Microsoft Build Engine, or MSBuild,[2][3] is a set of free and open-source build tools for managed code under the Common Language Infrastructure as well as native C and C++ code.

[4] MSBuild is a build tool that helps automate the process of creating a software product, including compiling the source code, packaging, testing, deployment and creating documentations.

[6] MSBuild is a functional replacement for the nmake utility, which remains in use in projects that originated in older Visual Studio releases.

Even though the syntax is based upon well-defined XML schema, the fundamental structure and operation is comparable to the traditional Unix make utility: the user specifies what will be used (typically source code files) and what the result should be (typically a static library, DLL or an executable application), but the utility itself decides what to do and the order in which to carry out the build.

MSBuild can build a project against a supported .NET Framework version of choice.