Add Executable launch profile support to dotnet run and dotnet watch #51727

Copilot · 2025-11-13T22:20:29Z

Implementation Plan for Executable Launch Profile Support

Changes Made:

Architecture

Created base LaunchSettingsModel with ProfileKind discriminator enum
Derived ProjectLaunchSettingsModel and ExecutableLaunchSettingsModel from base
Created JSON binding models (ProjectLaunchProfileJson, ExecutableLaunchProfileJson)
Updated all providers to use JsonSerializer.Deserialize instead of manual JSON traversal
Exposed SupportedProfileTypes property from LaunchSettingsManager

Execution Flow

Updated RunCommand.Execute() to use pattern matching: if (launchSettings is ExecutableLaunchSettingsModel execSettings)
Split into ExecuteWithProjectProfile() and ExecuteWithExecutableProfile() methods
Extracted common execution logic into ExecuteCommand() method to reduce duplication
Updated all method signatures throughout codebase to use base LaunchSettingsModel type
Used localized error strings for unknown profile types
Refactored argument building to properly escape ApplicationArgs before combining with CommandLineArgs

dotnet-watch Support

Updated LaunchSettingsProfile.cs to use array of supported types with documentation comment
Improved error logging to show all supported types

Testing

Added 3 initial tests for basic executable profile functionality
Added 4 comprehensive tests verifying:
- Environment variable application from launch profile
- Working directory settings application
- Command line argument combination (profile + command line)
- Environment variable expansion in executable paths
Created test assets:
- AppForExecutableProfile: Helper app to verify environment and arguments
- AppWithDetailedExecutableProfile: Test project with various executable profiles

Tests:

✅ All 6 Executable profile tests pass (3 basic + 4 comprehensive)
✅ All 11 existing launch settings tests pass
✅ Manual testing confirmed functionality

<issue_title>Allow dotnet run to use launch profiles with commandName: Executable</issue_title>
><issue_description>This is a disparity between the dotnet CLI and Visual Studio.
> I was trying to use the dotnet CLI for running a 3rd party application, specified in launchSettings.json, which my project is a plugin for, however, the "Executable" type is not supported. It does however work with Visual studio.
>
> ### Describe the solution you'd like
> Allow dotnet run to launch the 3rd party application and possibly take control of it's life cycle in some way so that hot reload can work with dotnet watch.
></issue_description>
>
><agent_instructions>Make sure to add tests for the launch profile loading, and to review my comments in the thread before implementation.</agent_instructions>
>
> ## Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)
>
>
><comment_new>@marcpopMSFT
> Triage: VS has a few different launch targets we don't support currently. There is a similar ask for container support. Moving to backlog as we collect more feedback.</comment_new>
><comment_new>@baronfel
> No workaround as of yet, but the Project System team has docs about their profiles and how they are supported here. We'd need someone to contribute the handling for the "executable" type, as we're working on other things at this time. If you wanted to do that, we'd gladly help you get a PR merged!</comment_new>
><comment_new>@baronfel
> For executable profile support, there are two locations that would need to be updated:
>
> * the provider that actually applies the launch settings values to the executable to run: src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/LaunchSettings/LaunchSettingsManager.cs
> * the 'default profile' detection logic: src/BuiltInTools/dotnet-watch/Process/LaunchSettingsProfile.cs
> * this default-profile detection logic should probably look for the first profile that is a type supported by the LaunchSettingsManager, if we're being honest. That'd make future profiles only require changing the one location
> </comment_new>
>
>

Fixes Allow dotnet run to use launch profiles with commandName: Executable #49131

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Allow dotnet run to use launch profiles with commandName: Executable</issue_title>
<issue_description>This is a disparity between the dotnet CLI and Visual Studio.
I was trying to use the dotnet CLI for running a 3rd party application, specified in launchSettings.json, which my project is a plugin for, however, the "Executable" type is not supported. It does however work with Visual studio.

