Microsoft has released .NET 10, a major update of its software development platform. .NET 10 features a range of improvements including enhancements for AI, new cryptography APIs, runtime improvements, and the C# 14 language with field-backed properties.

.NET 10 is being touted by Microsoft as the most performant release of .NET yet, with improvements across the runtime, workloads, and languages. The software can be downloaded at dotnet.microsoft.net.

Among the new features for AI, .NET 10 includes the Microsoft Agent Framework, which is intended to make development of intelligent AI agents as straightforward as building a web API. The Agent Framework features a set of .NET libraries designed to reduce the complexity of AI agent development, Microsoft said. Multiple workflow patterns are supported including sequential, concurrent, handoff, and group chat orchestration. Agents can be powered with tools through function definitions or integrations like Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Agents can be deployed using familiar .NET hosting patterns with built-in dependency injection, middleware support, and production-ready observability. .NET 10 provides first-class support for MCP, making it easy to extend agents with external tools and services, Microsoft said.

For cryptography, .NET 10 introduces extensive new APIs across cryptography, globalization, numerics, serialization, collections, and diagnostics. Also, with quantum computing on the horizon, .NET 10 expands post-quantum cryptography support with Windows Cryptography API: Next Generation (CNG) support, enhanced ML-DSA with simplified APIs, and HashML-DSA support, plus Composite ML-DSA for hybrid approaches. Additional cryptography enhancements include AES KeyWrap with Padding support for secure key wrapping scenarios. The .NET 10 runtime boasts “significant improvements” in JIT inlining, method devirtualization, and stack allocations, Microsoft said. This includes Advanced Vector Extensions 10.2 support for cutting-edge Intel silicon, NativeAOT enhancements for smaller and faster ahead-of-time compiled apps, improved code generation for struct arguments, and enhanced loop inversion for better optimization.

Microsoft’s C# and F# languages get attention in the .NET 10 release. C# 14 introduces field-backed properties to provide a smoother path from auto-implemented properties to custom accessors. Also, nameof for unbound generic types lets developers use nameof(List<>) without requiring a type argument. Parameter modifiers in lambdas allow ref, in, or out without specifying parameter types explicitly. Partial instance constructors and events complement partial methods and properties from C# 13. Extension blocks add support for static extension methods and both static and instance extension properties, while null-conditional assignment using the ?.= operator offer cleaner null-safe code.

F# 10 brings language, library, and tooling enhancements designed to make programs safer, more resilient, and performant. Nullable reference types bring type safety to interactions with C# libraries, while optimized integral ranges speed up** **for loops and other comprehensions. Optimized equality checks avoid boxing and increase the performance of many common operations. Discriminated unions get autogenerated .Is* properties for quick case testing. The standard library now includes random functions for collections that are useful for data science and game development, Microsoft said. Developer productivity gets a boost from improved diagnostics, parse recovery, and various tool improvements.

Leading up to the production release of .NET 10, Microsoft provided two release candidates and seven preview releases.

Other new features and improvements in .NET 10:

• NET MAUI 10 features a new project template that integrates with Aspire service defaults. This template provides extension methods that connect telemetry and service discovery to an app, enables configuration of OpenTelemetry metrics and tracing, and configures HttpClient to work with service discovery.
• .NET MAUI 10 also brings improvements to core controls, such as web request interception for both BlazorWebView and HybridWebView, for modifying headers, redirecting requests, or supplying local responses.
• .NET 10 has clipboard-related updates for Windows Forms, including improved clipboard access and better handling of clipboard data formats.
• ASP .NET Core 10 introduces several new features and enhancements, including Blazor improvements, OpenAPI enhancements, and minimal API updates that make building web applications more productive.