process-api-net11

Process API Improvements — .NET 11

New APIs added to System.Diagnostics.Process in .NET 11 simplify process management, eliminate boilerplate, and prevent common deadlock patterns when capturing output in .NET 11 or later applications.

When to Use

• Running or orchestrating external processes in a .NET 11 (or later) project.
• Needing to start a process, wait for it to exit, and capture its output/error streams without risking deadlocks (Process.RunAndCaptureText[Async]).
• Wanting to ensure child processes are automatically terminated when the parent process exits (KillOnParentExit).
• Requiring lightweight, low-overhead process creation via SafeProcessHandle on supported platforms.
• Requiring fine-grained control over handle inheritance (InheritedHandles) or starting detached processes (StartDetached).

When Not to Use

• The project targets .NET 10 or earlier — these APIs are not available before .NET 11.
• The default Process.Start() is sufficient and does not require output capturing or advanced lifecycle rules.

Target Framework

<TargetFramework>net11.0</TargetFramework>

New APIs

Types

Before using the new convenience methods, note the following types. Use the framework types directly:

Type	Kind	Read-only properties
ProcessExitStatus	Sealed class	int ExitCode, bool Canceled, PosixSignal? Signal
ProcessTextOutput	Sealed class	ProcessExitStatus ExitStatus, string StandardOutput, string StandardError, int ProcessId
ProcessOutputLine	Readonly struct	string Content, bool StandardError

ProcessExitStatus describes the outcome of a completed process. Interpret ExitCode using the external command's contract; there is no universal Success property. ProcessTextOutput contains the exit status, captured output and error text, and process ID. ProcessOutputLine identifies one output line and whether it came from standard error.