Single-File Apps in .NET 10

Single-file publishing has been part of .NET since version 5, but .NET 10 takes it to a new level with improved ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, better trimming analysis, and smaller default output sizes. This tutorial walks you through publishing a real app as a single binary — no install required on the target machine.

Prerequisites

.NET 10 SDK installed (dotnet --version should show 10.x.x)
A console or ASP.NET Core app to work with

Step 1: Create a new console app

dotnet new console -n SingleFileDemo
cd SingleFileDemo

Step 2: Publish as a single file

The minimal publish command for a self-contained single-file app:

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 \
  --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true \
  -o ./output

Replace linux-x64 with your target runtime identifier (win-x64, osx-arm64, etc.). The --self-contained true flag bundles the .NET runtime into the output binary.

After publishing, ./output/ contains a single executable file.

Step 3: Add trimming

Trimming removes unreachable code from the final binary, often cutting size by 60–80%:

<!-- Add to your .csproj -->
<PropertyGroup>
  <PublishSingleFile>true</PublishSingleFile>
  <SelfContained>true</SelfContained>
  <PublishTrimmed>true</PublishTrimmed>
  <TrimMode>full</TrimMode>
</PropertyGroup>

Then just run:

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 -o ./output

Step 4: Native AOT (optional but powerful)

For the smallest and fastest binaries, use Native AOT instead of single-file:

<PropertyGroup>
  <PublishAot>true</PublishAot>
</PropertyGroup>

Native AOT compiles your app to native machine code at publish time. There’s no JIT at runtime, which means near-instant startup and a much smaller memory footprint.

Note: Native AOT doesn’t support all reflection patterns. Run dotnet publish once and review any AOT compatibility warnings before committing to this approach.

Checking binary size

ls -lh ./output/
# -rwxr-xr-x 1 user staff  12M SingleFileDemo

With trimming + AOT on a simple console app, expect 5–15 MB depending on dependencies.

Wrapping up

Single-file publishing in .NET 10 is production-ready for most workloads. Start with PublishSingleFile=true, add trimming once your app is stable, and consider Native AOT if startup time or binary size are hard constraints.