As .NET developers, we’re often racing against deadlines, juggling multiple repositories, debugging elusive bugs, and constantly striving to write clean, efficient, and maintainable code. The good news? There are tons of tools and little-known tricks that can significantly boost your productivity without compromising code quality.
Whether you’re a seasoned architect or a junior developer finding your rhythm, this article unpacks some of the best tools, Visual Studio extensions, and shortcuts that can save you hours every week.
1. Visual Studio Extensions That Make Life Easier
a. Roslynator
Roslynator is a powerful extension offering 500+ code analyzers, refactorings, and code fixes for C#. It helps you detect potential code smells early and offers suggestions in real-time. A must-have if you’re aiming to improve code quality and consistency.
b. CodeMaid
Your code deserves to be clean and well-organized. CodeMaid helps you clean up and simplify your code files with one click. It supports reordering members, formatting, and even removing unused code.
c. GitLens (for VS Code)
If you switch between Visual Studio and VS Code, GitLens is a productivity gem. It enhances Git capabilities by showing blame annotations, commit history, and code authorship insights directly in your editor.
d. VSColorOutput
Debugging can be visually draining. This extension colorizes your build and debug output, making it easier to differentiate warnings, errors, and success messages at a glance.
2. CLI Tools That Supercharge Your Workflow
a. dotnet-watch
Perfect for Blazor or API projects. This tool automatically restarts your application when it detects code changes, saving you the time of manually rebuilding during development.
> dotnet watch runb. dotnet-format
Keep your codebase consistent with minimal effort. Run this command to format your entire solution based on your .editorconfig.
> dotnet formatc. dotnet-counters
Need to troubleshoot a performance issue quickly? dotnet-counters is a performance monitoring tool that gives you real-time metrics from your .NET app, like CPU usage, memory, exceptions, etc.
3. Time-Saving Visual Studio Shortcuts
Memorizing a few strategic shortcuts can significantly speed up your coding. Here are some of the most effective:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Go to Definition | F12 |
| Peek Definition | Alt + F12 |
| Rename Symbol | Ctrl + R, R |
| Format Document | Ctrl + K, Ctrl + D |
| Navigate to File | Ctrl + , |
| Comment/Uncomment | Ctrl + K, Ctrl + C / Ctrl + K, Ctrl + U |
Pro tip: Customize your keyboard shortcuts in VS to suit your flow. You don’t need to stick to defaults if they slow you down.
4. Bonus: Productivity Practices That Work
a. Live Share for Pair Programming
Live Share enables real-time collaboration with teammates. It’s like sharing your screen, but interactive—code together, debug together, and test together.
b. Task List Comments
Use // TODO: or // HACK: comments to track pending improvements. Visual Studio will automatically pick these up in the Task List window, acting as built-in reminders.
c. Solution Filters
Working on a massive monolith? Use Solution Filters to load only the projects you need. It dramatically speeds up solution load times and reduces memory usage.
Wrapping Up
Improving productivity as a .NET developer isn’t just about writing more code—it’s about writing better code, faster. The tools, extensions, and shortcuts we’ve covered here are small but mighty additions to your daily workflow. Try integrating a few into your routine and watch how much smoother your dev life becomes.
Happy coding! 🚀
Have a favorite tool or hack I missed? Let me know—I’m always looking to learn something new too.
Rijwan Ansari