nuget.config reference

  • 6 minutes to read
  • Contributors
    • Kraig Brockschmidt
    • Anand Gaurav
    • Dan Miser

NuGet behavior is controlled by settings in different NuGet.Config files as described in Configuring NuGet Behavior.

nuget.config is an XML file containing a top-level <configuration> node, which then contains the section elements described in this topic. Each section contains zero or more <add> elements with key and value attributes. See the examples config file. Setting names are case-insensitive, and values can use environment variables.

In this topic:

config section

Contains miscellaneous configuration settings, which can be set using the nuget config command.

dependencyVersion and repositoryPath apply only to projects using packages.config. globalPackagesFolder applies only to projects using the PackageReference format.

Key Value
dependencyVersion (packages.config only) The default DependencyVersion value for package install, restore, and update, when the -DependencyVersion switch is not specified directly. This value is also used by the NuGet Package Manager UI. Values are Lowest, HighestPatch, HighestMinor, Highest.
globalPackagesFolder (projects using PackageReference only) The location of the default global packages folder. The default is %userprofile%\.nuget\packages (Windows) or ~/.nuget/packages (Mac/Linux). A relative path can be used in project-specific nuget.config files. This setting is overridden by the NUGET_PACKAGES environment variable, which takes precedence.
repositoryPath (packages.config only) The location in which to install NuGet packages instead of the default $(Solutiondir)/packages folder. A relative path can be used in project-specific nuget.config files. This setting is overridden by the NUGET_PACKAGES environment variable, which takes precedence.
defaultPushSource Identifies the URL or path of the package source that should be used as the default if no other package sources are found for an operation.
http_proxy http_proxy.user http_proxy.password no_proxy Proxy settings to use when connecting to package sources; http_proxy should be in the format http://<username>:<password>@<domain>. Passwords are encrypted and cannot be added manually. For no_proxy, the value is a comma-separated list of domains the bypass the proxy server. You can alternately use the http_proxy and no_proxy environment variables for those values. For additional details, see NuGet proxy settings (skolima.blogspot.com).

Example:

<config>
    <add key="dependencyVersion" value="Highest" />
    <add key="globalPackagesFolder" value="c:\packages" />
    <add key="repositoryPath" value="c:\installed_packages" />
    <add key="http_proxy" value="http://company-squid:3128@contoso.com" />
</config>

bindingRedirects section

Configures whether NuGet does automatic binding redirects when a package is installed.

Key Value
skip A Boolean indicating whether to skip automatic binding redirects. The default is false.

Example:

<bindingRedirects>
    <add key="skip" value="True" />
</bindingRedirects>

packageRestore section

Controls package restore during builds.

Key Value
enabled A Boolean indicating whether NuGet can perform automatic restore. You can also set the EnableNuGetPackageRestore environment variable with a value of True instead of setting this key in the config file.
automatic A Boolean indicating whether NuGet should check for missing packages during a build.

Example:

<packageRestore>
    <add key="enabled" value="true" />
    <add key="automatic" value="true" />
</packageRestore>

solution section

Controls whether the packages folder of a solution is included in source control. This section works only in nuget.config files in a solution folder.

Key Value
disableSourceControlIntegration A Boolean indicating whether to ignore the packages folder when working with source control. The default value is false.

Example:

<solution>
    <add key="disableSourceControlIntegration" value="true" />
</solution>

Package source sections

The packageSources, packageSourceCredentials, apikeys, activePackageSource, and disabledPackageSources all work together to configure how NuGet works with package repositories during install, restore, and update operations.

The nuget sources command is generally used to manage these settings, except for apikeys which is managed using the nuget setapikey command.

Note that the source URL for nuget.org is https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json.

packageSources

Lists all known package sources. The order is ignored during restore operations and with any project using the PackageReference format. NuGet respects the order of sources for install and update operations with projects using packages.config.

Key Value
(name to assign to the package source) The path or URL of the package source.

Example:

<packageSources>
    <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" protocolVersion="3" />
    <add key="Contoso" value="https://contoso.com/packages/" />
    <add key="Test Source" value="c:\packages" />
</packageSources>

packageSourceCredentials

Stores usernames and passwords for sources, typically specified with the -username and -password switches with nuget sources. Passwords are encrypted by default unless the -storepasswordincleartext option is also used.

Key Value
username The user name for the source in plain text.
password The encrypted password for the source.
cleartextpassword The unencrypted password for the source.

