Starting in .NET Core CLI 2.1.300-preview2, the following tools were added as bundled, top-level commands. These tools previously shipped as NuGet packages.

• Microsoft.DotNet.Watcher.Tools (aka dotnet-watch)
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet (aka dotnet-ef)
• Microsoft.Extensions.SecretManager.Tools (aka dotnet-user-secrets)
• Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.SqlConfig.Tools (aka dotnet-sql-cache)

Commands like dotnet watch, dotnet ef, and dotnet user-secrets can be executed on any project without needing to install the command via "dotnet restore" or "dotnet install tool". The commands are available by default in all projects.

Upgrading from stable releases of .NET Core CLI (e.g. 2.1.5)

Using these tools as a DotNetCliToolReference will no longer work. If your .csproj file has the following lines, they can be removed.

<ItemGroup>
   <DotNetCliToolReference Include="Microsoft.DotNet.Watcher.Tools" Version="(all versions)" />
   <DotNetCliToolReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet" Version="(all versions)" />
   <DotNetCliToolReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.SecretManager.Tools" Version="(all versions)" />
   <DotNetCliToolReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.SqlConfig.Tools" Version="(all versions)" />
</ItemGroup>

Upgrading from .NET Core CLI 2.1.300-preview1

For early-adopters who tried the 2.1.300-preview1 release, you will no longer need to run dotnet install tool -g to acquire the following tools:

• dotnet-watch
• dotnet-user-secrets
• dotnet-dev-certs
• dotnet-sql-cache
• dotnet-ef

If you had installed these tools in 2.1.300-preview1, you can uninstall them manually by deleting corresponding files from %USERPROFILE%\.dotnet\tools\ (Windows) or $HOME/.dotnet/tools (macOS/Linux).

For discussion use aspnet/DotNetTools#399