Invex .NET Tools

A collection of small, focused .NET developer tools. The repository currently ships ArtifactClean, the artclean .NET global tool, which resets a .NET workspace to a clean state in one command: dotnet clean, delete every bin and obj directory, then dotnet restore.

Features

• One-step reset. Runs dotnet clean, removes bin and obj directories recursively, and runs dotnet restore.
• Safe traversal. Skips symbolic links, junctions and other reparse points, and skips directories it cannot read.
• Script-friendly. Exits with 0 on success and 1 on any failure, while still finishing the remaining steps.
• Quiet by default. Prints a short summary; --verbose shows each deleted directory and the dotnet output.
• Fast startup. Published packages include Native AOT assets for Windows, Linux and macOS on x64 and ARM64.

Installation

Install the latest published version as a global tool:

dotnet tool install --global Invex.Tools.ArtifactClean

Update an existing installation:

dotnet tool update --global Invex.Tools.ArtifactClean

The tool targets .NET 10 and needs the dotnet command on PATH. The workspaces it cleans can target any .NET version.

Quick start

From the root of the workspace you want to clean:

artclean

'dotnet clean' completed successfully.
Deleted 12 'bin' / 'obj' directories.
'dotnet restore' completed successfully.

Warning

ArtifactClean permanently deletes every bin and obj directory below the selected path. Select the root path carefully.

Usage

Clean a different directory

artclean --path "path/to/workspace"

dotnet clean and dotnet restore run with the selected directory as their working directory. See ArtifactClean.

Skip the restore or see more detail

artclean --no-restore
artclean --verbose

The complete command syntax is:

artclean [options]
  -p, --path <directory>  Root directory to clean (default: current directory)
  -n, --no-restore        Do not run dotnet restore after cleaning
  -v, --verbose           Show detailed cleanup and dotnet command output

See ArtifactClean options.

Use it in scripts

The tool exits with code 1 when the path does not exist, dotnet clean or dotnet restore fails, or a bin or obj directory cannot be deleted. A failed dotnet clean does not stop the cleanup. See Exit codes.

Documentation

Full documentation: https://invex-games.github.io/tools/

Guide	Contents
Introduction	What the tools are for, when to use ArtifactClean and when not to
Getting Started	Install artclean and run your first cleanup
ArtifactClean	Command reference: options, behavior, exit codes, platforms

Development

The repository requires the .NET 10 SDK (see global.json).

dotnet build Invex.Tools.slnx
dotnet test Invex.Tools.slnx

Warning

Do not run artclean from the repository root while developing: it deletes the build output you are testing.

Preview the documentation site with the Atom build definition:

atom BuildDocs
atom ServeDocs
# equivalently
dotnet run --project _atom/_atom.csproj -- ServeDocs

Repository layout

Path	Purpose
src/Invex.Tools.ArtifactClean	Source for the artclean tool
tests/Invex.Tools.ArtifactClean.Tests	NUnit tests for the cleanup logic
_atom	Atom build definition used to generate CI and release workflows
docs	DocFX source for the project documentation
Invex.Tools.slnx	Repository solution

License

This project is available under the MIT License.