SDK troubleshooting

Path '/x/y/z' doesn't point at a valid Git repository or workdir

The build is running from a directory that is not the repository root. DotnetAffectedRoot defaults to $(MSBuildStartupDirectory) — the directory you invoked dotnet build from, not the location of the project file.

Either build from the root, or set the property explicitly:

<Project Sdk="DotnetAffected.Tasks;Microsoft.Build.Traversal">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <DotnetAffectedRoot>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..</DotnetAffectedRoot>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

MSB4062: The "DotnetAffected.Tasks.AffectedTask" task could not be loaded

The SDK ships a task assembly per target framework and has to pick one. Files using DotnetAffected.Tasks or Microsoft.Build.Traversal are framework-agnostic — they delegate the real build — so there is often no TargetFramework to go on, and the SDK infers it:

1. the value of MicrosoftNETBuildTasksTFM, if set;
2. otherwise, from MSBuildVersion — net6.0 for 17.0 or newer, net5.0 for 16.11 or newer.

When the inferred framework is not one the package ships, loading fails. Pin it:

<Project Sdk="DotnetAffected.Tasks;Microsoft.Build.Traversal">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Note

An explicit <TargetFramework> always wins over the inference above.

Inputs appear to be ignored

DotnetAffectedCheck is an initial target: it runs before everything else. Properties and items it reads — DotnetAffectedFromRef, DotnetAffectedToRef, DotnetAffectedAssumeChanges, AffectedFilterClass — must exist by then.

Set them at evaluation time (a top-level PropertyGroup/ItemGroup), or in a target declared with BeforeTargets="DotnetAffectedCheck". A target using AfterTargets="DotnetAffectedCheck" runs too late to influence the result; that hook is for post-processing ProjectReference items.

DotnetAffectedToRef is deprecated and will be removed in v8

The task warns whenever the property is set. Projects are discovered and evaluated from the working tree, so the property is only accepted when it names the commit already checked out — making it a no-op — and the build fails otherwise. Remove it, and use DotnetAffectedUncommitted to choose what the working tree contributes.

<path> changed, but no project was found for it

A changed project file that is not in the graph is reported as an MSBuild warning naming why: --exclude-discovery matched it, the filter file does not reference it, or git ignores the path it is under. The build carries on — the file counts among the changes while nothing is reported as changed or affected by it, which is exactly the case that used to pass unnoticed.

Nothing is built and no error is reported

If no project changed and nothing is affected, the replaced ProjectReference list is empty and Traversal has nothing to build — a successful build that does nothing. Print the count to make this visible:

<Target Name="_ReportAffected" AfterTargets="DotnetAffectedCheck">
    <Message Text="dotnet-affected selected $(DotnetAffectedProjectCount) projects" Importance="high" />
</Target>

Disabling the SDK temporarily

Set UsingDotnetAffectedTasks to anything other than true (or empty) to skip the check and leave ProjectReference items untouched — useful for reproducing a full build with the same file:

dotnet build ci.props -p:UsingDotnetAffectedTasks=false