.NET 11 Release Candidate 1 is Available with Go-Live Support

Release of .NET 11 Release Candidate 1

.NET 11 Release Candidate 1 has been released and is now available. This marks the first release candidate for .NET 11, indicating a near-final stage of development.

The release includes a go-live support license, allowing developers to use this version for production applications with official support.

Development Environment Support

This version of .NET 11 is supported in the new Visual Studio 2026 Insiders release. Additionally, it integrates with Visual Studio Code when using the C# Dev Kit.

Users can install the .NET 11 SDK to begin working with this release candidate.

Key Updates and Improvements

The release candidate introduces updates across various components. Libraries see improvements such as Signal process inspection, experimental caller-driven TLS sessions, and JSON support for new numeric types and binary schemas. The runtime now features in-process crash reporting on Unix and uses FP16 hardware instructions for half operations.

The SDK includes enhancements to `dotnet test` for mobile application testing and container publishing, which produces reproducible images. MSBuild and NuGet have updates like pack reusing existing project evaluations and vulnerable package updates. Language features in C# and F# include record spreads, direct delegate construction, and efficient interpolated strings. ASP.NET Core updates finalize SignalR authentication refresh APIs and improve OpenAPI reflection. .NET MAUI and Windows Forms also receive updates.