NetPrints.Cli 0.2.0

NetPrints is a visual, node-based programming language for .NET, in the spirit of Unreal Engine's Blueprints. You wire up nodes instead of writing C# by hand, and NetPrints compiles the graph into a .NET binary or into C# source you can read, keep and build on. Any .NET assembly — Framework, Core or Standard — can be referenced and used from a graph, so the goal is: if it's made in C#, you can call it from NetPrints.

This fork continues the original NetPrints by Robin Kahlow (WPF, Windows-only) as a cross-platform, Linux-first rewrite on Avalonia: the same editor and language on Linux, Windows and macOS, on the current .NET 10, with an automated test suite (headless UI tests plus end-to-end tests against the real desktop app) instead of manual verification.

Install

See the full install guide for details on each route, the SDK/runtime requirement, and verifying an unsigned build.

Using the editor

Add references from References → Add Assembly: any NuGet package installed to ~/.nuget/packages (or %UserProfile%/.nuget/packages on Windows) works, and its documentation shows up as tooltips in the node search. You can also add a C# source directory, either for reflection only (handy for using NetPrints inside Unity against your existing scripts) or compiled straight into the output.

Ship nodes with your library

Annotations are optional. Any library works in NetPrints without them; the editor reads its public API directly. If you want to choose which members become nodes and ship a curated catalog inside your library, add the NetPrints.Annotations package (PrivateAssets="all") and mark the public types and methods with [NetPrintsType] and [NetPrintsNode] attributes. The Roslyn generator embeds the catalog as an assembly attribute, which the editor reads from any referenced assembly. See the Annotations guide for details.

Guides

• Projects — the .csproj project model, the NetPrints.Sdk package and the committed generated code.
• Graph file format — the *.netpc.json format, version control and what a diff looks like.
• Extensions — loading extensions, environment variables, and writing your own.
• Type catalogs — the netprints catalog tool, profiles, and contributing a catalog from an extension.

Project layout

Every src//tests/ project targets net10.0. Package versions are centrally managed in Directory.Packages.props; shared build settings are in Directory.Build.props (and the src//tests/-scoped copies). The CI workflow builds, format-checks, tests and runs the E2E suite on pushes and pull requests to master.

Status and roadmap

Under active, phased modernization — see .specify/memory/roadmap.md for what's shipped and what's next. The Avalonia editor rebuild (P0) and its GPU/CPU grid rendering (P0.1) are merged; a catalog/CLI redesign and editor usability are the phases ahead.

Contributing

Building from source needs the .NET 10 SDK (10.0.100 or later — global.json rolls forward to newer feature bands). Build and test (no display server needed; --ignore-exit-code 8 only suppresses the desktop E2E project's "zero tests" exit, since it runs zero tests with NETPRINTS_E2E unset. CI doesn't apply this flag to the whole solution: it runs the desktop E2E project as its own step with the flag, and every other test project without it, so a real zero-tests regression elsewhere still fails the job):

dotnet build NetPrints.slnx -c Release
dotnet test --solution NetPrints.slnx -c Release --no-build -- --ignore-exit-code 8

See specs/001-modernize-build/quickstart.md for the full walkthrough (running the editor, the CLI, the desktop E2E suite, snapshot baselines, CI artifacts, troubleshooting), CONTRIBUTING.md for the Spec Kit workflow, agent rules, PR process and test conventions, and docs/contributing/releasing.md for the local package feed and release process. Bug reports and feature ideas are welcome as issues.

Credits and license

Originally created by Robin Kahlow (RobinKa/netprints). The 0.0.7 WPF editor release is archived here; see also the overview, use cases and hello-world video from the original project, and the Unity tutorial.

Licensed under the MIT License, Copyright (c) 2018 Robin Kahlow.