What NuGet Packages Should I Use? xUnit.net v3

xUnit.net v3 ships with many NuGet packages. This guide helps you understand which NuGet packages you should use in your projects.

If you don't know where to start, try starting with a reference to xunit.v3.

Note

Because xUnit.net v3 injects code into your test projects to make them executable, non-unit test projects must not reference xunit.v3 (or xunit.v3.core) and should instead reference xunit.v3.extensibility.core to be able to provide extensions to xUnit.net v3.

Version selector: Stable (NuGet) Latest CI (feedz.io)

Packages for writing tests

Packages used by developers who are writing unit tests.

xunit.v3

This is the package that will most typically be used by unit test authors. It brings in references to xunit.v3.core (which contains the unit testing framework), xunit.analyzers (which contains source code analyzers), and xunit.v3.assert (which contains the class you use to write assertions).

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472, net8.0
Depends on	xunit.v3.assert, xunit.v3.core, xunit.analyzers

xunit.v3.assert

This package contains the xUnit.net assertion library (i.e., the Assert class).

This is a separate NuGet package, because some developers wish to use the xUnit.net framework and test runners, but with a different assertion library.

Note

If you want to extend the Assert class, you should consider using the xunit.v3.assert.source package instead.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	netstandard2.0, net8.0

xunit.v3.core

This package contains the core types for the test framework (f.e., FactAttribute).

Referencing this package provides the required infrastructure to be able to write unit tests, including the injection of the entry point that is required to make all v3 test projects stand-alone executables.

Note

This package should only be used by unit test projects. If you wish to extend xUnit.net or create a base library consumed by unit test projects, then you should reference xunit.v3.extensibility.core instead.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472, net8.0
Depends on	xunit.v3.extensibility.core, xunit.v3.runner.inproc.console

xunit.v3.templates

This package provides templates for dotnet new to support xUnit.net v3 test projects and xUnit.net v3 extensibility projects.

To install this package, run: dotnet new install xunit.v3.templates. This will add two new templates (xunit3 and xunit3-extension) for C#, F#, and VB.NET.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	xunit3: net8.0, net9.0, net472, net48, net481 xunit3-extension: netstandard2.0, net8.0, net9.0, net472, net48, net481

xunit.analyzers

This package contains the xUnit.net source code analyzers.

This library provides code analysis and code fixers for common issues that are encountered both by test authors and extensibility authors. It's based on the .NET Compiler Platform ("Roslyn") analyzers which can provide real-time source code analysis inside IDEs (including Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code), as well as compile-time source code analysis.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	Roslyn 3.11+ (Visual Studio 2019 16.11+)

Packages for running tests

Packages used by developers who are running unit tests.

xunit.v3.runner.console

This package contains the console test runner. This runner is capable of running .NET Framework and .NET projects from xUnit.net v3, as well as .NET Framework projects from xUnit.net v1 and v2. It can run multiple test projects in parallel.

Note

Note: we ship runners targeting multiple versions of .NET Framework, because xUnit.net v1 and v2 projects are loaded into runner process, so the version of .NET Framework that the runner is built against determines the version of .NET Framework that the tests will run against (and more importantly, the features available). We also ship AnyCPU versions as well as versions which are built for 32-bit x86. Since xUnit.net v3 projects are stand-alone executables, they will run with whatever version (and bitness) of .NET or .NET Framework that they were built against regardless of the runner's version.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472 (v1/v2/v3), net8.0 (v3)

xunit.v3.runner.msbuild

This package contains the MSBuild test runner. This runner is capable of running .NET Framework and .NET projects from xUnit.net v3, as well as .NET Framework projects from xUnit.net v1 and v2. It can run multiple test projects in parallel.

Note

For xUnit.net v3 projects, this runner can be used from both msbuild.exe as well as dotnet msbuild. For xUnit.net v1/v2 projects, this runner only supports being run from msbuild.exe.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472 (v1/v2/v3), net8.0 (v3)

xunit.runner.visualstudio

This package contains the adapter to run tests via VSTest. This runner is capable of running .NET Framework projects from xUnit.net v1/v2/v3, and .NET projects from xUnit.net v2/v3. (Support for v3 requires using runner version 3.0 or later.)

The VSTest framework is used by several 3rd party runners, including:

• Visual Studio (via Test Explorer)
• Visual Studio Code (via the Testing panel)
• dotnet test and dotnet vstest
• vstest.console.exe

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472 (v1/v2/v3), net8.0 (v2/v3)

Packages for extending xUnit.net

Packages used by developers who are extending xUnit.net and/or creating unit test runners.

xunit.v3.assert.source

This package contains the xUnit.net assertion library (i.e., the Assert class) in source form. The Assert class is a partial class, which allows developers to write additional methods available directly from Assert.

When you have multiple unit test libraries in your project, it is common practice to import this package into a "test utility" library where you write all your custom assertions, and then reference that "test utility" library from your unit test projects.

For more information, see the xunit/assert.xunit README

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	netstandard1.1 with C# 6 or later

xunit.v3.extensibility.core

This package contains xunit.v3.core.dll. It is intended to be used by developers who wish to reference this DLL for extensibility purposes, such as writing your own theory data provider.

This package is referenced by xunit.v3.core. It differs in that it does not include the MSBuild steps required to make the project an executable test project.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	netstandard2.0
Depends on	xunit.v3.common

xunit.v3.runner.inproc.console

This package contains the code that provides the command line UI for running xUnit.net v3 projects as stand-alone executables. This includes both the native xUnit.net command line UX as well as the Microsoft Testing Platform command line UX.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472, net8.0
Depends on	xunit.v3.extensibility.core, xunit.v3.runner.common

xunit.v3.runner.utility

This package contains xunit.v3.runner.utility.*.dll. It is intended to be used by developers who are writing their own test runners.

The libraries contained here are both backward and forward compatible for all v1, v2, and v3 xUnit.net tests.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net472, net8.0
Depends on	xunit.abstractions, xunit.v3.runner.common

Packages for shared code

Packages that contain types that are shared among packages in other categories. Not typically directly referenced.

xunit.v3.common

This package contains types that are shared between xunit.v3.core and xunit.v3.runner.common.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	netstandard2.0

xunit.v3.runner.common

This package contains types that are shared between xunit.v3.runner.inproc.console and xunit.v3.runner.utility.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	netstandard2.0
Depends on	xunit.v3.common

xunit.abstractions

This package contains common interfaces used by various parts of xUnit.net v2. It is used by xunit.v3.runner.utility to be able to run xUnit.net v2 test projects.

Latest
Introduced	1.0
Targets	net35, netstandard1.0