News

AWS Deploy Tool for .NET 2.0 Adds .NET 8, Podman, and AWS SDK v4 Enhancements

• By David Ramel
• 10/14/2025

Amazon Web Services has rolled out Version 2.0 of the AWS Deploy Tool for .NET, introducing foundational updates aimed at improving the experience of deploying .NET workloads to the AWS cloud. The new release updates runtime requirements, expands container support, and refreshes several key dependencies.

Capabilities of the tool include providing compute recommendations that help determine the most suitable AWS compute service based on the application type. It can automatically generate a Dockerfile if one does not already exist, or use an existing Dockerfile when available. The tool handles packaging and deployment by building deployment artifacts, creating an AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) project, provisioning necessary infrastructure, and deploying the application to the selected AWS compute environment. It also supports repeatable and shareable deployments by allowing developers to customize and version control CDK deployment projects for collaboration across teams. In addition, the tool helps developers learn the AWS CDK for .NET by exposing and integrating the underlying AWS deployment concepts it uses.

The deploy tool now requires .NET 8 and Node.js 18.x or later. According to AWS, the move to .NET 8 replaces the now-unsupported .NET 6 runtime and ensures long-term stability. The Node.js requirement aligns the tool with current AWS CDK standards, since CDK now mandates Node.js 18 as its minimum supported version.Despite these updates, AWS confirmed that no breaking changes have been made to existing deployment configurations or CLI commands, minimizing friction for users upgrading from prior versions.

Expanded Container Support and .NET 10 Deployments
Version 2.0 adds Podman support in addition to Docker. The deploy tool now automatically detects either container engine, defaulting to Docker when available but seamlessly switching to Podman if not. This enhancement offers greater flexibility for container-based .NET application workflows.

The new release also supports deploying .NET 10 applications. When target environments such as AWS Elastic Beanstalk lack a managed .NET 10 runtime, the tool automatically creates a self-contained bundle including the runtime and all dependencies.

Other Technical Updates

• Optimized Dockerfile generation that omits default Node.js installation to improve build times
• Updated AWS CDK library to version 2.194.0 and CDK CLI to 2.1013.0
• Integration with AWS SDK for .NET v4 for performance enhancements
• Migration to the Spectre.CLI library for improved command-line interactions
• Templating engine update from .NET 5 to .NET 8

Availability
The latest release is available through both the .NET CLI and the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio. Users can update or install the tool with:

dotnet tool update -g AWS.Deploy.Tools

or

dotnet tool install -g AWS.Deploy.Tools

Ongoing Development
AWS said it will continue to expand the feature scope of the Deploy Tool for .NET to simplify cloud deployment workflows. Developers can contribute or report issues on the project's GitHub repository or learn more from the AWS Developer Tools Blog.