Chisel provides a way to remove unwanted dependencies from your dotnet projects.
Chisel was born because some database drivers can't resist taking dependencies on cloud libraries. The MongoDB driver (version 2.*) depends on the ASW SDK for authentication with Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Microsoft's SQL Server driver depends on the Azure SDK for authentication with the Microsoft identity platform (formerly Azure AD).
Users have asked for separate NuGet packages for both MongoDB (issue #4635) and SqlClient (issue #1108) but as of MongoDB.Driver 2.* and Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.* the cloud dependencies are unavoidable, even if MongoDB or SQL Server is used on premises (where cloud authentication is obviously not needed).
Note
Chisel is no longer needed starting with version 3.0.0 of the MongoDB.Driver package since AWS authentication has been moved into a new optional MongoDB.Driver.Authentication.AWS package. See Version 3.0 Breaking Changes for more information.
Enter Chisel to remove those dependencies and save some precious megabytes.
Add the Chisel NuGet package to your project using the NuGet Package Manager or run the following command:
dotnet add package ChiselWhile Chisel's main purpose is removing unwanted dependencies from existing NuGet packages, it provides another great feature: a graph of your project's dependencies. After adding Chisel, a Mermaid (or Graphviz) graph is written in the intermediate output path (aka the obj directory).
For a project referencing Hangfire.PostgreSql and Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL the graph would look like this.
graph LR
classDef root stroke-width:4px
classDef default fill:aquamarine,stroke:#009061,color:#333333
Hangfire.Core --> Newtonsoft.Json
Hangfire.PostgreSql{{Hangfire.PostgreSql}} --> Dapper
Hangfire.PostgreSql{{Hangfire.PostgreSql}} --> Hangfire.Core
Hangfire.PostgreSql{{Hangfire.PostgreSql}} --> Npgsql
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore --> Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Abstractions
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore --> Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational --> Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational --> Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Abstractions --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Options
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Abstractions --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Logging --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection
Microsoft.Extensions.Logging --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Logging --> Microsoft.Extensions.Options
Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Options --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Options --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Npgsql --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions
Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL{{Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL}} --> Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL{{Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL}} --> Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Abstractions
Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL{{Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL}} --> Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational
Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL{{Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL}} --> Npgsql
class Hangfire.PostgreSql root
class Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL root
Mermaid graphs can be used directly in markdown files on GitHub and are rendered as graphs, just like the one just above. Or they can also be edited, previewed and shared with the Mermaid live editor.
Graphviz (DOT) files can be written instead by setting the ChiselGraphName property to a name that ends with .gv:
<PropertyGroup>
<ChiselGraphName>$(MSBuildProjectName).Chisel.gv</ChiselGraphName>
</PropertyGroup>Graphviz files can be visualized and shared online with Edotor or locally with the excellent Graphviz Interactive Preview extension for Visual Studio Code.
Warning
While this technique has been sucessfully tested with the MongDB driver and the SQL Server driver, removing dependencies from a package might lead to exceptions at runtime. Make sure to properly test your application.
After adding the Chisel package to your project, tell it to remove the AWSSDK.SecurityToken dependency with the ChiselPackage property.
<PropertyGroup>
<ChiselPackage>AWSSDK.SecurityToken</ChiselPackage>
</PropertyGroup>Specifying the direct dependencies is enough. Looking at the produced graph confirms that Chisel figured out the transitive dependencies by itself (there's only AWSSDK.Core in this scenario).
