Table of Contents

Installation

This is the recommended path for a new developer:

  1. install the runtime package for your database
  2. install the datalinq CLI
  3. generate models from your schema
  4. start querying and mutating through the generated model surface

Choose a Provider

DataLinq 0.9.0 ships two SQL provider packages and one experimental provider-free read backend:

  • DataLinq.MySql
    • use this for both MySQL and MariaDB
  • DataLinq.SQLite
    • use this for SQLite
  • DataLinq.Memory
    • use this for explicitly seeded, read-only in-process models when SQL behavior is not under test

There is no separate MariaDB runtime package. MariaDB support lives in DataLinq.MySql.

Install the Runtime Package

For MySQL or MariaDB:

dotnet add package DataLinq.MySql

For SQLite:

dotnet add package DataLinq.SQLite

For the experimental read-only Memory backend:

dotnet add package DataLinq
dotnet add package DataLinq.Memory

Keep DataLinq package versions aligned. Memory is not a replacement for provider-backed tests; see DataLinq.Memory for its exact query and lifecycle boundary.

DataLinq 0.9.0 is published on NuGet. See the 0.9.0 release notes for upgrade guidance and the published changelog for release history.

Install the CLI

The CLI is used for configuration-driven tasks such as model generation and schema SQL generation.

dotnet tool install --global DataLinq.CLI

Target Frameworks

The current package/repo matrix targets:

  • .NET 8
  • .NET 9
  • .NET 10

If your application is on an older target framework, do not assume compatibility just because many .NET libraries happen to support it. DataLinq currently does not document that as a supported path.

Compiler Host Prerequisite

Target framework and compiler host are separate compatibility axes.

The 0.9 source generator is built against Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp 5.0.0. Visual Studio builds therefore require Visual Studio 2026 version 18.0 or newer. Command-line builds require a .NET SDK/compiler host containing Roslyn 5.0 or newer. Targeting .NET 8 or .NET 9 does not make Visual Studio 2022 a supported host for the 0.9 generator.

See Platform Compatibility for the full distinction and Microsoft's Roslyn package version mapping.

What to Do Next

After installation, move straight to:

That is where the real onboarding starts, because DataLinq becomes useful once your generated model surface exists.

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