MSBuild Integration

The WiseOwl.Demeanor.MSBuild NuGet package runs obfuscation as a post-build step. It bundles its own obfuscator binary — the global CLI tool does not need to be installed on the build machine.

Every CLI option has a corresponding MSBuild property. Set them in your .csproj and they apply on every Release build.

Quick setup

dotnet add package WiseOwl.Demeanor.MSBuild
dotnet build -c Release

That’s it. Release builds auto-obfuscate. Debug builds and test projects (anything where IsTestProject=true, set automatically by Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk) are auto-skipped — obfuscating an xunit / mstest / nunit assembly would break the runner’s reflection-based discovery.

Override the default

<PropertyGroup>
  <!-- Disable obfuscation entirely (any config): -->
  <Obfuscate>false</Obfuscate>

  <!-- Or obfuscate Debug builds too: -->
  <Obfuscate>true</Obfuscate>
</PropertyGroup>

Scope

Property	CLI	Default	Description
`<Obfuscate>`	—	`true` on Release; `false` on Debug or when `IsTestProject=true`	Master switch. Auto-enables for Release builds. Set to `false` to disable, or `true` to obfuscate every config.
`<DemeanorIncludePublics>`	`--include-publics`	`false`	Also obfuscate public/protected symbols. Use for executables; omit for libraries.
`<DemeanorIncludeDeps>`	`--include-deps`	`false`	Also obfuscate co-located private dependencies.

Naming

Property	CLI	Default	Description
`<DemeanorNamingMode>`	`--names`	`Alpha`	`Alpha` (a, b, c) or `Unicode` (whitespace/invisible chars).
`<DemeanorNamespacePrefix>`	`--prefix`	(none)	Namespace prefix for renamed types. Prevents cross-assembly name collisions.
`<DemeanorNoAggressive>`	`--no-aggressive`	`false`	Disable aggressive mode (property/event metadata stripping, etc.).
`<DemeanorNoVirtualRename>`	`--no-virtual-rename`	`false`	Skip renaming virtual method overrides.
`<DemeanorNoEnumDeletion>`	`--no-enum-deletion`	`false`	Preserve enum literal field metadata.

Protection Toggles

Property	CLI	Default	Description
`<DemeanorNoStrings>`	`--no-strings`	`false`	Disable string encryption.
`<DemeanorNoConstants>`	`--no-constants`	`false`	Disable integer constant encryption.
`<DemeanorNoResources>`	`--no-resources`	`false`	Disable resource encryption.
`<DemeanorNoCallHiding>`	`--no-call-hiding`	`false`	Disable call hiding.
`<DemeanorProxyThreshold>`	`--proxy-threshold`	`16`	Minimum method body size (bytes) eligible for call hiding.
`<DemeanorCfgLevel>`	`--cfg`	`Flatten`	Control flow level: `Reorder`, `Predicates`, or `Flatten`.
`<DemeanorNoCfg>`	`--no-cfg`	`false`	Disable control flow obfuscation entirely.
`<DemeanorNoHinderReflection>`	`--no-hinder-reflection`	`false`	Disable reflection hindrance metadata.
`<DemeanorNoAntiTamper>`	`--no-anti-tamper`	`false`	Disable anti-tamper integrity verification.
`<DemeanorNoAntiDebug>`	`--no-anti-debug`	`false`	Disable anti-debug detection.

Category Disabling

Disable renaming of entire symbol categories. Useful when a broad set of symbols must keep their names (e.g., all properties in a heavily serialized app).

Property	CLI	Description
`<DemeanorNoTypes>`	`--no-types`	Don’t rename types.
`<DemeanorNoMethods>`	`--no-methods`	Don’t rename methods.
`<DemeanorNoFields>`	`--no-fields`	Don’t rename fields.
`<DemeanorNoProperties>`	`--no-properties`	Don’t rename properties.
`<DemeanorNoEvents>`	`--no-events`	Don’t rename events.
`<DemeanorNoParameters>`	`--no-parameters`	Don’t rename parameters.
`<DemeanorNoEnumerations>`	`--no-enumerations`	Don’t rename enum members.
`<DemeanorNoResourceNames>`	`--no-resource-names`	Don’t rename embedded resources.
`<DemeanorNoSerializable>`	`--no-serializable`	Preserve names of `[Serializable]` types and their fields.

Reporting & Incremental Builds

Property	CLI	Default	Description
`<DemeanorReport>`	`--report`	`true`	Emit a JSON name-mapping report for stack-trace decoding.
`<DemeanorReportFile>`	`--report-file`	(auto)	Custom path for the report file.
`<DemeanorPriorReport>`	`--prior-report`	(none)	Path to a prior version’s report for incremental name stability.

Satellite Assemblies

Property	CLI	Default	Description
`<DemeanorSatelliteAssemblies>`	`--satellite-assemblies`	`false`	Rename resources in culture-specific satellite assemblies to match.
`<DemeanorSaCultures>`	`--sa-cultures`	(all)	Comma-separated list of cultures to process (e.g., `fr,de`).

Strong Name Re-Signing

Property	CLI	Description
`<DemeanorKeyFile>`	`--keyfile`	Path to a `.snk` or `.pfx` file for strong-name re-signing.
`<DemeanorKeyContainer>`	`--keycontainer`	Named key container for strong-name re-signing.

Output Control

Property	CLI	Default	Description
`<DemeanorQuiet>`	`--quiet`	`true`	Suppress non-error output. Set to `false` for verbose CI logs.
`<DemeanorVerbose>`	`--verbose`	`false`	Per-phase stats and full stack traces on error.
`<DemeanorDebug>`	`--debug`	`false`	Preserve PDB data in obfuscated output.

Exclusion Item Groups

To exclude types or assemblies from renaming without modifying source code. [Obfuscation] attributes in source are preferred for long-term maintenance. See the Exclusions Guide.

Item Group	CLI	Description
`<DemeanorExclude>`	`--exclude`	Fully-qualified type name to exclude.
`<DemeanorExcludeRegex>`	`--xr`	Regex pattern for types to exclude.
`<DemeanorExcludeAssembly>`	`--xa`	Assembly name to skip entirely.
`<DemeanorAddAssembly>`	`--add-assembly`	Include a dynamically referenced assembly.

Example

<ItemGroup>
  <DemeanorExclude Include="MyNamespace.MyType" />
  <DemeanorExcludeRegex Include="MyNamespace\.Dtos\..*" />
  <DemeanorExcludeAssembly Include="ThirdParty.Library" />
</ItemGroup>

Complete Example

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
  <!-- Obfuscation auto-enables on Release; no <Obfuscate>true</Obfuscate> needed. -->
  <DemeanorIncludeDeps>true</DemeanorIncludeDeps>

  <!-- Use incremental builds to preserve name stability -->
  <DemeanorPriorReport>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\prior.report.json</DemeanorPriorReport>

  <!-- Re-sign after obfuscation -->
  <DemeanorKeyFile>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\MyApp.snk</DemeanorKeyFile>
</PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <!-- Exclude types that use custom reflection -->
  <DemeanorExcludeRegex Include="MyApp\.Plugins\..*" />
</ItemGroup>

Any [Obfuscation] attributes in source carry over automatically — the engine reads them from the assembly metadata.