aspire do command

Name

aspire do - Execute a specific pipeline step and its dependencies.

Synopsis

aspire do <step> [options] [[--] <additional arguments>...]

Description

The aspire do command executes a specific pipeline step and its dependencies in your Aspire AppHost. This command provides fine-grained control over the orchestration pipeline, allowing you to run individual steps of the deployment or build process.

The Aspire CLI uses the following logic, in order, to determine which AppHost project to process:

The --apphost option.

This option specifies the path to the Aspire AppHost project file to process.
The rooted aspire.config.json file.

If the rooted config exists in the current directory, it’s used. If not, the CLI walks up the directory structure looking for it. If Aspire finds the rooted config, it uses the recorded AppHost information to determine which project to process. Legacy .aspire/settings.json files are still read during migration.
Searches the current directory and subdirectories.

Starting in the current directory, the CLI gathers all AppHost projects from that directory and below. If a single project is discovered, it’s automatically selected. If multiple projects are discovered, they’re printed to the terminal for the user to manually select one of the projects.

Once a project is selected, either automatically or manually, Aspire records that selection in the rooted configuration so later commands can reuse it.

The command allows you to:

Execute specific pipeline steps without running the entire pipeline
Run only the dependencies needed for a particular step
Test individual pipeline stages during development
Customize pipeline execution with environment-specific settings
Discover available steps and their dependencies using the diagnostics step

For more information, see Pipelines and app topology.

Arguments

The following arguments are available:

step

The name of the step to execute.

Options

The following options are available:

--

Delimits arguments to aspire do from arguments for the AppHost. All arguments after this delimiter are passed to the application being run.
--apphost <apphost>

The path to the Aspire AppHost project file.
-o, --output-path

The optional output path for artifacts.
--log-level

Set the minimum log level for pipeline logging. Valid values are: trace, debug, information, warning, error, critical. The default is information.
-e, --environment

The environment to use for the operation. The default is Production.
--include-exception-details

Include exception details (stack traces) in pipeline logs.
-?, -h, --help

Prints help and usage documentation for the available commands and options.
-l, --log-level <Critical|Debug|Error|Information|None|Trace|Warning>

Set the minimum log level for console output. Use this option to increase diagnostics while troubleshooting or reduce output in scripted runs.
--non-interactive

Run the command in non-interactive mode, disabling all interactive prompts and spinners.
--nologo

Suppress the startup banner and telemetry notice.
--banner

Display the animated Aspire CLI welcome banner.
--wait-for-debugger

Wait for a debugger to attach before running a command.

Discovering available steps

Before executing a pipeline step, you can discover what steps are available in your application’s pipeline and understand their dependencies using the diagnostics step.

Understanding pipeline structure

The aspire do diagnostics command provides comprehensive information about your pipeline, including:

All available steps and their dependencies
Execution order with parallelization indicators
Step dependencies and target resources
Configuration issues like orphaned steps or circular dependencies

This is particularly useful after installing a deployment package or when you want to understand which steps will execute for a given command.

Well-known steps

Aspire provides several well-known steps that serve as entry points for common operations:

build: Builds container images for compute resources defined in the application
push: Pushes container images to registries after they have been built
publish: Generates deployment artifacts by serializing resources to disk
deploy: Orchestrates the complete deployment process including infrastructure provisioning, image building, and application deployment

Resources in your application can contribute their own custom steps, and you can add application-specific steps through the pipeline API.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate common pipeline operations:

Examine the pipeline structure and available steps:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do diagnostics
```
This displays all steps in your pipeline, their dependencies, and execution order. Use this to understand what steps are available and how they relate to each other.
Build container images for your application:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do build
```
This builds all container images for compute resources defined in your AppHost.
Push container images to a registry:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do push
```
This pushes built container images to their configured registries. The push step automatically includes its dependencies (building images and ensuring registry availability) before pushing.
Execute a pipeline step with debug logging:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do deploy --log-level debug
```
Use debug logging to get detailed troubleshooting output during step execution.
Execute a pipeline step for a specific environment:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do publish --environment Staging
```
Target different environments to use environment-specific configurations.
Execute a pipeline step with custom output path:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do publish --output-path ./artifacts
```
Specify where publishing artifacts should be written.
Execute a pipeline step with additional arguments:
Aspire CLI
```
aspire do test -- --configuration Release
```
Pass additional arguments to the AppHost after the -- delimiter.