C# Dev Kit 11: Faster Foundations for .NET Development—and What Comes Next
The dotnet team demonstrates the performance improvements in C# Dev Kit 11 and explains the architectural changes behind them, then considers how the same foundations could serve other .NET development tools.
Workspace loading and build performance
C# Dev Kit provides a C# development experience in VS Code. Version 11 rebuilds its foundations to make that experience faster and lighter.
In the team's benchmarks, large workspaces that previously took over a minute to load now open in only a few seconds. A new incremental build system also makes common builds substantially faster. These are benchmark results, rather than a guarantee of identical performance for every workspace.
Architectural changes
The session demonstrates the improvements and explains three central changes:
- A single Native AOT server: Five back-end processes have been consolidated into one server.
- A revised server design: The team discusses how the server's design changed as part of rebuilding the foundations.
- Persistent caches: Cached information avoids repeatedly computing the same data.
Together with the new incremental build system, these changes underpin the shorter workspace load times and faster common builds.
Beyond VS Code
The session also explores how these foundations could support .NET development across:
- Other editors
- Command-line tools
- Agent-driven workflows
These are potential directions for future development, not announced capabilities for every environment. The team invites feedback to help shape what comes next.