This guide will demonstrate how to install tool executables to make sure they are discovered by your build script.

Installing Tools From NuGet

Via Script

Cake extends the C# language with custom pre-processor directives, and we've added one to automatically download a tool from NuGet and install it in the tools folder.

To download the xunit.runner.console package as part of executing your build script, simply use the #tool directive.

#tool "xunit.runner.console"

For more information see preprocessor directives

Via Bootstrapper

The default bootstrapper for Cake runner for .NET Framework supports restoring of tools listed in the tools\packages.config file before running the Cake script.

Installing Tools From Disk

If you want to install a tool that's not available via NuGet or if you prefer to store the tool locally, you want to take a look at the tool resolution conventions.