This is a guide to get started with Cake.Sdk and to show you how Cake.Sdk works.

Installation and scaffolding

This tutorial uses Cake.Sdk, which provides a modern way to get the Cake tool scripting experience in regular .NET console applications using the file-based approach. See Runners for other possibilities of how to run Cake builds.

To create a new Cake.Sdk project you need to install the Cake.Template package:

dotnet new install Cake.Template

Create a new Cake.Sdk file-based project:

dotnet new cakefile --name cake

This will create a cake.cs file with the #:sdk Cake.Sdk directive and example code.

dotnet new cakefile --name cake --IncludeExampleProject true

Initial build script

The generated cake.cs file contains the #:sdk Cake.Sdk directive and example code to clean, build and test a .NET solution:

#:sdk Cake.Sdk

var target = Argument("target", "Test");
var configuration = Argument("configuration", "Release");

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// TASKS
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Task("Clean")
    .WithCriteria(c => HasArgument("rebuild"))
    .Does(() =>
{
    CleanDirectory($"./src/Example/bin/{configuration}");
});

Task("Build")
    .IsDependentOn("Clean")
    .Does(() =>
{
    DotNetBuild("./src/Example.sln", new DotNetBuildSettings
    {
        Configuration = configuration,
    });
});

Task("Test")
    .IsDependentOn("Build")
    .Does(() =>
{
    DotNetTest("./src/Example.sln", new DotNetTestSettings
    {
        Configuration = configuration,
        NoBuild = true,
    });
});

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// EXECUTION
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

RunTarget(target);

The #:sdk Cake.Sdk directive tells .NET to use the Cake.Sdk for this file, which automatically configures all necessary dependencies and settings.

Run build script

Run the build script directly using the .NET CLI:

dotnet cake.cs

You can also pass arguments to the script:

dotnet cake.cs -- --target Test --configuration Debug --rebuild

Version Control

It's recommended to create a global.json file to pin both the .NET SDK and Cake.Sdk versions:

dotnet new cakeglobaljson

This creates a global.json file that pins the versions used in your build.

Alternatively, you can specify the Cake.Sdk version directly in your cake.cs file:

#:sdk [email protected]