dotnet/skills Roadmap: Where to Find Future Plans and Upcoming Features

The dotnet/skills repository does not maintain a standalone roadmap file; instead, future direction is tracked through GitHub Issues, Milestones, Project Boards, and design documentation throughout the repository.

The dotnet/skills repository serves as Microsoft's experimental home for .NET-based AI skill frameworks. If you are searching for a formal dotnet/skills roadmap to understand upcoming features or architectural changes, you will not find a single static document. Future plans are communicated implicitly through active GitHub collaboration features and specific documentation files that guide the project's evolution.

GitHub Collaboration Features as the Living Roadmap

Active development priorities and future direction are managed through GitHub's native project management tools rather than static documents.

GitHub Issues and Milestones

Planned features, bug-fix priorities, and upcoming releases are tracked as GitHub Issues and grouped into Milestones. The open milestones represent high-level goals the maintainers have committed to. You can view these at the repository's Issues page, filtering by milestone to see what the team considers current and future work.

Project Boards and Discussions

High-level initiatives and work-in-progress are visualized on GitHub Project boards, accessible via the repository's Projects tab. These boards typically organize work into columns such as "Todo," "In Progress," and "Done," providing a Kanban-style view of the roadmap. Additionally, the Discussions tab hosts community-driven ideas and long-term proposals that often shape the unofficial roadmap before they become formal issues.

Key Files That Reveal Future Direction

Several files within the repository provide insight into architectural intentions and areas open for expansion.

README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md

The top-level README.md provides a high-level overview of the repository's scope and hints at ongoing expansion areas. More specifically, the CONTRIBUTING.md file outlines where contributors can add "broad frameworks, meta tooling, or large reorganizations," indicating categories the maintainers are actively considering for future evolution.

Design Documentation in docs/design/

The docs/design/ directory contains architectural decision records and forward-compatible patterns that guide the evolution of the Skills ecosystem. These markdown files often outline future-compatible abstractions and architectural patterns before they are implemented in code, serving as a technical roadmap for contributors.

GitHub Configuration Files

Workflow files in .github/workflows/ expose emerging automation needs and validation requirements that hint at future feature support. Similarly, issue templates in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ encourage structured proposals for enhancements, indirectly shaping the roadmap by defining how future work should be proposed and categorized.

Querying the Roadmap Programmatically

You can extract roadmap information using the GitHub REST API to monitor milestones and project boards programmatically.

Listing Open Milestones

The following Python script queries open milestones, which represent the high-level goals identified by maintainers:

import requests

# Replace with a personal access token if you need higher rate limits

headers = {"Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"}
url = "https://api.github.com/repos/dotnet/skills/milestones?state=open"

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
milestones = response.json()

for ms in milestones:
    print(f"- {ms['title']}: {ms['description']}")

This script retrieves the title and description of each open milestone, providing a programmatic view of planned release targets.

Retrieving Project Board Columns

To see the stages of planned features, you can query the columns of a specific GitHub Project:

import requests

# The project ID can be obtained from the Projects page URL

project_id = "YOUR_PROJECT_ID"
url = f"https://api.github.com/projects/{project_id}/columns"
headers = {
    "Accept": "application/vnd.github.inertia-preview+json"
}

cols = requests.get(url, headers=headers).json()
for col in cols:
    print(f"Column: {col['name']}")

Replace YOUR_PROJECT_ID with the actual project ID from the repository's Projects page to see how work is organized across different stages of completion.

Summary

• No standalone roadmap file: The dotnet/skills repository does not contain a dedicated roadmap document like ROADMAP.md.
• GitHub Issues and Milestones: Track planned features and release priorities as the primary source of truth for upcoming work.
• Project Boards: Provide visual Kanban-style organization of high-level initiatives and current work-in-progress.
• Documentation files: README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, and docs/design/ files contain architectural guidance and hints at future expansion areas.
• Programmatic access: The GitHub API allows querying of milestones and project boards to monitor future plans automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a dedicated roadmap file in dotnet/skills?

No, the repository does not maintain a static roadmap file such as ROADMAP.md. Instead, the roadmap lives implicitly in GitHub Issues, Milestones, and Project Boards, which provide a dynamic, up-to-date view of planned features and priorities.

How can I see what features are planned for the next release?

Check the open Milestones in the GitHub Issues section. Each milestone groups issues by release target or thematic goal, with descriptions outlining the scope of work. The Project Boards also show which items are scheduled versus backlog ideas.

Where are architectural decisions documented for future changes?

Architectural decisions and future-compatible patterns are documented in the docs/design/ directory. These files outline the technical direction and design patterns intended to guide the Skills ecosystem's evolution, often detailing abstractions before they are implemented.

How can I contribute to the future direction of the project?

Review the CONTRIBUTING.md file to understand the types of contributions the maintainers seek, particularly "broad frameworks" and "large reorganizations." Participate in GitHub Discussions to propose long-term ideas, or open issues using the templates in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ to suggest specific enhancements.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}