Nuget License Utility

Nuget License Utility is a tool to analyze, print, and validate the licenses of dependencies in .NET and C++ projects. It supports .NET (Core), .NET Standard, .NET Framework, and native C++ projects.

Features

• Analyze project or solution files for NuGet package licenses
• Validate licenses against an allowed list
• Download license files for auditing
• Supports transitive dependencies, custom mappings, and overrides
• Flexible output: table or JSON (pretty/minified)
• Exclude or ignore specific packages or projects
• Works with .NET Core, .NET Framework, and native C++ projects

Project Structure

This repository provides two main tools:

Tool	Description	Supported Project Types
NuGetLicenseCore (dotnet tool)	Cross-platform .NET Core global tool, installed via dotnet tool install.	.NET Core, .NET Standard, partial .NET Framework1
NuGetLicenseFramework.exe	Standalone .NET Framework executable.	.NET Core, .NET Standard, .NET Framework, native C++

¹ .NET Framework support via the dotnet tool may vary due to MSBuild/environment differences.

Compatibility Matrix

Tool	.NET Core	.NET Standard	.NET Framework	Native C++
NuGetLicenseCore (dotnet tool)	✔️	✔️	⚠️ Partial support	❌
NuGetLicenseFramework.exe	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️

Installation

NuGetLicenseCore (dotnet tool)

dotnet tool install --global nuget-license

NuGetLicenseFramework.exe

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases and run the executable directly.

Usage

Basic Command

nuget-license [options]

Common Options

Option	Description
--version	Show version information.
-i, --input <FILE>	Project or solution file to analyze.
-ji, --json-input <FILE>	JSON file with an array of project/solution files to analyze. See docs/input-json.md.
-t, --include-transitive	Include transitive dependencies.
-a, --allowed-license-types <FILE>	JSON file listing allowed license types. See docs/allowed-licenses-json.md.
-ignore, --ignored-packages <FILE>	JSON file listing package names to ignore (supports wildcards). See docs/ignored-packages-json.md.
-mapping, --licenseurl-to-license-mappings <FILE>	JSON dictionary mapping license URLs to license types. See docs/licenseurl-mappings-json.md.
-override, --override-package-information <FILE>	JSON list to override package/license info. See docs/override-package-json.md.
-d, --license-information-download-location <FOLDER>	Download all license files to the specified folder.
-o, --output <TYPE>	Output format: Table, Markdown, Json or JsonPretty (default: Table).
-err, --error-only	Only show validation errors.
-include-ignored, --include-ignored-packages	Include ignored packages in output.
-exclude-projects, --exclude-projects-matching <PATTERN|FILE>	Exclude projects by name or pattern (supports wildcards or JSON file). See docs/exclude-projects-json.md.
-isp, --include-shared-projects	Include shared projects (.shproj).
-f, --target-framework <TFM>	Analyze for a specific Target Framework Moniker.
-fo, --file-output <FILE>	Write output to a file instead of console.
-?, -h, --help	Show help information.

Examples

Show Help

nuget-license --help

Validate licenses for a project

nuget-license -i MyProject.csproj

Validate licenses for a solution

nuget-license -i MySolution.sln

Use a custom allowed license list

nuget-license -i MyProject.csproj -a allowed-licenses.json

Generate pretty JSON output

nuget-license -i MyProject.csproj -o JsonPretty

Download all license files

nuget-license -i MyProject.csproj -d licenses/

Advanced Usage

• Multiple projects: Use -ji with a JSON file listing multiple projects/solutions.
• Override package info: Use -override to supply custom license info for specific packages.
• Ignore packages: Use -ignore to skip in-house or known packages.
• Exclude projects: Use -exclude-projects to skip test or sample projects.

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository.
2. Build with your preferred .NET SDK.
3. For the dotnet tool: dotnet pack NuGetLicenseCore
4. For the framework exe: build NuGetLicenseFramework and use the resulting .exe.

License

See LICENSE for details.