.NET 9 introduces a new NuGet dependency graph resolver that dramatically improves package restore performance for large repositories. Learn how this reimagined approach reduces restore times from 30 minutes to just 2 minutes by creating a more efficient dependency graph with fewer nodes.

a new NuGet dependency graph resolver built to dramatically improve performance

The new algorithm they developed uses a more streamlined approach, representing the graph as a flattened set where each node is created only once. This makes the in-memory dependency graph much smaller and easier to work with. Conflicts are resolved as the graph is being built, which avoids the need for the repetitive passes that the old dependency graph resolution algorithm required.

This new approach had dramatic results. The original dependency graph, which in our testing would create 1.6 million nodes for a complex project, was reduced to just 1,200 nodes. With fewer nodes to process, restore times dropped significantly; from 16 minutes down to just 2 minutes.