dotnet-reference-add - Man Page

dotnet reference add

This article applies to: ✔️ .NET Core 3.1 SDK and later versions

Name

dotnet-reference-add — Adds project-to-project (P2P) references.

If you’re using .NET 9 SDK or earlier, use the “verb first” form (dotnet-add-reference) instead. The “noun first” form was introduced in .NET 10. For more information, see More consistent command order.

Synopsis

dotnet reference add reference [-f|--framework <FRAMEWORK>]
     [--interactive] <PROJECT_REFERENCES> [--project <PROJECT>]

dotnet reference add -h|--help

Description

The dotnet reference add command provides a convenient option to add project references to a project. After running the command, the <ProjectReference> elements are added to the project file.

<ItemGroup>
  <ProjectReference Include="app.csproj" />
  <ProjectReference Include="..\lib2\lib2.csproj" />
  <ProjectReference Include="..\lib1\lib1.csproj" />
  <ProjectReference Include="..\lib3\lib3.fsproj" />
</ItemGroup>

Add a reference to an assembly that isn’t in a project

There’s no CLI command to add a reference to an assembly that isn’t in a project or a package. But you can do that by editing your .csproj file and adding markup similar to the following example:

<ItemGroup>
  <Reference Include="MyAssembly">
    <HintPath>.\MyDLLFolder\MyAssembly.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
</ItemGroup>

Arguments

PROJECT
Specifies the project file. If not specified, the command searches the current directory for one.
PROJECT_REFERENCES
Project-to-project (P2P) references to add. Specify one or more projects. Glob patterns (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming)) are supported on Unix/Linux-based systems.

Options

-f|--framework <FRAMEWORK>
Adds project references only when targeting a specific framework using the TFM format.
-?|-h|--help
Prints out a description of how to use the command.
--interactive
Allows the command to stop and wait for user input or action. For example, to complete authentication. Available since .NET Core 3.0 SDK.

Examples

Add a project reference:

dotnet reference add lib/lib.csproj --project app/app.csproj

Add a compatible .NET language (for example, F#) project reference, which works in both directions:
```
dotnet add app/app.csproj reference lib/lib.fsproj
```
Add multiple project references to the project in the current directory:
```
dotnet reference add lib1/lib1.csproj lib2/lib2.csproj
```
Add multiple project references using a globbing pattern on Linux/Unix:
```
dotnet reference add **/*.csproj --project app/app.csproj
```

Info

2025-06-13 .NET Documentation