NuGet Analysis

NuGet analysis follows these strategies in sequence: 1. project.assets.json 2. PackageReference

1 min readUpdated Jul 9, 2026

Overview

StrategyDirect DepsTransitive DepsEdges
project.assets.json
PackageReference
project.json
packages.config
nuspec

NuGet analysis follows these strategies in sequence:

  1. project.assets.json
  2. PackageReference

project.assets.json files and their dependencies are generated from .csproj files. PackageReference dependencies can be found in .csproj, .xproj, .vbproj, .dbproj, or .fsproj files. To consolidate findings from these two strategies, project.assets.json analysis is attempted first and falls back to PackageReference analysis.

The following strategies are executed independently::

  1. project.json
  2. packages.config
  3. nuspec

project.json and packages.config files are deprecated in favor of .csproj and their usage of PackageReference format. nuspec serves as a manifest containing package metadata, used both for building the package and providing information to consumers. These strategies are isolated from the project.assets.json and PackageReference approaches and therefore run independently.

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