CliInvoke.Core

This package contains Process Running and handling abstractions as well as common types used by implementing classes.

For an implementing package, check out CliInvoke.

Key Abstractions:

• IProcessInvoker

• IProcessConfigurationFactory

• Piping:

  • IProcessPipeHandler

• Fluent Builders:

  • IArgumentsBuilder - An interface to help with Argument Building and argument escaping.
  • IEnvironmentVariablesBuilder - An interface to help with setting Environment variables.
  • IProcessConfigurationBuilder - An interface to fluently configure and build ProcessConfiguration objects.
  • IProcessResourcePolicyBuilder - An interface to fluently configure and build ProcessResourcePolicy objects.
  • IUserCredentialBuilder

Features

• Clear separation of concerns between Process Configuration Builders, Process Configuration Models, and Invokers.
• Supports .NET Standard 2.0, .NET 8, and newer TFMs, and has few dependencies.
• Has Dependency Injection extensions to make using it a breeze.
• Support for specific specializations such as running executables or commands via Windows PowerShell or CMD on Windows ¹
• SourceLink support

¹ Specializations library distributed separately.

Comparison vs Alternatives

Feature / Criterion	CliInvoke	CliWrap	ProcessX
Dedicated builder, model, and invoker types (clear separation of concerns)	✅	❌	❌
Dependency Injection registration extensions	✅	❌	❌
Installable via NuGet	✅	✅	✅
Official cross‑platform support (advertised: Windows/macOS/Linux/BSD)	✅	✅*	❌*
Buffered and non‑buffered execution modes	✅	✅	✅
Small surface area and minimal dependencies	✅	✅	✅
Licensing / repository additional terms	✅ (MPL‑2.0)	⚠️ (MIT; test project references a source‑available library; repo contains an informal "Terms of Use" statement)	✅ (MIT)

Installing CliInvoke.Core

CliInvoke.Core packages can be installed via the .NET SDK CLI, Nuget via your IDE or code editor's package interface, or via the Nuget website.

Package Name	Nuget Link	.NET SDK CLI command
CliInvoke.Core	CliInvoke.Core Nuget	dotnet add package CliInvoke.Core

Supported Platforms

CliInvoke supports Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Android, and potentially some other operating systems.

For more details see the list of supported platforms

Examples

Simple ProcessConfiguration creation with Factory Pattern

This approach uses the IProcessConfigurationFactory interface factory to create a ProcessConfiguration. It requires fewer parameters and sets up more defaults for you.

It can be provided with a Action<IProcessConfigurationBuilder> configure optional parameter where greater control is desired.

Non-Buffered Execution Example

This example gets a non buffered ProcessResult that contains basic process exit code, id, and other information.

using CliInvoke.Core.Factories; using CliInvoke.Core; using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection; // Dependency Injection setup code ommitted for clarity // Get IProcessConfigurationFactory IProcessConfigurationFactory processConfigFactory = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IProcessConfigurationFactory>(); // Get IProcessConfigurationInvoker IProcessInvoker _invoker_ = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IProcessInvoker>(); // Simply create the process configuration. ProcessConfiguration configuration = processConfigFactory.Create("path/to/exe", "arguments"); // Run the process configuration and get the results. ProcessResult result = await _invoker.ExecuteAsync(configuration, CancellationToken.None);

Buffered Execution Example

This example gets a BufferedProcessResult which contains redirected StandardOutput and StandardError as strings.

using CliInvoke.Core.Factories; using CliInvoke.Core; using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection; // Dependency Injection setup code ommitted for clarity // Get IProcessConfigurationFactory IProcessConfigurationFactory processConfigFactory = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IProcessConfigurationFactory>(); // Get IProcessConfigurationInvoker IProcessnvoker _invoker_ = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IProcessInvoker>(); // Simply create the process configuration. ProcessConfiguration configuration = processConfigFactory.Create("path/to/exe", "arguments"); // Run the process configuration and get the results. BufferedProcessResult result = await _invoker.ExecuteBufferedAsync(configuration, CancellationToken.None);

Advanced Configuration with Builders

The following examples shows how to configure and build a ProcessConfiguration depending on whether Buffering the output is desired.

Non-Buffered Execution Example

This example gets a non buffered ProcessResult that contains basic process exit code, id, and other information.

using CliInvoke; using CliInvoke.Core; using CliInvoke.Builders; using CliInvoke.Core.Builders; using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection; //Namespace and class code ommitted for clarity // ServiceProvider and Dependency Injection setup code ommitted for clarity IProcessInvoker _processInvoker = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IProcessInvoker>(); // Fluently configure your Command. IProcessConfigurationBuilder builder = new ProcessConfigurationBuilder("Path/To/Executable") .SetArguments(["arg1", "arg2"]) .SetWorkingDirectory("/Path/To/Directory"); // Build it as a ProcessConfiguration object when you're ready to use it. ProcessConfiguration config = builder.Build(); // Execute the process through ProcessInvoker and get the results. ProcessResult result = await _processConfigInvoker.ExecuteAsync(config);

Buffered Execution Example

This example gets a BufferedProcessResult which contains redirected StandardOutput and StandardError as strings.

using CliInvoke; using CliInvoke.Builders; using CliInvoke.Core; using CliInvoke.Core.Builders; using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection; //Namespace and class code ommitted for clarity // ServiceProvider and Dependency Injection setup code ommitted for clarity IProcessInvoker _processInvoker = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IProcessInvoker>(); // Fluently configure your Command. IProcessConfigurationBuilder builder = new ProcessConfigurationBuilder("Path/To/Executable") .SetArguments(["arg1", "arg2"]) .SetWorkingDirectory("/Path/To/Directory") .RedirectStandardOutput(true) .RedirectStandardError(true); // Build it as a ProcessConfiguration object when you're ready to use it. ProcessConfiguration config = builder.Build(); // Execute the process through ProcessInvoker and get the results. BufferedProcessResult result = await _processInvoker.ExecuteBufferedAsync(config);

Acknowledgements

Projects

This project would like to thank the following projects for their work:

• Microsoft.Bcl.HashCode for providing a backport of the HashCode class and static methods to .NET Standard 2.0
• Polyfill for simplifying .NET Standard 2.0 support

For more information, please see the THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES file.