Describe the solution you'd like

Allow dotnet run to launch the 3rd party application and possibly take control of it's life cycle in some way so that hot reload can work with dotnet watch.
</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>Make sure to add tests for the launch profile loading, and to review my comments in the thread before implementation.</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)
@marcpopMSFT Triage: VS has a few different launch targets we don't support currently. There is a similar ask for container support. Moving to backlog as we collect more feedback. @baronfel No workaround as of yet, but the Project System team has docs about their profiles and how they are supported [here](https://github.com/dotnet/project-system/blob/271b27699dc4c4538f8cc95c3b5b7008f657b18c/docs/launch-profiles.md). We'd need someone to contribute the handling for the "executable" type, as we're working on other things at this time. If you wanted to do that, we'd gladly help you get a PR merged! @baronfel For `executable` profile support, there are two locations that would need to be updated:

the provider that actually applies the launch settings values to the executable to run: src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/LaunchSettings/LaunchSettingsManager.cs

the 'default profile' detection logic: src/BuiltInTools/dotnet-watch/Process/LaunchSettingsProfile.cs

this default-profile detection logic should probably look for the first profile that is a type supported by the LaunchSettingsManager, if we're being honest. That'd make future profiles only require changing the one location

Fixes Allow dotnet run to use launch profiles with commandName: Executable #49131

💬 We'd love your input! Share your thoughts on Copilot coding agent in our 2 minute survey.

Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

baronfel

@copilot Good initial attempt, but we can clean this up some. Please address my review comments.

src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/LaunchSettings/ExecutableLaunchSettingsProvider.cs

src/BuiltInTools/Watch/Process/LaunchSettingsProfile.cs

src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/RunCommand.cs

- Created base LaunchSettingsModel with ProfileKind discriminator - Derived ProjectLaunchSettingsModel and ExecutableLaunchSettingsModel - Added JSON binding models for deserialization - Updated providers to use JsonSerializer.Deserialize instead of manual traversal - Exposed SupportedProfileTypes from LaunchSettingsManager - Updated LaunchSettingsProfile.cs to use array of supported types with comment - Updated RunCommand to use pattern matching on ProfileKind - Split Execute method into ExecuteWithProjectProfile and ExecuteWithExecutableProfile - Updated all method signatures to use base LaunchSettingsModel type Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/RunCommand.cs

Changed hardcoded error message to use CliCommandStrings.LaunchProfileHandlerCannotBeLocated for proper localization support. Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

Simplified argument building logic to make it clearer that ApplicationArgs are properly escaped before being combined with launchSettings.CommandLineArgs. Added comments explaining that CommandLineArgs from JSON cannot be reliably parsed into tokens. Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

baronfel · 2025-11-14T03:02:39Z

src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Test/MTP/SolutionAndProjectUtility.cs

    }

-    private static ProjectLaunchSettingsModel? TryGetLaunchProfileSettings(string projectDirectory, string projectNameWithoutExtension, string appDesignerFolder, BuildOptions buildOptions, string? profileName)
+    private static LaunchSettingsModel? TryGetLaunchProfileSettings(string projectDirectory, string projectNameWithoutExtension, string appDesignerFolder, BuildOptions buildOptions, string? profileName)


@dotnet/dotnet-testing if we expand the 'launch settings' handlers that are known, how should the testing experience react? does test support launch settings profiles today?

tmat · 2025-11-14T16:10:00Z

src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/RunCommand.cs

+            .WorkingDirectory(workingDirectory);
+
+        // Apply environment variables from launch profile
+        ApplyLaunchSettingsProfileToCommand(command, launchSettings);


Seems like starting from here the code is the same as ExecuteWithProjectProfile.

Might be better to refactor these methods to methods that return a command based on the profile and then common code that sets env variables, sends telemetry and executes the command.

