.NET 11 in depth: Runtime, libraries, and SDK for the AI era

Richard Lander and Chet Husk tour what’s changing in .NET 11 across the runtime, libraries, and SDK, with a focus on Native AOT, async/runtime improvements, memory-safety work, and new APIs that make day-to-day .NET development smoother—framed around supporting AI-era workloads and agent-style tooling.

Overview

The video is a deep dive into .NET 11 improvements across:

• The runtime (async/runtime architecture work, JIT/codegen quality, memory safety initiatives)
• The libraries (new and improved APIs, performance work)
• The SDK/tooling (CLI workflows, MSBuild changes, and tooling for Native AOT adoption)

Key topics covered

Native AOT adoption

• Discussion of ongoing investments to make Native AOT easier to adopt.
• Coverage includes both:
  • Bundled tools related to Native AOT
  • Native AOT support and improvements in .NET itself

.NET CLI and “agents”

• A segment focused on the .NET CLI and how it relates to supporting AI agents of all kinds.

MSBuild: embracing threads (coming soon)

• A look at upcoming work around multi-threaded tasks in MSBuild.
• Link referenced in the description: https://aka.ms/msbuild/mt-tasks

Libraries: new APIs and fixes for tricky edge cases

• A concrete problem called out: capturing two streams could deadlock.
• Improvements and APIs mentioned:
  • RunAndCaptureText
  • ReadAllLinesAsync
  • Redirect handle improvements
  • Lifetime patterns including “fire and forget”
  • SafeProcessHandle

Text processing improvements

• Updates around text handling, including:
  • Unicode
  • Newlines
  • Emoji
• Text search improvements described as a “convenient path”.

System.Text.Json

• A dedicated segment on System.Text.Json updates in .NET 11.

Compression and archive APIs

• Performance and capability improvements for compression and archive APIs.

Runtime async work

• A runtime-focused async segment that includes:
  • An introduction to the runtime async work
  • Comparisons and benefits
  • A sample app
  • A demo comparing .NET 10 vs .NET 11
• Notes that Runtime Async and Native AOT share the same architecture.

Memory safety project

• Coverage of the Memory Safety Project and related runtime investments.
• Link referenced in the description: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/improving-csharp-memory-safety/

JIT, intrinsics, and codegen quality

• Runtime discussion touching on:
  • The JIT
  • Hardware intrinsics
  • Code generation quality improvements

Video chapters (from description)

• 00:00 Welcome and Intros
• 00:30 Agenda
• 00:52 .NET Work Streams
• 02:00 .NET run Device Selection
• 03:50 .NET CLI and agents
• 06:30 Adopting Native AOT: bundled tools
• 09:00 Adopting Native AOT: .NET
• 11:06 Embracing threads in MSBuild - coming soon
• 12:08 Getting started with dotnetup
• 12:58 Smaller payloads!!
• 14:50 What's new in Libraries
• 15:55 The problem: capturing two streams could deadlock
• 17:07 The improvements - RunAndCaptureText
• 17:35 ReadAllLinesAsync
• 18:00 Redirect handles
• 19:00 Lifetime: fire and forget
• 19:40 SafeProcessHandle
• 20:11 Text processing: Unicode, newlines emoji
• 22:40 Text search: convenient path
• 24:14 System.Text.Json
• 26:50 Compression and archive API's get faster and broader
• 28:35 Runtime Async Introduction
• 30:20 Runtime Async: Comparison
• 31:54 Runtime Async: Benefits
• 33:54 Sample App
• 35:05 Compiler Async - demo .NET 10
• 36:07 Runtime Async - demo .NET 11
• 37:00 Runtime Async and NativeAOT: same architecture
• 37:44 Memory Safety Project
• 39:14 Runtime: JIT, intirnsics, and codegen quality
• 43:42 In summary