Microsoft.Testing.Platform

Microsoft.Testing.Platform is a lightweight and portable alternative to VSTest for running tests in CLI, continuous integration (CI) pipelines, Visual Studio Test Explorer, and Visual Studio Code Test Explorer. Microsoft.Testing.Platform is embedded directly in your test projects and test applications can be run directly.

Microsoft.Testing.Platform is open source. You can find Microsoft.Testing.Platform code in the microsoft/testfx GitHub repository.

To keep test applications lightweight and portable, the core package has no compile-time or runtime dependencies outside the .NET Base Class Library (BCL).

Install the package

dotnet add package Microsoft.Testing.Platform

Usage

Framework authors can create and run a test application directly:

using Microsoft.Testing.Platform.Builder;

using var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var options = new TestApplicationOptions
{
    CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token,
};
ITestApplicationBuilder builder = await TestApplication.CreateBuilderAsync(args, options);
// Register the test framework and extensions with builder.
using ITestApplication app = await builder.BuildAsync();
return await app.RunAsync();

TestApplicationOptions.CancellationToken requests cooperative cancellation while the application is running. It shares MTP's existing cancellation path with Ctrl+C, timeouts, controller cancellation, and test framework stop policies. A canceled run completes cleanup and returns the test-session-aborted exit code (3).

About

This package provides the core platform and the .NET implementation of the testing protocol. It includes:

• Test application host: test projects are built as executables that can be run directly
• Extensibility model: a rich extensibility model allowing test frameworks, tools and extensions to interoperate
• Protocol: the Microsoft Testing Platform protocol enabling communication between the test host and external consumers (e.g. IDE, CI)

This package is typically not referenced directly. Instead, test framework packages (such as MSTest) reference it automatically.

Related packages

• Microsoft.Testing.Platform.MSBuild: MSBuild integration for dotnet test and CI pipeline support

Documentation

For this package, see https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/testing/microsoft-testing-platform-intro.

For comprehensive documentation, see https://aka.ms/testingplatform.

Feedback & contributing

Microsoft.Testing.Platform is an open source project. Provide feedback or report issues in the microsoft/testfx GitHub repository.