# Sdk Container Publishing

Publish .NET services as container images with the built-in SDK tooling (dotnet publish...

- Repository: https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills (1244 stars)
- Category: DevOps
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills --skill sdk-container-publishing -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills --skill sdk-container-publishing -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills --skill sdk-container-publishing -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills --skill sdk-container-publishing -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills`

## Description

Publish .NET services as container images with the built-in SDK tooling (dotnet publish /t:PublishContainer, Microsoft.NET.Build.Containers) - no Dockerfile required. Covers the MSBuild property surface, base-image inference, self-contained and AOT implications, and CI/CD publishing.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# .NET SDK Container Publishing

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:
- You want a container image for a .NET service and do not want to hand-write a Dockerfile
- You want to know how to tag, name, or expose ports on an SDK-built image without a Dockerfile
- You are wiring container publishing into CI / CD or a release pipeline
- An SDK-built image pushes to the wrong registry, gets the wrong tag, or picks the wrong base image
- You need a tarball of an image for scanning or air-gapped loading

Do not use it when:
- You need a `RUN` step or arbitrary layer customization in the image. The SDK tooling cannot emulate `RUN`; write a Dockerfile instead.

## What This Is

Since .NET 7, `dotnet publish` builds a container image natively. The `Microsoft.NET.Build.Containers` tooling ships with the SDK, so no Dockerfile is required and no Docker install is needed to produce an image. Docker or Podman is only required to run the image locally. This is documented in the [containerize with dotnet publish tutorial](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/containers/sdk-publish).

The quickest path is one command:

```bash
dotnet publish /t:PublishContainer -c Release
```

That compiles the app and emits an image in one step. The image name defaults to the project's `AssemblyName`. Override it with `ContainerRepository` (renamed from `ContainerImageName` in earlier versions - see the [sdk-container-builds customization notes](https://github.com/dotnet/sdk-container-builds/blob/main/docs/ContainerCustomization.md)).

## The Three Output Modes

The tooling writes the image in one of three ways. Pick based on where the image ends up.

The rest: https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/sdk-container-publishing/SKILL.md