Set up the dev environment

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK (latest patch).
• PowerShell 7+ (pwsh) for the helper scripts.
• Git with line endings normalised (core.autocrlf=input on Windows is fine).
• Docker if you want to run the integration tests against real backends.

Clone

git clone https://github.com/Cephalon-Labs/CephalonEngine.git
cd CephalonEngine

Build

The repo ships several solution filters so you don’t have to build everything at once:

dotnet restore CephalonEngine.slnx
dotnet build core.slnf -c Release
dotnet build aspnetcore.slnf -c Release
dotnet build data.slnf -c Release
dotnet build observability.slnf -c Release

Test

dotnet test core.slnf -c Release --filter "Category!=Integration"
dotnet test aspnetcore.slnf -c Release --filter "Category!=Integration"
dotnet test core.slnf -c Release --filter "Category=Integration"

Publish a local package feed

To exercise the generated-app flow:

pwsh ./scripts/publish-package-artifacts.ps1 -Configuration Release -SkipBuild

That produces ./artifacts/packages-release, which you can point a cephalon new-generated app at via cephalon stage-packages.

Run the playground

playground/Cephalon.Playground is a minimal host that demonstrates the engine end-to-end:

dotnet run --project ./playground/Cephalon.Playground

AGENTS.md

The repo’s AGENTS.md documents the conventions any contributor (human or AI) is expected to follow — repo structure, build commands, where docs live, how to ship. Read it once before your first PR.

Where things live

Path	What’s there
src/	Engine + companion packages. One project per shipped NuGet package.
tests/	xUnit test projects. One per package.
benchmarks/Cephalon.Benchmarks/	BenchmarkDotNet suite.
samples/	Adoption-quality sample apps.
playground/Cephalon.Playground/	Minimal demonstration host.
templates/Cephalon.TemplatePack/	dotnet new template pack.
docs/	Hand-authored source docs (read by this docs site).
scripts/	PowerShell helpers — package publishing, planning sync, ….
.github/workflows/	CI pipelines.

Editor choice

• Visual Studio 2026 17.13+ — first-class, including .slnx.
• Rider 2026.1+ — full support, recommended for cross-platform contributors.
• VS Code with C# Dev Kit — works as long as the workspace points at the right .slnx or .slnf.