies from a source to a target repository. |
| sources | Consumption, Publishing | All | Manages package sources in configuration files. |
| update | Consumption | All | Updates a project's packages to the latest available versions. Not supported when running on Mono. |
The following are the most commonly used commands with examples.
Adds a specified package to a non-HTTP package source (a folder or UNC path) in a hierarchical layout, wherein folders are created for the package ID and version number.
nuget add foo.nupkg -Source c:\bar\
nuget add foo.nupkg -Source \\bar\packages\
Deletes or unlists a package from a package source.
nuget delete MyPackage 1.0
nuget delete MyPackage 1.0 -Source http://package.contoso.com/source -apikey A1B2C3
Gets or sets NuGet configuration values.
nuget config -Set repositoryPath=c:\packages -configfile c:\my.config
nuget config -Set repositoryPath=
nuget config -Set repositoryPath=%PACKAGE_REPO% -configfile %ProgramData%\NuGet\NuGetDefaults.Config
nuget config -Set HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1 -set HTTP_PROXY.USER=domain\user
Downloads and installs a package into a project, defaulting to the current folder, using specified package sources.
nuget install elmah
nuget install packages.config
nuget install ninject -OutputDirectory c:\proj
Creates a NuGet package based on the specified .nuspec or project file.
nuget pack
nuget pack foo.nuspec
nuget pack foo.csproj
nuget pack foo.csproj -Properties Configuration=Release
nuget pack foo.csproj -Build -Symbols -Properties owners=janedoe,xiaop;version="1.0.5"
Pushes a package to a package source and publishes it.
nuget push foo.nupkg
nuget push foo.symbols.nupkg
nuget push foo.nupkg -Timeout 360
nuget push *.nupkg
Downloads and installs any packages missing from the packages folder.
# Restore packages for a solution file
nuget restore a.sln
# Restore packages for a solution file, using MSBuild version 14.0 to load the solution and its project(s)
nuget restore a.sln -MSBuildVersion 14
# Restore packages for a project's packages.config file, with the packages folder at the parent
nuget restore proj1\packages.config -PackagesDirectory ..\packages
# Restore packages for the solution in the current folder, specifying package sources
nuget restore -source "https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json;https://www.myget.org/F/nuget"
Updates all packages in a project (using packages.config) to their latest available versions. It is recommended to run restore before running the update.
nuget update
# update packages installed in solution.sln, using MSBuild version 14.0 to load the solution and its project(s).
nuget update solution.sln -MSBuildVersion 14
nuget update -safe