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Consider deprecating Microsoft.Extensions.ApiDescription.Client package #59208

@captainsafia

Description

@captainsafia

The Microsoft.Extensions.ApiDescription.Client package ships MSBuild logic that is designed to support OpenAPI-based code generators attached to ASP.NET Core applications.

The primary API exposed by this package is an OpenApiReference item group that allows a user to define a reference to an OpenAPI document(s) that code generators can use:

<PropertyGroup>
  <OpenApiReference Include="mypath\openapi.json" />
</PropertyGroup>

There's an also an <OpenApiProjectReference> property that can be used to define the configuration options for a code generator.

This package is optimized for consumption by NSwag. Efforts to add Kiota support to the package in the past by @baywet have not been successful (see #41928).

In conversations with @RicoSuter it seems like the preference on the NSwag side is for users to invoke the code generation pipelines in NSwag via pre-existing NSwag tooling instead of the MSBuild-based middle line.

With all this in mind, given that:

  • The package has received little in the way of updates over the past few years.
  • The abstractions provided by the package don't scale well to non-NSwag code generators.
  • Code generators provide their own CLIs and configuration options to drive code generation.

We should consider deprecating the package to reduce maintenance burden and provide a more straightforward story around integration ASP.NET Core with code generators in the future.

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    area-minimalIncludes minimal APIs, endpoint filters, parameter binding, request delegate generator etcarea-mvcIncludes: MVC, Actions and Controllers, Localization, CORS, most templatesfeature-openapi

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