{"slug": "i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications", "title": "I Built a Portable AI Skill That Safely Upgrades .NET Applications", "summary": "Developer Lokesh Agarwal has released CoreLogic AI Skills, an open-source library of reusable engineering workflows for AI coding agents. The first skill, dotnet-upgrade, safely upgrades .NET applications by first analyzing the repository and presenting an assessment plan before making any changes, with approval checkpoints to prevent destructive actions. The library includes adapters for multiple AI coding platforms to ensure portability.", "body_md": "AI coding assistants have become incredibly good at writing code.\n\nBut I kept running into the same problem...\n\nWhen I asked an AI to upgrade a .NET application, the response usually looked something like this:\n\n\"Update the TargetFramework, update the NuGet packages, and build.\"\n\nAnyone who has upgraded a real production application knows that's only a tiny part of the job.\n\nA proper upgrade normally involves:\n\nThat's not a prompt.\n\nThat's an **engineering workflow**.\n\nSo I decided to build one.\n\n**CoreLogic AI Skills** is an open-source library of reusable engineering workflows designed for AI coding agents.\n\nInstead of writing the same prompts repeatedly, each workflow is packaged as a reusable **Skill**.\n\nThe goal is simple:\n\nBuild once. Use with any AI coding agent.\n\nThe library currently supports:\n\nGitHub Repository:\n\n👉 [https://github.com/mrlokeshagarwal/corelogic-ai-skills](https://github.com/mrlokeshagarwal/corelogic-ai-skills)\n\nThe first skill I created is called **dotnet-upgrade**.\n\nInstead of blindly modifying a repository, it behaves more like an experienced senior engineer.\n\nIt first analyses the repository.\n\nIt looks for things like:\n\nIt then creates an upgrade plan.\n\nNothing is modified yet.\n\nOne design decision was very important to me.\n\nThe skill **never starts changing code immediately**.\n\nInstead it presents something like this:\n\n```\n.NET Upgrade Assessment\n\nCurrent framework:\n.NET 6\n\nRecommended target:\n.NET 10 LTS\n\nProjects:\n6\n\nVulnerable packages:\n4\n\nDeprecated packages:\n2\n\nDocker changes required:\nYes\n\nCI/CD changes required:\nYes\n\nNo files have been modified.\n\nApprove this plan?\n```\n\nOnly after explicit approval does the upgrade begin.\n\nAfter approval the skill can:\n\nThe work isn't finished after changing code.\n\nThe skill validates the application by:\n\nBecause a successful build doesn't always mean a successful upgrade.\n\nOne thing I wanted to avoid was creating another repository full of prompts.\n\nInstead, I built a small ecosystem.\n\nThe repository includes:\n\nAdding a new skill shouldn't require changing the installer or packaging logic.\n\nThe repository also includes **start-story**.\n\nIt helps developers begin work from an Azure DevOps work item by:\n\nLike `dotnet-upgrade`\n\n, it includes approval checkpoints before potentially destructive actions.\n\nEvery AI coding tool has its own way of working.\n\nSome support Skills.\n\nSome support Rules.\n\nSome support Instructions.\n\nSome support AGENTS.md.\n\nI wanted the workflow itself to remain portable while only the discovery mechanism changed.\n\nThat's why the repository includes adapters for multiple platforms rather than maintaining completely different implementations.\n\nI'm planning to add more engineering-focused skills, including:\n\nThis is the first public beta.\n\nIf you use Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Codex, ChatGPT—or any other AI coding assistant—I would really appreciate your feedback.\n\nWhich engineering workflow would you like to see turned into a reusable AI Skill?\n\n⭐ GitHub Repository\n\n[https://github.com/mrlokeshagarwal/corelogic-ai-skills](https://github.com/mrlokeshagarwal/corelogic-ai-skills)\n\nFeedback, ideas and contributions are always welcome.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/lokeshagarwal/i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications-131f", "published_at": "2026-08-01 01:16:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-01 01:41:03.405152+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-agents", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Lokesh Agarwal", "CoreLogic AI Skills", "dotnet-upgrade", "GitHub", "Claude Code", "Cursor", "OpenCode", "Codex"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-built-a-portable-ai-skill-that-safely-upgrades-net-applications.jsonld"}}