🚀 Proposal: A Fully Featured Open-Source Cross-Platform IDE for .NET Web Development

[Pavan8374]

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• I have searched the existing issues

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe the problem.

As a developer actively working on .NET web applications, I’ve noticed a significant gap in the available IDEs. While there are existing solutions, none provide a complete, lightweight, and truly cross-platform development experience for .NET:

1. Visual Studio Code:

• Great for lightweight development but lacks deep .NET integration (e.g., debugging, project scaffolding, full IntelliSense, UI builders).
• Requires multiple extensions, but even then, the experience is not as seamless as a dedicated IDE.

2. Visual Studio (Community/Professional/Enterprise):

• Windows-centric—official macOS support has been discontinued.
• Heavy installation size, high resource consumption, and slow startup times.
• The user experience often feels sluggish compared to modern IDEs.

Given that .NET is marketed as a cross-platform framework, it makes sense to have an open-source, truly cross-platform IDE that provides a first-class development experience across all operating systems.

Describe the solution you'd like

Proposed Features of a New Open-Source .NET IDE:
✅ Cross-Platform: Runs efficiently on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
✅ Lightweight & Fast: Optimized for performance with minimal resource consumption.
✅ Full .NET Support: First-class support for C#, ASP.NET, Blazor, Razor, MAUI, and API development.
✅ Optimized IntelliSense: Smart code completion, deep analysis, and smooth refactoring.
✅ Integrated Debugging: Seamless debugging and profiling tools for .NET applications.
✅ Built-in Git & DevOps: Git integration, CI/CD workflows, and GitHub/GitLab support.
✅ Telemetry & Performance Metrics: Helps track and optimize the IDE’s performance.
✅ Plugin & Extension System: Allow community-driven extensions similar to VS Code.
✅ Great UI/UX: A modern, clean, and developer-friendly interface.

Additional context

Why This Matters:

• Bridges the gap between lightweight editors like VS Code and full-fledged IDEs like Visual Studio.
• Provides a unified development experience for .NET developers across platforms.
• Encourages community-driven contributions and makes .NET development more accessible.
• Boosts .NET adoption in non-Windows environments by providing a better developer experience.

I’d love to hear the community’s thoughts on this! Would an open-source, cross-platform .NET IDE be something the .NET team is interested in exploring? 🚀