Husky Setup for .NET Projects (dotnet tool)

Install and configure Husky Git hooks for .NET projects using dotnet tool (not npm). Enforces conventional commit messages and code formatting via git hooks.

When to Use

• Setting up Git governance in .NET projects (new or existing)
• Enforcing team commit standards before they reach main branch
• Preventing unformatted code or invalid messages in version control
• REQUIRED BEFORE: First commits when governance is non-negotiable

When NOT to use: If .NET SDK unavailable, manually configure git hooks instead.

Critical: .NET Tool Only

Husky (dotnet tool) is pure .NET. Your environment needs:

• .NET SDK 6.0+
• dotnet CLI available in PATH
• git initialized

No Node.js, npm, or JavaScript tools required.

Core Pattern

1. Create tool-manifest.json + install Husky dotnet tool
2. Enable git hook infrastructure with dotnet husky install
3. Create commit-msg hook that validates message format
4. Create pre-commit hook that runs dotnet-format
5. MANDATORY: Test hooks with both valid + invalid commits
6. Commit .husky/ and task-runner.json to git

Quick Reference

Implementation

Prerequisites - VERIFY FIRST

CRITICAL - Run these commands NOW:

dotnet --version   # Must return 6.0+
git --version      # Must work
dotnet-format --version  # Must be installed

If ANY fails, STOP — install missing tools before proceeding.

Required software:

• .NET SDK 6.0+ (download from dotnet.microsoft.com)
• Git repository initialized (git init if needed)
• dotnet-format global: dotnet tool install -g dotnet.format

Installation Steps

Step 1: Create tool manifest + Install Husky (in project root)

cd your-dotnet-project

# Create reproducible tool manifest
dotnet new tool-manifest

# Install Husky as .NET tool
dotnet tool install husky

# Initialize git hook system
dotnet husky install

Verify: ls -la .husky/ shows directory with subdirectories.

Step 2: Setup hooks and config

Copy the C# validator to your project:

mkdir -p .husky/csx
cp ./commit-lint.csx .husky/csx/commit-lint.csx

Copy task-runner.json from skill assets/ to project root:

cp ./task-runner.json.example ./task-runner.json

Note: task-runner.json.example contains BOTH commit-msg and pre-commit tasks. Use as-is.

Create both hooks:

dotnet husky add commit-msg -c "dotnet husky run --name commit-message-linter"
dotnet husky add pre-commit -c "dotnet husky run --name dotnet-format"

Done! Both hooks are now configured.

Step 3: MANDATORY - Test hooks

⚠️ DON’T SKIP TESTING

# Create safe test branch (NEVER test on main)
git checkout -b test-hooks-validation

# Test 1: Invalid message MUST be rejected
echo "dummy" > test.cs
git add test.cs
git commit -m "bad message"  # Should FAIL
echo $?  # Must be 1 (failure)

# Test 2: Valid message MUST be accepted
git commit --amend -m "feat(test): verify hooks working"  # Should SUCCEED
echo $?  # Must be 0 (success)

# Cleanup
git checkout main
git branch -D test-hooks-validation

Both tests must pass before proceeding.

Files in Skill Directories

scripts/ — Reusable code:

• commit-lint.csx — C# validator for conventional commits (copy to .husky/csx/)

assets/ — Configuration examples:

• task-runner.json.example — Hook task configuration (copy to project root)

Common Mistakes

What Gets Committed to Git

MUST commit:

• .husky/ directory (all files)
• task-runner.json (hook configuration)
• .config/dotnet-tools.json (tool version lock)

DO NOT commit:

• Nothing else (all tools managed via dotnet-tools.json)

Result: Team clones repo → dotnet tool restore → hooks active immediately.

CI/CD Integration

Husky runs on developer machines only, NOT in CI/CD (by design).

CI must validate separately:

dotnet-format --verify-no-changes

Troubleshooting

See troubleshooting.md in this skill for:

• Full diagnostic checklist if hooks not running
• task-runner.json configuration issues
• Monorepo setup
• Problems after merge conflicts
• Windows/Mac/Linux differences