Example:

In the config file, the <packageSourceCredentials> element contains child nodes for each applicable source name (spaces in the name are replaced with _x0020_). That is, for sources named "Contoso" and "Test Source", the config file contains the following when using encrypted passwords:

<packageSourceCredentials>
    <Contoso>
        <add key="Username" value="user@contoso.com" />
        <add key="Password" value="..." />
    </Contoso>
    <Test_x0020_Source>
        <add key="Username" value="user" />
        <add key="Password" value="..." />
    </Test_x0020_Source>
</packageSourceCredentials>

When using unencrypted passwords:

<packageSourceCredentials>
    <Contoso>
        <add key="Username" value="user@contoso.com" />
        <add key="ClearTextPassword" value="33f!!lloppa" />
    </Contoso>
    <Test_x0020_Source>
        <add key="Username" value="user" />
        <add key="ClearTextPassword" value="hal+9ooo_da!sY" />
    </Test_x0020_Source>
</packageSourceCredentials>

apikeys

Stores keys for sources that use API key authentication, as set with the nuget setapikey command.

Key Value
(source URL) The encrypted API key.

Example:

<apikeys>
    <add key="https://MyRepo/ES/api/v2/package" value="encrypted_api_key" />
</apikeys>

disabledPackageSources

Identified currently disabled sources. May be empty.

Key Value
(name of source) A Boolean indicating whether the source is disabled.

Example:

<disabledPackageSources>
    <add key="Contoso" value="true" />
</disabledPackageSources>

<!-- Empty list -->
<disabledPackageSources />

activePackageSource

(2.x only; deprecated in 3.x+)

Identifies to the currently active source or indicates the aggregate of all sources.

Key Value
(name of source) or All If key is the name of a source, the value is the source path or URL. If All, value should be (Aggregate source) to combine all package sources that are not otherwise disabled.

Example:

<activePackageSource>
    <!-- Only one active source-->
    <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />

    <!-- All non-disabled sources are active -->
    <add key="All" value="(Aggregate source)" />
</activePackageSource>

Using environment variables

You can use environment variables in nuget.config values (NuGet 3.4+) to apply settings at run time.

For example, if the HOME environment variable on Windows is set to c:\users\username, then the value of %HOME%\NuGetRepository in the configuration file resolves to c:\users\username\NuGetRepository.

Similarly, if HOME on Mac/Linux is set to /home/myStuff, then %HOME%/NuGetRepository in the configuration file resolves to /home/myStuff/NuGetRepository.

If an environment variable is not found, NuGet uses the literal value from the configuration file.

Example config file

Below is an example nuget.config file that illustrates a number of settings:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <config>
        <!--
            Used to specify the default location to expand packages.
            See: nuget.exe help install
            See: nuget.exe help update

            In this example, %PACKAGEHOME% is an environment variable. On Mac/Linux,
            use $PACKAGE_HOME/External as the value.
        -->
        <add key="repositoryPath" value="%PACKAGEHOME%\External" />

        <!--
            Used to specify default source for the push command.
            See: nuget.exe help push
        -->

        <add key="defaultPushSource" value="https://MyRepo/ES/api/v2/package" />

        <!-- Proxy settings -->
        <add key="http_proxy" value="host" />
        <add key="http_proxy.user" value="username" />
        <add key="http_proxy.password" value="encrypted_password" />
    </config>

    <packageRestore>
        <!-- Allow NuGet to download missing packages -->
        <add key="enabled" value="True" />

        <!-- Automatically check for missing packages during build in Visual Studio -->
        <add key="automatic" value="True" />
    </packageRestore>

    <!--
        Used to specify the default Sources for list, install and update.
        See: nuget.exe help list
        See: nuget.exe help install
        See: nuget.exe help update
    -->
    <packageSources>
        <add key="NuGet official package source" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
        <add key="MyRepo - ES" value="https://MyRepo/ES/nuget" />
    </packageSources>

    <!-- Used to store credentials -->
    <packageSourceCredentials />

    <!-- Used to disable package sources  -->
    <disabledPackageSources />

    <!--
        Used to specify default API key associated with sources.
        See: nuget.exe help setApiKey
        See: nuget.exe help push
        See: nuget.exe help mirror
    -->
    <apikeys>
        <add key="https://MyRepo/ES/api/v2/package" value="encrypted_api_key" />
    </apikeys>
</configuration>