Description

Add a new aspire dashboard CLI command that starts a standalone Aspire Dashboard instance using the aspire-managed binary from the CLI bundle, and refactor the process execution infrastructure to support both dotnet CLI and non-dotnet processes through a single abstraction.

aspire dashboard command

• Runs the dashboard in the foreground, blocking until Ctrl+C, with a readiness check (waits for "Now listening on:" output)
• Displays a summary panel with dashboard URL, OTLP gRPC/HTTP endpoints, and log file path
• Generates a browser token for frontend authentication by default (passed via environment variable to avoid exposure in process listings)
• Supports typed options: --frontend-url, --otlp-grpc-url, --otlp-http-url, --allow-anonymous, --config-file-path
• Forwards unmatched tokens directly to the dashboard process for pass-through configuration
• Respects configuration set via environment variables or unmatched --KEY=value / --KEY value tokens, skipping defaults when already provided
• Handles dashboard-specific exit codes (unexpected error, validation failure, address in use) with localized error messages
• Categorized under the Monitoring help group

Unified process execution infrastructure

• Renamed IDotNetCliExecutionFactory → IProcessExecutionFactory and IDotNetCliExecution → IProcessExecution to reflect that process execution is no longer dotnet-specific
• Renamed DotNetCliExecution → ProcessExecution and deleted the old DotNetCliExecutionFactory
• Moved dotnet-specific environment setup (orphan detection, MSBUILDTERMINALLOGGER, DOTNET_NOLOGO, private SDK resolution) from DotNetCliExecutionFactory into DotNetCliRunner, keeping IProcessExecutionFactory generic
• Added Kill(bool entireProcessTree) and IDisposable to IProcessExecution so callers can manage process lifetime
• Renamed DotNetCliRunnerInvocationOptions → ProcessInvocationOptions
• Changed LayoutProcessRunner from a static helper using raw System.Diagnostics.Process to an instance class that delegates to IProcessExecutionFactory, making it testable via DI
• ProcessExecutionFactory now accepts a fileName parameter so it can launch any executable, not just dotnet

Dashboard exit code tests

• Added StartupTests.Run_AddressAlreadyInUse_ReturnsExitCodeAddressInUse and Run_ValidationFailure_ReturnsNegativeOne to verify dashboard exit code behavior

Validation

• All 21 DashboardCommandTests pass, covering default args, individual options (Theory), combined options, unmatched token forwarding, browser token generation, and process error handling
• All existing CLI tests pass with the renamed types

Checklist

• Is this feature complete?
  • Yes. Ready to ship.
  • No. Follow-up changes expected.
• Are you including unit tests for the changes and scenario tests if relevant?
  • Yes
  • No
• Did you add public API?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does the change make any security assumptions or guarantees?
  • Yes
  • No
• Does the change require an update in our Aspire docs?
  • Yes
    • Link to aspire.dev issue:
      • New issue
  • No