How to run XUnit tests with ASP.NET Core dependency in Azure DevOps pipeline?

Question

We're setting up CI/CD for an ASP.NET Core Web API project. We want to run unit tests in the build pipeline from an XUnit project that references the Web API project. This is from our build pipeline:

# azure-pipelines.yml

...

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

...

- task: UseDotNet@2
  inputs:
    version: 3.1.x
    packageType: runtime

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    command: build
    projects: '**/MyWebApi.csproj'
    arguments: '--configuration Release'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    command: test
    projects: '**/MyUnitTests.csproj'
    arguments: '--configuration Release'

...

When we run it, the Web API project is successfully built, but the tests fail to run, giving the following error:

The framework 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.App', version '3.1.0' was not found.

Do we need to extract the classes (from Web API project) that we want to test into another library that doesn't depend on AspNetCore framework? Or can we install the framework on the pipeline agent with a task like UseDotNet@2?

Pleae try to restore nuget packages before running build and tests. — Krzysztof Madej
– Krzysztof Madej, Commented Nov 26, 2020 at 8:33
Side note: when you specify 3.1.0, you're explicitly saying you want to use the 3.1.0 version that came out in december 2019. If you want the latest version, you should specify 3.1.x (see the UseDotNet task documentation). — Métoule
– Métoule, Commented Nov 26, 2020 at 9:27
@Métoule Thanks, good point. I changed it to 3.1.0 because of the error message, but now I've changed it back to 3.1.x. — cgrevil
– cgrevil, Commented Nov 26, 2020 at 9:40

James McCormack · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-14 19:03:53Z

1

Please change your UseDotnet step and and restore step as follows:

- task: UseDotNet@2
  inputs:
    version: 3.1.x
    packageType: sdk

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    command: 'restore'
    projects: '**/*.csproj'

edited Sep 14 at 19:03

James McCormack

10.1k4 gold badges56 silver badges66 bronze badges

answered Nov 26, 2020 at 8:37

Krzysztof Madej

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