How to deprecate a NuGet package?

NuGet recently announced that it is adding support for package deprecation. This was a much needed feature. Here is the guide to deprecating packages on NuGet.

Steps to deprecate

• Go to Manage Packages page in NuGet website.

• Select your package and click the edit icon.

• You will find a deprecation section like the one in the screenshot below

  

• Select the version you want to deprecate. You can select all versions if you are deprecating the whole package.

• Select a reason.

• If this package is being deprecated in favour of another, provide information about the alternate package.

• Save the package.

Client side warnings

Once you have deprecated a package, warning will be shown in the NuGet website. Visual Studio starting from 16.3 (Visual Studio 2019) will show a warning for deprecated packages and show the warning message and alternate packages info.

Undoing Deprecation of a package

Okay now if you have started to work on your old package again and you want to undo the deprecation process. Here is how you can do it.

• Go to the deprecation section of your package as mentioned in the steps above.
• Uncheck the check boxes under reasons for deprecating and save.
• Your package is no longer deprecated.

Note: Deprecated packages are still searchable in NuGet. You can unlist your packages if you do not want them to be visible.