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setup-local-sdk

separate

Install a .NET SDK locally for safe preview testing, specific-version pinning, or reproducible team setups — without modifying the system-wide installation. USE FOR: trying .NET previews safely, testing specific SDK versions, installing MAUI or other workloads on a preview, updating or replacing an existing local SDK, creating reproducible team/CI install scripts, configuring global.json paths. DO NOT USE FOR: system-wide SDK installs, .NET hosts older than 10, runtime-only installs, or projects not using SDK-style commands.

When to use

• Does **not** modify the system-wide .NET installation.
• Is picked up automatically by `dotnet` commands from the project root.
• Can be deleted to revert (`rm -rf .dotnet/` or `Remove-Item -Recurse -Force .\.dotnet`).

When not to use

• User wants a **system-wide** install — direct to the official installer.
• Host `dotnet` is **older than v10** — `paths` doesn't exist; explain and stop.
• User needs a **runtime-only** install — `paths` applies to SDK resolution only.

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