graph LR
classDef root stroke-width:4px
classDef default fill:aquamarine,stroke:#009061,color:#333333
classDef removed fill:lightcoral,stroke:#A42A2A
AWSSDK.SecurityToken/3.7.100.14 --> AWSSDK.Core/3.7.100.14
DnsClient/1.6.1 --> Microsoft.Win32.Registry/5.0.0
Microsoft.Win32.Registry/5.0.0 --> System.Security.AccessControl/5.0.0
Microsoft.Win32.Registry/5.0.0 --> System.Security.Principal.Windows/5.0.0
MongoDB.Bson/2.30.0 --> System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe/5.0.0
MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0{{MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0}} --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions/6.0.4
MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0{{MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0}} --> MongoDB.Bson/2.30.0
MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0{{MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0}} --> MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0
MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0{{MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0}} --> MongoDB.Libmongocrypt/1.12.0
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> AWSSDK.SecurityToken/3.7.100.14
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> DnsClient/1.6.1
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions/6.0.4
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> MongoDB.Bson/2.30.0
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> MongoDB.Libmongocrypt/1.12.0
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> SharpCompress/0.30.1
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> Snappier/1.0.0
MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 --> ZstdSharp.Port/0.7.3
System.Security.AccessControl/5.0.0 --> System.Security.Principal.Windows/5.0.0
class AWSSDK.Core/3.7.100.14 removed
class AWSSDK.SecurityToken/3.7.100.14 removed
class DnsClient/1.6.1 default
class Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions/6.0.4 default
class Microsoft.Win32.Registry/5.0.0 default
class MongoDB.Bson/2.30.0 default
class MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0 root
class MongoDB.Driver/2.30.0 default
class MongoDB.Driver.Core/2.30.0 default
class MongoDB.Libmongocrypt/1.12.0 default
class SharpCompress/0.30.1 default
class Snappier/1.0.0 default
class System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe/5.0.0 default
class System.Security.AccessControl/5.0.0 default
class System.Security.Principal.Windows/5.0.0 default
class ZstdSharp.Port/0.7.3 default
Now, both AWSSDK.Core.dll and AWSSDK.SecurityToken.dll have disappeared from the build output.
As long as the MONGODB-AWS authentication mechanism is not used everything will work fine. See the MongoDbSample project in the samples directory.
Getting rid of the Azure/Microsoft Identity bits requires defining three packages to remove. In the previous example, <ChiselPackage> was used as an MSBuild property. Here, it's used as an MSBuild item (i.e. with the Include attribute) to specify multiple packages.
<ItemGroup>
<ChiselPackage Include="Azure.Identity" />
<ChiselPackage Include="Microsoft.IdentityModel.JsonWebTokens" />
<ChiselPackage Include="Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.OpenIdConnect" />
</ItemGroup>As with the MongoDB driver, specifying the three direct dependencies is enough. We can see in the produced graph that the Microsoft.Identity* libraries have many transitive dependencies which are also removed (in red).
graph LR
classDef root stroke-width:4px
classDef default fill:aquamarine,stroke:#009061,color:#333333
classDef removed fill:lightcoral,stroke:#A42A2A
Azure.Core --> Microsoft.Bcl.AsyncInterfaces
Azure.Core --> System.ClientModel
Azure.Core --> System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticSource
Azure.Core --> System.Memory.Data
Azure.Core --> System.Text.Encodings.Web
Azure.Core --> System.Text.Json
Azure.Identity --> Azure.Core
Azure.Identity --> Microsoft.Identity.Client
Azure.Identity --> Microsoft.Identity.Client.Extensions.Msal
Azure.Identity --> System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData
Azure.Identity --> System.Text.Json
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> Azure.Identity
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> Microsoft.Bcl.Cryptography
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.JsonWebTokens
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.OpenIdConnect
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> Microsoft.SqlServer.Server
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient{{Microsoft.Data.SqlClient}} --> System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Abstractions --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Options
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Options --> Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions
Microsoft.Extensions.Options --> Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives
Microsoft.Identity.Client --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Abstractions
Microsoft.Identity.Client --> System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticSource
Microsoft.Identity.Client.Extensions.Msal --> Microsoft.Identity.Client
Microsoft.Identity.Client.Extensions.Msal --> System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData
Microsoft.IdentityModel.JsonWebTokens --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Logging --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Abstractions
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.OpenIdConnect --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.OpenIdConnect --> System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Logging
