The .NET Insider – Issue 24

One of the most important engineering-focused posts this week. The .NET team explores ongoing efforts to improve memory safety in C#, discussing safer APIs, compiler/runtime protections, and strategies to reduce vulnerabilities without sacrificing performance. A great read for developers interested in language evolution, secure systems programming, and modern runtime design.

Visual Studio is getting more agentic. The new Plan Agent helps developers break down large tasks into actionable implementation plans before writing code. Instead of jumping directly into generation, the agent focuses on architecture, sequencing, and development workflows. This signals a major shift toward AI-assisted software planning inside the IDE.

As AI agents become more powerful, governance and observability matter more than ever. Microsoft introduces MCP extensions for the Agent Governance Toolkit, enabling .NET developers to build safer and more controllable agent-based systems. The post covers governance concepts, integration patterns, and enterprise-focused agent management capabilities.

This article explores durable workflows for long-running AI agent operations using Microsoft Agent Framework. It demonstrates how developers can orchestrate resilient, stateful workflows that survive failures and interruptions while coordinating complex multi-step tasks. Especially relevant for teams building enterprise AI automation systems.

Microsoft continues expanding AI capabilities in Visual Studio with Agent Skills. The feature allows AI agents to perform specialized development tasks more effectively by using reusable capabilities and contextual workflows. It’s another glimpse into how IDEs are evolving into collaborative AI environments rather than traditional editors.

A major architectural change for .NET MAUI. Moving to CoreCLR unlocks better runtime consistency, improved debugging, enhanced tooling support, and future performance opportunities across platforms. This transition also aligns MAUI more closely with the broader .NET ecosystem and modern runtime infrastructure.

.NET Aspire continues evolving rapidly. Version 13.3 introduces new improvements for cloud-native orchestration, integrations, diagnostics, and developer productivity. The release further strengthens Aspire’s position as a streamlined platform for building distributed .NET applications with modern observability and deployment workflows.

The .NET team is modernizing the Process APIs with usability and reliability improvements in .NET 11. This post covers better process management capabilities, enhanced diagnostics, and developer experience enhancements that simplify working with external processes and system-level integrations.

NuGet package pruning helps developers reduce unnecessary dependencies and optimize application size. This feature improves restore performance, simplifies dependency graphs, and helps teams maintain cleaner projects. A practical update that can have meaningful impact on large enterprise solutions.

Anton Martyniuk shares practical guidance on using Claude Code effectively in real-world software development. The article focuses on workflows, architecture considerations, and strategies for integrating AI-assisted coding into production-grade .NET projects while maintaining maintainability and engineering quality.

A solid walkthrough of implementing Clean Architecture principles in ASP.NET Core applications. The article covers project structure, separation of concerns, dependency management, and scalable design practices that help teams build maintainable enterprise applications.

This engineering-focused article explores how large language models can generate SQL queries and the challenges involved in accuracy, safety, and validation. It also discusses prompt engineering techniques and architectural considerations for building reliable AI-powered database tooling.

Microsoft introduces new dotnet new templates for WinUI applications, making desktop app bootstrapping faster and more streamlined. The update improves the developer onboarding experience and modernizes how Windows desktop projects are created within the .NET ecosystem.

This post walks through migrating Copilot Studio projects to .NET 10, highlighting compatibility considerations, upgrade workflows, and modernization benefits. Useful for teams adopting the latest .NET platform while maintaining AI-powered application experiences.

Microsoft’s monthly servicing update covering security fixes, reliability improvements, and patches across supported .NET and .NET Framework releases. Essential reading for teams maintaining production environments and keeping systems up to date.