Publishing NuGet Packages to GitHub Packages: A Complete Guide

GitHub Packages provides a secure, reliable way to host your NuGet packages alongside your source code. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire process from creating a package to publishing it to GitHub Packages.

🎯 What You'll Learn

✅ Create and configure NuGet package projects

✅ Set up GitHub Personal Access Tokens

✅ Build and package your .NET libraries

✅ Publish packages to GitHub Packages

✅ Automate publishing with GitHub Actions

✅ Consume packages from GitHub Packages

📁 GitHub Repository

You can find the complete source code and examples in the GitHub repository:

View Complete Source Code on GitHub 🚀

📋 Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

GitHub Account - A GitHub account with repository access

.NET SDK - .NET 8.0 SDK or later installed on your machine

GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) - With appropriate package permissions

Development Environment - Visual Studio, VS Code, or your preferred IDE

---

🚀 Step 1: Create Your NuGet Package Project

1.1 Create a Class Library Project

Start by creating a new class library project:

BASH

dotnet new classlib -n MyAwesomeLibrary
cd MyAwesomeLibrary

1.2 Configure Package Metadata

Edit your .csproj file to include package metadata:

XML

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    
    <!-- Package Information -->
    <PackageId>MyAwesomeLibrary</PackageId>
    <Version>1.0.0</Version>
    <Authors>Your Name</Authors>
    <Company>Your Company</Company>
    <Description>A fantastic library for amazing functionality</Description>
    <PackageTags>utility, helper, awesome</PackageTags>
    <PackageLicenseExpression>MIT</PackageLicenseExpression>
    <PackageReadmeFile>README.md</PackageReadmeFile>
    
    <!-- GitHub Packages Configuration -->
    <RepositoryUrl>https://github.com/Prithivi-au/nuget-publish</RepositoryUrl>
    <RepositoryType>git</RepositoryType>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

🔑 Step 2: Set Up GitHub Personal Access Token

2.1 Create a Personal Access Token

1. Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)

2. Click "Generate new token (classic)"

3. Select the following scopes:

- write:packages - Upload packages to GitHub Packages

- read:packages - Download packages from GitHub Packages

- repo - Access to repositories (if your package is in a private repo)

2.2 Configure NuGet Source

Add GitHub Packages as a NuGet source:

BASH

dotnet nuget add source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/Prithivi-au/index.json \
  --name github \
  --username Prithivi-au \
  --password YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN \
  --store-password-in-clear-text

📦 Step 3: Build and Package Your Library

3.1 Build the Package

BASH

dotnet pack --configuration Release

This creates a .nupkg file in the bin/Release folder.

3.2 Publish to GitHub Packages

BASH

dotnet nuget push bin/Release/MyAwesomeLibrary.1.0.0.nupkg \
  --source github \
  --api-key YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN

🤖 Step 4: Automate with GitHub Actions

Create .github/workflows/publish.yml:

YAML

name: Publish Package

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        fetch-depth: 0  # Fetch all history for version calculation
    
    - name: Setup .NET
      uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
      with:
        dotnet-version: '8.0.x'
        
    - name: Calculate Version
      id: version
      run: |
        # This step dynamically generates package versions:
        # - For tagged releases (v1.0.0): Uses the tag version
        # - For main branch commits: Creates semantic version like 1.0.42-abc1234
        #   where 42 is commit count and abc1234 is short commit SHA
        if [[ \$GITHUB_REF == refs/tags/* ]]; then
          VERSION=\$\{GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/v\}
        else
          # Generate version from git info
          COMMIT_COUNT=\$(git rev-list --count HEAD)
          SHORT_SHA=\$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
          VERSION="1.0.\$\{COMMIT_COUNT\}-\$\{SHORT_SHA\}"
        fi
        echo "VERSION=\$VERSION" >> \$GITHUB_OUTPUT
        echo "Generated version: \$VERSION"
        
    - name: Set environment variables
      run: |
        echo "REPO_OWNER_LC=\$\{GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER,,\}" >> \$GITHUB_ENV
        
    - name: Restore dependencies
      run: dotnet restore MyAwesomeLibrary/MyAwesomeLibrary.sln
      
    - name: Build
      run: dotnet build MyAwesomeLibrary/MyAwesomeLibrary.sln --no-restore
      
    - name: Test
      run: dotnet test MyAwesomeLibrary/MyAwesomeLibrary.sln --no-build --verbosity normal
      
    - name: Pack
      run: dotnet pack MyAwesomeLibrary/MyAwesomeLibrary/MyAwesomeLibrary.csproj --configuration Release -p:Version=\$\{\{ steps.version.outputs.VERSION \}\} --output ./nupkgs
      
    - name: List created packages
      run: |
        echo "Created packages:"
        ls -la ./nupkgs/
      
    - name: Push all packages to GitHub Packages
      if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/') || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
      run: |
        dotnet nuget push "./nupkgs/*.nupkg" \\
          --source "https://nuget.pkg.github.com/\$\{\{ env.REPO_OWNER_LC \}\}/index.json" \\
          --api-key \$\{\{ secrets.NUGET_PUBLISH_TOKEN \}\} \\
          --skip-duplicate

📥 Step 5: Consume Your Package

5.1 Add GitHub Packages Source

BASH

dotnet nuget add source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/Prithivi-au/index.json \
  --name github \
  --username Prithivi-au \
  --password YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN \
  --store-password-in-clear-text

5.2 Install the Package

BASH

dotnet add package MyAwesomeLibrary --source github

🎉 Conclusion

You've successfully:

✅ Created a NuGet package project

✅ Configured GitHub Packages as a NuGet source

✅ Published your package to GitHub Packages

✅ Set up automated publishing with GitHub Actions

✅ Consumed your package from GitHub Packages

GitHub Packages provides a seamless way to host your NuGet packages alongside your source code, making it easy to share and distribute your .NET libraries.

🔗 Additional Resources

GitHub Packages Documentation

NuGet Package Creation Guide

GitHub Actions Documentation

NuGet Publish: Complete Guide to Publishing Packages

Publishing NuGet Packages to GitHub Packages: A Complete Guide

🎯 What You'll Learn

📁 GitHub Repository

📋 Prerequisites

🚀 Step 1: Create Your NuGet Package Project

1.1 Create a Class Library Project

1.2 Configure Package Metadata

🔑 Step 2: Set Up GitHub Personal Access Token

2.1 Create a Personal Access Token

2.2 Configure NuGet Source

📦 Step 3: Build and Package Your Library

3.1 Build the Package

3.2 Publish to GitHub Packages

🤖 Step 4: Automate with GitHub Actions

📥 Step 5: Consume Your Package

5.1 Add GitHub Packages Source

5.2 Install the Package

🎉 Conclusion

🔗 Additional Resources

NuGet Package Repository