dock-gen

dock-gen is a simple .NET tool designed to generate Dockerfiles for one or multiple projects in a solution based on project dependencies.

Please note, dock-gen is still in its early stages, some features may not be stable.

Installation

To install dock-gen, you can use the dotnet tool install command:

a) global installation:

dotnet tool install --global dockgen

b) local installation: (optional) if you don't have a manifest file for your project, create one:

dotnet new tool-manifest

Add the tool to the manifest file:

dotnet tool install dockgen

Usage

Command reference

Command	Aliases	Description
generate	g, gen	Generate Dockerfiles for eligible projects discovered from --solution or --directory, or for a single project specified via --project.
update	u, upd	Update Dockerfiles for eligible projects discovered from --solution or --directory, or for a single project specified via --project. By default rewrites the whole file; with --only-references updates only the project-reference COPY section inside the build stage and leaves the rest untouched.

Global options

Option	Aliases	Type	Default	Description
--verbose	--debug, --trace	bool	false	Enable detailed logging (includes trace output). Use before the command name.

generate (g, gen)

Option	Aliases	Type	Default	Description
--directory	-d	string		Discover projects under a directory (recursively) and generate Dockerfiles for eligible projects.
--solution	-s	string		Discover projects in a solution and generate Dockerfiles for eligible projects.
--project	-p	string		Generate a Dockerfile for a single project.
--analyzer	-a	string	FastAnalyzer	Analyzer to use: FastAnalyzer, DesignBuildTimeAnalyzer, SimpleAnalyzer.
--multi-arch		bool	true	Generate a multi-arch Dockerfile (FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM).

If none of --solution, --project, or --directory are provided, dock-gen will try to locate all projects inside the current directory recursively.

update (u, upd)

Option	Aliases	Type	Default	Description
--directory	-d	string		Discover projects under a directory (recursively) and update Dockerfiles for eligible projects.
--solution	-s	string		Discover projects in a solution and update Dockerfiles for eligible projects.
--project	-p	string		Update the Dockerfile for a single project.
--analyzer	-a	string	FastAnalyzer	Analyzer to use: FastAnalyzer, DesignBuildTimeAnalyzer, SimpleAnalyzer.
--multi-arch		bool	true	Generate a multi-arch Dockerfile (FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM).
--only-references		bool	false	Update only the project-reference COPY section in the existing Dockerfile.

If none of --solution, --project, or --directory are provided, dock-gen will try to locate all projects inside the current directory recursively.

Examples

Generate Dockerfiles for all projects in a solution:

dotnet dockgen generate --solution .\\Solution.sln

Generate Dockerfiles (using alias):

dotnet dockgen g --solution .\\Solution.sln

Update Dockerfiles for all projects in a solution:

dotnet dockgen update --solution .\\Solution.sln

Update only the project reference COPY section in existing Dockerfiles:

dotnet dockgen update --solution .\\Solution.sln --only-references

Enable detailed logging (any of these is equivalent):

dotnet dockgen --verbose g --solution .\\Solution.sln

Use a non-default analyzer:

dotnet dockgen generate --analyzer DesignBuildTimeAnalyzer --solution .\\Solution.sln

Notes and limitations

• FastAnalyzer does not run MSBuild. It can’t evaluate all conditional logic, custom tasks, or target execution. If your repo relies heavily on dynamic MSBuild evaluation, prefer DesignBuildTimeAnalyzer.

Features

• Generate Dockerfile: Generate a Dockerfile for a single or multiple projects at once
• Multi-Stage Build: Generate a multi-stage Dockerfile for a project
• Central Package/Build Management: dock-gen supports CPM/CBM in your project

Supported properties

Description for MSBuild properties can be found here: Official .NET docs

Property	Description	MSBuild Property	Custom Property	Default Value
ContainerBaseImage*		✔ yes	✘ no	mcr.microsoft.com:443/dotnet/aspnet:10.0
ContainerRegistry	Registry of the base image	✔ yes	✘ no	mcr.microsoft.com
ContainerRepository	Repository of the base image	✔ yes	✘ no	dotnet/aspnet
ContainerFamily	Family of the base image	✔ yes	✘ no
ContainerImageTag	Tag of the base image	✔ yes	✘ no	10.0
ContainerBasePort	Port of the base image	✘ no	✔ yes	443
ContainerPort	Port(s) to expose in Dockerfile	✔ yes	✘ no
ContainerBuildImage	Build image for the project	✘ no	✔ yes	mcr.microsoft.com:443/dotnet/sdk:10.0
ContainerBuildRegistry	Registry of the build image	✘ no	✔ yes	mcr.microsoft.com
ContainerBuildRepository	Repository of the build image	✘ no	✔ yes	dotnet/sdk
ContainerBuildFamily	Family of the build image	✘ no	✔ yes
ContainerBuildImageTag	Tag of the build image	✘ no	✔ yes	10.0
ContainerBuildPort	Port of the build image	✘ no	✔ yes	443

Roadmap

• Support more advanced Dockerfile customizations

Contributing

We welcome contributions to dock-gen!

License

dock-gen is open source software licensed under the MIT. See the LICENSE file for more details.

Contact

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to create an issue.

Troubleshooting

• Dockerfile not generated

  • Only executable projects (OutputType=Exe) get Dockerfiles. Library projects are skipped.
  • Test projects are skipped.

• Dependency graph looks incomplete

  • Try --analyzer DesignBuildTimeAnalyzer to use MSBuild design-time evaluation.

Acknowledgements

This project makes use of the following open source projects:

• Buildalyzer: A utility for performing design-time builds of .NET projects to obtain information such as package references and compiler flags.
• Serilog: Simple .NET logging with fully-structured events.
• .NET: .NET platform