Running buildcharts with no subcommand shows help.
Command summary
| Command | What it does |
|---|
init | Scaffold build.yml and charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml for a .NET repo |
update | Resolve OCI chart dependencies and refresh charts/buildcharts/Chart.lock |
generate | Validate metadata, pull charts, run plugins, and write .buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl |
pull | Download a single chart by tag or digest |
summary | Export a summary from the latest Docker Buildx history |
version | Print tool and runtime details |
buildcharts init
init scans the current repository for a .sln or .slnx file and then detects .NET project types from .csproj files. It writes:
build.ymlcharts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml.github/workflows/buildcharts.yml when the Git remote host is GitHub
init currently supports .NET repositories only.
buildcharts update
update reads charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml, resolves each dependency to a digest, and writes a fresh charts/buildcharts/Chart.lock.
Environment variables:
DOCKER_CONFIG: Override the Docker config directory used for registry auth
buildcharts generate
buildcharts generate [--use-inline-dockerfiles] [--ignore-lock] [--verbose]
--use-inline-dockerfiles: Embed pulled Dockerfiles directly in .buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl--ignore-lock: Skip Chart.lock validation even if the file exists--verbose: Enable extra plugin and generator logging by setting BUILDSCHARTS_VERBOSE=1
generate deletes .buildcharts, validates your config, pulls charts, runs plugins, and writes .buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl.
Environment variables:
DOCKER_CONFIG: Override the Docker config directory used for registry auth
buildcharts pull
buildcharts pull <reference> [--untar] [--untardir <DIR>] [--output <OUTPUT>]
<reference>: OCI reference in the form registry/repo:tag or registry/repo@sha256:...--untar: Extract the downloaded chart into the current directory--untardir <DIR>: Extraction directory when --untar is set--output <OUTPUT>: Directory where the downloaded chart blob is stored
Environment variables:
DOCKER_CONFIG: Override the Docker config directory used for registry auth
buildcharts summary
summary reads the latest Docker Buildx history, exports:
.buildcharts/output/SUMMARY.md.buildcharts/output/buildcharts.dockerbuild
It also integrates with CI:
- Appends to
GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY on GitHub Actions
- Uploads artifacts and a job summary when
TF_BUILD=true on Azure DevOps
buildcharts version
This prints the BuildCharts version, build timestamp, OS and architecture, CPU and memory, and the current .NET runtime version. Last modified on March 16, 2026