System.ClientModel --> System.Memory.Data
System.ClientModel --> System.Text.Json
System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager --> System.Diagnostics.EventLog
System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager --> System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData
System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticSource --> System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe
System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.JsonWebTokens
System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt --> Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens
System.Memory.Data --> System.Text.Encodings.Web
System.Memory.Data --> System.Text.Json
class Azure.Core removed
class Azure.Identity removed
class Microsoft.Bcl.AsyncInterfaces removed
class Microsoft.Bcl.Cryptography default
class Microsoft.Data.SqlClient root
class Microsoft.Data.SqlClient default
class Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Abstractions default
class Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory default
class Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions default
class Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions default
class Microsoft.Extensions.Options default
class Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives default
class Microsoft.Identity.Client removed
class Microsoft.Identity.Client.Extensions.Msal removed
class Microsoft.IdentityModel.Abstractions removed
class Microsoft.IdentityModel.JsonWebTokens removed
class Microsoft.IdentityModel.Logging removed
class Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols removed
class Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.OpenIdConnect removed
class Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens removed
class Microsoft.SqlServer.Server default
class System.ClientModel removed
class System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager default
class System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticSource removed
class System.Diagnostics.EventLog default
class System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt removed
class System.Memory.Data removed
class System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe removed
class System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs default
class System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData default
class System.Text.Encodings.Web removed
class System.Text.Json removed
For Microsoft.Data.SqlClient prior to version 6, an additional trick is required to get rid of the Microsoft.Identity.Client dependency. See a previous version of the README for more information.
On macOS, removing the Azure authentication libraries and its dependencies reduces the size of the dlls from 5.6 MiB down to 3.1 MiB. In other words, the Azure librarires are responsible fore almost 50% of the size of the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient (6.0.1) package.
%%{ init: { 'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': { 'pie1': 'lightcoral', 'pie2': 'aquamarine' } } }%%
pie title Microsoft.Data.SqlClient composition
"Azure/authentication libraries" : 2544
"SqlClient core libraries" : 3170
Have a look at the SqlClientSample project in the samples directory for a concrete example.
Here are all the MSBuild properties and items supported by Chisel.
defaults to true for standard builds and false for design-time builds
In order to completely disable Chisel, set the ChiselEnabled property to false. This can be useful for building on the command line with dotnet build -p:ChiselEnabled=false for example.
defaults to $(MSBuildProjectName).Chisel.mermaid
This is the name of the dependency graph file. A Mermaid file will be written if it ends with either .mmd or .mermaid, otherwise a Graphviz (DOT) file will be written. To completely disable the graph feature, use none.
<PropertyGroup>
<ChiselGraphName>none</ChiselGraphName>
</PropertyGroup>Note that the file name must not include a path separator.
no default value
Setting the ChiselGraphAlias property adds an alias (link) under the project. This is useful to see the graph directly into the IDE. A very good combination with the Rider Mermaid plugin.
<PropertyGroup>
<ChiselGraphAlias>Chisel\SqlClientSample.mermaid</ChiselGraphAlias>
</PropertyGroup>defaults to LeftToRight
This defines how the dependency graph is laid out. Possible values are LeftToRight and TopToBottom. Except for shallow graphs, left to right usually produces a more readable graph.
defaults to false
Controls whether the dependency graph nodes are named {package} or {package}/{version}.
Example with ChiselGraphIncludeVersions set to false
graph LR
Serilog.Sinks.File --> Serilog
Example with ChiselGraphIncludeVersions set to true
graph LR
Serilog.Sinks.File/5.0.0 --> Serilog/2.10.0
On real projects, the dependency graph may become huge. Adding packages to ChiselGraphIgnore will remove them from the dependency graph, thus reducing the overall size and increasing readability in other areas.
<ItemGroup>
<ChiselGraphIgnore Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration" />
<ChiselGraphIgnore Include="Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection" />
<ChiselGraphIgnore Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting" />
</ItemGroup>Globbing is supported since version 1.1.0. For example to ignore all packages starting with System. in the graph, use the following syntax:
<ItemGroup>
<ChiselGraphIgnore Include="System.*" />
</ItemGroup>
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