MSBuild Reference

NSmithy.MSBuild runs before C# compilation and drives the Smithy → C# code generation pipeline. It invokes the smithy CLI, which runs the csharp-codegen Java plugin to emit .g.cs files, then registers those files with the .NET toolchain.

Properties

Code generation

Property	Default	Description
`SmithyService`	—	Smithy shape ID of the service to generate (e.g. `example.hello#HelloService`). Required when synthesizing a `smithy-build.json` from a contracts reference.
`SmithyBaseNamespace`	—	Restricts generated C# types to shapes whose Smithy namespace starts with this value. Leave empty to emit all shapes.
`SmithyGenerateServer`	`true`	Emit server stub types. Set to `false` in client-only projects.
`SmithyGenerateClient`	`true`	Emit client types. Set to `false` in server-only projects.
`SmithyBuildFile`	`$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)/smithy-build.json`	Path to the Smithy build configuration file. When absent and `SmithySource` items are present, NSmithy synthesizes one under `obj/`.
`SmithyProjection`	`source`	Smithy build projection to use.
`SmithyPlugin`	`csharp-codegen`	Smithy build plugin name.
`SmithyBuildOutputPath`	`$(IntermediateOutputPath)Smithy/`	Root directory for all Smithy build output.
`SmithyStampFile`	`$(SmithyBuildOutputPath)NSmithy.Generated.stamp`	Incremental build stamp file. Smithy codegen is skipped when inputs have not changed since this file was last written.
`SmithyEmitGeneratedFiles`	`false`	Show generated `.g.cs` files in IDE project views when `true`.
`SmithyCliPath`	`smithy`	Smithy CLI executable. Resolved from `PATH` by default.

gRPC / Protobuf

Property	Default	Description
`SmithyGrpcServices`	`Both`	Passed as `GrpcServices` to Grpc.Tools when `.proto` files are generated. Valid values: `Both`, `Client`, `Server`, `None`.

Publishing (SmithyPublish=true)

Property	Default	Description
`SmithyPublish`	`false`	Pack `.smithy` model files into the NuGet package and (when `SmithyMavenGroupId` is set) produce a Maven JAR on `dotnet pack`.
`SmithySources`	`$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)/model`	Directory containing the `.smithy` source files to publish.
`SmithyMavenGroupId`	—	Maven `groupId` for the emitted JAR (e.g. `io.github.acme`). When set, `dotnet pack` produces a JAR alongside the `.nupkg`.
`SmithyMavenArtifactId`	—	Maven `artifactId` for the emitted JAR (e.g. `my-service-contracts`). Required when `SmithyMavenGroupId` is set.

Items

Item	Description
`SmithySource`	`.smithy` files to include in the synthesized `smithy-build.json`. Populated automatically from a `ProjectReference` to a project with `SmithyPublish=true`, or added manually for advanced cases.
`SmithyMavenDependency`	Maven coordinates of Smithy model JARs needed by the Smithy CLI (e.g. `com.disneystreaming.alloy:alloy-core:0.3.38`). These are written into the synthesized `smithy-build.json` and, in publishing projects, into the NuGet package for downstream consumers.

Mixing model sources

A single project can consume Smithy models from multiple sources simultaneously. SmithySource items and SmithyMavenDependency items are additive — NSmithy collects them all and writes a single synthesized smithy-build.json:

<!-- Model files from a contracts project in the same repo -->
<ProjectReference Include="../ServiceA.Contracts/ServiceA.Contracts.csproj" />

<!-- Model JAR from a Maven registry -->
<SmithyMavenDependency Include="io.github.acme:service-b-contracts:1.0.0" />

ProjectReference items are the recommended way to consume contracts within a solution. SmithyMavenDependency covers external dependencies — whether published by a team using NSmithy or any other Smithy toolchain.

Smithy CLI

NSmithy bundles the Smithy CLI (version 1.68.0) inside NSmithy.MSBuild and selects the correct platform binary automatically. No separate installation is required. The bundle is self-contained and includes a JRE, so Java does not need to be installed either.

Set SmithyCliPath to override the bundled binary with a specific executable, for example when testing against a different CLI version: