Use pinned CLI version for staging channel in shared feed mode

[joperezr]

Summary

When the staging channel is configured with overrideStagingQuality=Prerelease and no explicit feed override, the staging channel now uses the shared dotnet9 daily feed instead of constructing SHA-specific darc-pub-* feeds (which only exist for stable-quality builds). Additionally, a new stagingPinToCliVersion config flag pins all package versions to the CLI's own assembly version, bypassing dotnet package search entirely.

Problem

The staging channel normally builds SHA-specific feeds (darc-pub-dotnet-aspire-{hash}), but these are only created for stable-quality DARC builds. When builds aren't marked stable yet, the packages are only available on the shared dotnet9 daily feed. Even after switching to the shared feed, dotnet package search only returns the latest version per package ID per source — so when the feed contains both 13.2.x (staging) and 13.3.x (daily) packages, staging users would always get 13.3.x versions, which is wrong.

Solution

Two complementary features controlled by config flags:

1. Shared Feed Mode

When overrideStagingQuality is set to Prerelease (or Both) and overrideStagingFeed is not set, the staging channel uses the shared dotnet9 feed URL and sets configureGlobalPackagesFolder: false (no package isolation needed).

2. Pinned Version Mode (stagingPinToCliVersion)

When stagingPinToCliVersion=true is additionally set, all package versions are pinned to the CLI's own assembly version (with +buildmetadata stripped):

• Templates (aspire new): Returns a synthetic Aspire.ProjectTemplates package with the CLI's version — no NuGet search at all
• Integrations (aspire add): Still searches the feed to discover package IDs, but overrides the version on all results
• Specific packages (aspire update): Returns a synthetic package with the pinned version
• Self-update (aspire update --self): Unaffected — uses CliDownloader (URL-based), not NuGet search

Configuration

// ~/.aspire/settings.json or .aspire/settings.json
{
  "features": { "stagingChannelEnabled": true },
  "overrideStagingQuality": "Prerelease",
  "stagingPinToCliVersion": "true"
}

Changes

Production code

• PackagingService.cs — CreateStagingChannel() computes useSharedFeed and pinnedVersion; new GetStagingPinnedVersion() helper
• PackageChannel.cs — pinnedVersion constructor parameter with short-circuits in GetTemplatePackagesAsync, GetIntegrationPackagesAsync, and GetPackagesAsync
• DotNetCliRunner.cs, NuGetPackageCache.cs, BundleNuGetPackageCache.cs — Cleanup of previously reverted exact-match plumbing

Schemas

• aspire-global-settings.schema.json and aspire-settings.schema.json — Added overrideStagingFeed, overrideStagingQuality, and stagingPinToCliVersion properties

Tests

• 22 staging-related tests covering shared feed behavior, pinned version config, and pinned version package resolution
• Cleanup of stale exactMatch parameters across 14 test fake implementations

[github-actions]

🚀 Dogfood this PR with:

⚠️ WARNING: Do not do this without first carefully reviewing the code of this PR to satisfy yourself it is safe.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.sh | bash -s -- 14469

Or

• Run remotely in PowerShell:

iex "& { $(irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.ps1) } 14469"

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes staging channel template discovery when a feed contains multiple version lines by enabling dotnet package search --exact-match whenever a channel VersionPrefix is configured, and updating parsing to handle the JSON shape returned by exact-match search.

Changes:

• Plumb an exactMatch flag through the NuGet package cache and dotnet CLI runner, and add --exact-match when appropriate.
• Update ParsePackageSearchResults to read either latestVersion or version from search results.
• Update/fix tests and add new staging channel coverage for version-prefix filtering scenarios.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 20 out of 20 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Utils/CliUpdateNotificationServiceTests.cs	Fixes a comment typo and updates INuGetPackageCache test stub signatures to include exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/TestServices/TestDotNetCliRunner.cs	Extends the test runner’s package-search callback/signature to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/TestServices/FakeNuGetPackageCache.cs	Updates fake cache interface methods to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Templating/DotNetTemplateFactoryTests.cs	Updates fakes/stubs for the new cache/runner signatures.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Projects/ProjectUpdaterTests.cs	Updates SearchPackagesAsyncCallback lambdas to match the new signature.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Projects/AppHostServerProjectTests.cs	Updates fake cache methods to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Packaging/PackagingServiceTests.cs	Adds tests validating staging VersionPrefix filtering across mixed version lines; updates fake cache signatures.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Packaging/PackageChannelTests.cs	Updates fake cache signatures to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Packaging/NuGetConfigMergerTests.cs	Updates fake cache signatures to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Packaging/NuGetConfigMergerSnapshotTests.cs	Updates fake cache signatures to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/NuGet/NuGetPackageCacheTests.cs	Updates SearchPackagesAsyncCallback lambdas to match the new signature.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Mcp/MockPackagingService.cs	Updates mock cache signatures to accept exactMatch.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Commands/NewCommandTests.cs	Updates package-search callback lambdas and fake cache methods for new signatures.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Commands/InitCommandTests.cs	Updates package-search callback lambdas and fake cache methods for new signatures.
tests/Aspire.Cli.Tests/Commands/AddCommandTests.cs	Updates package-search callback lambdas to match the new signature.
src/Shared/PackageUpdateHelpers.cs	Makes parsing resilient to latestVersion vs version property differences.
src/Aspire.Cli/Packaging/PackageChannel.cs	Enables exact-match searches for template packages when VersionPrefix is set.
src/Aspire.Cli/NuGet/NuGetPackageCache.cs	Adds exactMatch support to cache lookups and passes it through to the CLI runner; adjusts cache key/paging behavior.
src/Aspire.Cli/NuGet/BundleNuGetPackageCache.cs	Updates interface signatures to accept exactMatch (but currently doesn’t use it).
src/Aspire.Cli/DotNet/DotNetCliRunner.cs	Adds --exact-match to dotnet package search and includes it in the disk cache key.

[joperezr]

Found an issue with this approach. aspire add won't work as intended any more, as this fix only addresses aspire new and template acquisition. I'm working on an alternative fix and will push a change to this PR.

[mitchdenny]

/azp run dotnet.aspire

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