dotnet run file.cs #: directive for project references

[ravindUwU]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

The dotnet run file.cs document lists #: directives to specify the SDK, properties and NuGet package references of the implicit project file, but doesn't list a directive to reference a C# project.

Describe the solution you'd like

• A #:project directive (or equivalent) to reference a "full" C# project by its absolute/relative path, which translates to <ProjectReference Include="..." /> in the implicit project file.

• Maybe a #:reference directive to reference .DLLs in a similar way, which translates to <Reference Include="..." /> to my understanding? (although, I don't have any experience with this 😅).

Additional context

I think project references would be very useful to ship smol helper scripts alongside a main project?

e.g., a main ASP.NET Core web project Server/Server.csproj with Server/Program.cs and an EF Core DB context Server/Db.cs, and a scripts/firstRun.cs helper script which sets up the project for local development by creating an initial user, etc. using the DB context/services of the main project.

Program.cs would look roughly like,

namespace Server;

public class Program
{
	public static WebApplication Build(string[]? args = null)
	{
		var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args ?? []);
		builder.Services.AddDbContext<Db>();
		// Services configured here...
		return builder.Build();
	}

	public static void Main(string[] args)
	{
		var app = Build(args);
		// Request pipeline configured here.
		app.Run();
	}
}

...and the firstRun.cs helper script would look like,

#:project ../Server/Server.csproj

var server = Server.Program.Build();
using var scope = server.Services.CreateScope();
var db = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<>();

// ...