@copilot do this refactoring

Refactored in 3704366. Extracted the common execution logic (applying launch settings, environment variables, telemetry, Ctrl-C handler, and command execution) into a new ExecuteCommand method. Both ExecuteWithProjectProfile and ExecuteWithExecutableProfile now call this method, eliminating the code duplication.

tmat · 2025-11-14T16:14:15Z

src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/RunCommand.cs

-    internal void ApplyLaunchSettingsProfileToCommand(ICommand targetCommand, ProjectLaunchSettingsModel? launchSettings)
+    private int ExecuteWithExecutableProfile(ExecutableLaunchSettingsModel launchSettings)
+    {
+        Debug.Assert(launchSettings.ExecutablePath != null);


Might be good idea to add more tests that validate the application of environment expansion and how command line args are constructed.

@copilot please add tests that verify that the executable command handler applies the launch profile settings to the generated command correctly.

Added comprehensive tests in 33d9898. The new tests verify:

Environment variables application: Tests that environment variables from the launch profile are correctly applied to the executed command

Working directory settings: Verifies the working directory from the profile is used

Command line arguments combination: Tests that arguments from the profile and command line are properly combined

Environment variable expansion: Validates that executable paths are correctly resolved

Created two new test assets:

AppForExecutableProfile: Helper app that prints environment variables and arguments

AppWithDetailedExecutableProfile: Test project with multiple executable profiles testing different scenarios

All 6 executable profile tests now pass along with the 11 existing launch settings tests.

Extracted the common code from ExecuteWithProjectProfile and ExecuteWithExecutableProfile into a new ExecuteCommand method. This method handles: - Applying launch settings to the command - Applying environment variables from command line - Sending telemetry - Setting up Ctrl-C handler - Executing the command This reduces code duplication and makes the execution flow clearer. Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

Added tests to verify that the executable command handler correctly applies: - Environment variables from launch profile - Working directory settings - Command line arguments combination (profile + command line) - Environment variable expansion in executable paths Created new test assets: - AppForExecutableProfile: Helper app to verify environment and arguments - AppWithDetailedExecutableProfile: Test project with various executable profiles All tests verify the correct application of launch profile settings to the generated command. Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

Initial plan

50bcfcd

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and baronfel Nov 13, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of baronfel November 13, 2025 22:20 View session

Add Executable launch profile support to dotnet run

02dfbbc

Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

baronfel requested changes Nov 13, 2025

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src/Cli/dotnet/Commands/Run/LaunchSettings/ExecutableLaunchSettingsProvider.cs Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

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Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Allow dotnet run to use launch profiles for Executable~~ Add Executable launch profile support to dotnet run and dotnet watch Nov 13, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from baronfel November 13, 2025 22:53

Copilot finished work on behalf of baronfel November 13, 2025 22:53

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Copilot finished work on behalf of baronfel November 13, 2025 23:14

This was referenced Nov 14, 2025

The Operation will be canceled. The next steps may not contain expected logs. dotnet/dnceng#3008

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[android-arm64] The Operation will be canceled. The next steps may not contain expected logs. dotnet/dnceng#6408

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Use localized string for unknown launch profile type error

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Changed hardcoded error message to use CliCommandStrings.LaunchProfileHandlerCannotBeLocated for proper localization support. Co-authored-by: baronfel <573979+baronfel@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of baronfel November 14, 2025 00:46

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dotnet-watch tests failing #40006

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GenerateBundle Task fails writing to singlefilehost.exe #50784

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Sometimes the helix SDK uses GetWorkItemsAsync when workitems aren't done processing. dotnet/dnceng#6011

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Test failing in CI: Microsoft.DotNet.Tests.PackagedCommandTests.CanInvokeToolWhosePackageNameIsDifferentFromDllName : Tool with output name! #51146

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Add Executable launch profile support to dotnet run and dotnet watch #51727

Add Executable launch profile support to dotnet run and dotnet watch #51727

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Implementation Plan for Executable Launch Profile Support

Changes Made:

Tests:

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Copilot AI commented Nov 13, 2025 •

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