Have to change present working directory to project in solution to use EF Core CLI tools

I have installed EF Core in a library project which is then referenced in my ASP.NET Core application.

When finally I got the package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.Dotnet installed, I was unable to use the dotnet ef commands until or unless I change my present working directory in Package Manager Console to that project.

Project Structure

`

• Project
  • Project.Lib
    • Project.Data
    • Other Libraries
  • Project.Web
    • Project.Web.Portal
    • Other Web Projects `

The present working directory is set to Project and the Default Project in Package Manager Console is set to Project.Data.

Steps to reproduce

Follow the project structure mentioned above and then try to run the following command after installing the Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.Dotnet package:

dotnet ef

Expected Behaviour

PM> dotnet ef

Entity Framework Core .NET Command Line Tools 1.0.1-rtm-10418

Usage: dotnet ef [options] [command]

Options:
  --version        Show version information
  -h|--help        Show help information
  -v|--verbose     Show verbose output.
  --no-color       Don't colorize output.
  --prefix-output  Prefix output with level.

Commands:
  database    Commands to manage the database.
  dbcontext   Commands to manage DbContext types.
  migrations  Commands to manage migrations.

Use "dotnet ef [command] --help" for more information about a command.
PM> 

Current Behaviour

PM> dotnet ef
dotnet : No executable found matching command "dotnet-ef"
At line:1 char:1
+ dotnet ef
+ ~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (No executable f...and "dotnet-ef":String) [], RemoteException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
 

Workaround

Change present working directory to Project.Lib/Project.Data:

PM> cd Project.Lib/Project.Data

Now If I use the dotnet ef command, it works perfectly fine.

Further Details

I’m creating this issue because, in Entity Framework 6, it doesn’t matter in which project EF is installed. I could simply use EF 6 commands from the Package Manager Console without changing my present working directory. I just had to make sure the Default Project option of the Package Manager Console is set to the class library project which has EF 6 installed.

I’m curious whether this behavior is intended or a consequence of ‘everything-as-a-package’ pattern .NET Core follows.

[bricelam]

We strongly recommend using the PMC commands (Add-Migration, Update-Database, etc.) inside NuGet’s Package Manager Console since they provide a more integrated experience. Install the Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools package to use them.

[humzakhan]

@ajcvickers Hello there, the PMC commands works perfectly fine. Just started to use them, and yes you’re right, none of the tutorials available online use the PMC commands. All of them use the .NET CLI ones. This was the major reason I didn’t know about their compatibility with EF Core and Npgsql.