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Hot Reload in .NET 6: Edit Code Without Restarting

.NET Visual Studio Development Productivity

I wrote “Hot Reload in .NET 6: Edit Code Without Restarting” to share practical, production-minded guidance on this topic.

What is Hot Reload?

Hot Reload applies code changes to your running app without:

  • Restarting the application
  • Losing application state
  • Navigating back to where you were testing

This is different from traditional “Edit and Continue” debugging - Hot Reload works with or without the debugger attached.

Getting Started

Hot Reload works out of the box with dotnet watch:

# Create a new project
dotnet new blazorserver -n HotReloadDemo
cd HotReloadDemo

# Run with hot reload
dotnet watch

Now any changes you make to your code will be applied immediately.

Supported Changes

Hot Reload supports many common code changes:

// Changes to method bodies
public string GetGreeting(string name)
{
    // Change this line and see it update immediately
    return $"Hello, {name}! Welcome to .NET 6!";
}

// Adding new methods
public int Calculate(int a, int b)
{
    return a + b;
}

// Modifying lambda expressions
Func<int, int> square = x => x * x;
// Change to:
Func<int, int> square = x => x * x * x; // Now it's cube

// Changes to static fields and properties
public static class AppConfig
{
    public static string Version { get; } = "1.0.0"; // Change this
    public static bool DebugMode { get; } = true;
}

Working with Blazor

Hot Reload shines with Blazor development:

@page "/counter"

<PageTitle>Counter</PageTitle>

<h1>Counter</h1>

@* Change this text and see it update instantly *@
<p role="status">Current count: @currentCount</p>

@* Add new styling *@
<p style="font-size: 2em; color: @(currentCount > 5 ? "green" : "red")">
    @currentCount
</p>

<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="IncrementCount">
    Click me
</button>

@code {
    private int currentCount = 0;

    private void IncrementCount()
    {
        // Change increment value - hot reload preserves state
        currentCount += 5; // Changed from 1 to 5
    }

    // Add a new method while running
    private void ResetCount()
    {
        currentCount = 0;
    }
}

The counter value is preserved when you make changes - you don’t lose your test state.

ASP.NET Core MVC and Razor Pages

Hot Reload works with traditional ASP.NET patterns too:

// Controllers/HomeController.cs
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        // Modify this message
        ViewBag.Message = "Hello from Hot Reload!";
        return View();
    }

    // Add new actions while running
    public IActionResult About()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

<!-- Views/Home/Index.cshtml -->
@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Home Page";
}

<div class="text-center">
    <h1 class="display-4">Welcome</h1>
    <!-- Edit HTML and see changes immediately -->
    <p>@ViewBag.Message</p>
    <p>Learn about <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/aspnet/core">
        building Web apps with ASP.NET Core
    </a>.</p>
</div>

Console Applications

Hot Reload even works with console apps:

// Program.cs
Console.WriteLine("Hot Reload Console Demo");

while (true)
{
    // Modify this method and changes apply immediately
    PrintStatus();
    Thread.Sleep(2000);
}

void PrintStatus()
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Status at {DateTime.Now:HH:mm:ss}: Running!");
    // Add more output while the app runs
    Console.WriteLine("Hot Reload is active!");
}

Run with:

dotnet watch run

Visual Studio Integration

Visual Studio 2022 provides the best Hot Reload experience:

  1. Hot Reload Button: Click the flame icon or press Alt+F10
  2. Apply on Save: Enable in Options > Debugging > .NET/C++ Hot Reload
  3. Diagnostics: See what changes were applied in the Output window
// Visual Studio shows inline indicators when changes are applied
public class UserService
{
    public User GetUser(int id)
    {
        // This line was hot reloaded ← VS shows this indicator
        return _repository.FindById(id);
    }
}

What Changes Are NOT Supported

Some changes require a restart:

// NOT supported - requires restart:

// 1. Adding new types (classes, structs, interfaces)
public class NewClass { } // Restart required

// 2. Changing type signatures
public class User
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; } // Adding new property - restart
}

// 3. Modifying generic type definitions
public class Repository<T> { } // Changing constraints - restart

// 4. Changes to static constructors
static MyClass()
{
    // Modifications here - restart
}

// 5. Changes to async state machines (in some cases)
public async Task<int> ComplexAsync()
{
    // Adding new await statements may require restart
}

When Hot Reload can’t apply changes, you’ll see a notification suggesting a restart.

Configuring Hot Reload

Fine-tune Hot Reload behavior in your project:

<!-- Properties/launchSettings.json -->
{
  "profiles": {
    "HotReloadDemo": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "dotnetRunMessages": true,
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "hotReloadEnabled": true,
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development",
        "DOTNET_WATCH_RESTART_ON_RUDE_EDIT": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variables for dotnet watch:

# Restart automatically on unsupported changes
export DOTNET_WATCH_RESTART_ON_RUDE_EDIT=true

# Suppress browser refresh
export DOTNET_WATCH_SUPPRESS_BROWSER_REFRESH=true

# Custom polling interval
export DOTNET_WATCH_POLL_INTERVAL=1000

Working with CSS

CSS changes are applied instantly without Hot Reload:

/* wwwroot/css/site.css */
.counter-value {
    font-size: 2em;
    color: blue; /* Change this - instant update */
    transition: color 0.3s ease;
}

.counter-value.high {
    color: green; /* Add new rules while running */
}

Browser Link enables CSS Hot Reload in Visual Studio:

// In Program.cs
if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseBrowserLink(); // Enable CSS hot reload
}

Best Practices

  1. Design for Hot Reload: Keep methods small and focused
  2. Use Dependency Injection: Services can be modified independently
  3. Stateless Components: Easier to hot reload without side effects
  4. Test Incrementally: Make small changes and verify frequently
// Good: Small, focused methods - easy to hot reload
public class OrderProcessor
{
    public decimal CalculateTotal(Order order)
    {
        return CalculateSubtotal(order) + CalculateTax(order);
    }

    private decimal CalculateSubtotal(Order order)
    {
        // Easy to modify and hot reload
        return order.Items.Sum(i => i.Price * i.Quantity);
    }

    private decimal CalculateTax(Order order)
    {
        // Independent method - changes don't affect others
        return CalculateSubtotal(order) * 0.1m;
    }
}

Debugging with Hot Reload

Hot Reload works alongside the debugger:

public void ProcessItems(List<Item> items)
{
    foreach (var item in items)
    {
        // Set breakpoint here
        var result = ProcessItem(item);

        // While stopped at breakpoint, modify ProcessItem
        // Apply Hot Reload, then continue - new code executes

        Console.WriteLine(result);
    }
}

private string ProcessItem(Item item)
{
    // Modify this while debugging
    return $"Processed: {item.Name}";
}

Hot Reload transforms the development experience in .NET 6. The ability to see changes instantly without losing state makes iterating on features and fixing bugs significantly faster.

Resources

Michael John Pena

Michael John Pena

Senior Data Engineer based in Sydney. Writing about data, cloud, and technology.