Marc Schier
c4e0721a29
## Summary
### Documentation
- Stage the documentation index as a learning path: a first application,
independent client, server, and PubSub paths, then data and services,
companion models, production, advanced integration, and draft or
experimental capabilities.
- Add Getting started (repository samples or NuGet packages), OPC UA
concepts, Your first information model, and a production readiness
checklist.
- Add Native AOT application publishing, a first PubSub publisher and
subscriber exchange, and the UDP transport options.
- Add or expand contents navigation throughout `docs/`, and keep
contributor documentation separate.
- Correct outdated SDK examples and capability guidance, consolidate
repeated explanations into canonical guides, and repair local links and
heading structure.
- Rewrite What's New in 2.0 as a concise feature overview with short
linked details; keep migration instructions in the Migration Guide.
- Expand the feature catalogue with specification IDs, GDS, LDS, the OPC
10000-21 onboarding registrar, ISA-95, xRegistry, OpenUSD, and
sample-local models; distinguish draft status, explain crypto
pluggability, and bring performance guidance forward.
- Address review feedback on wording, active monitored items during
shadow reload, and the `Samples.md` filename and references.
- Regenerate the `opcua-v20-migration` plugin's bundled copy of the
migration guides so it matches the edited `docs/migrate/2.0.x` guides.
- Merge the latest `master`, preserving upstream resource-isolation
guidance within the task-based documentation index.
- Retain deferred Lingity findings where appropriate; this PR does not
claim that every document meets the Lingity score thresholds.
### Fixes found while verifying the guides
Each fix has regression tests that fail without it.
- **Client:** V2 subscriptions compared their lifetime with the
operation timeout instead of the session timeout, and logged a spurious
warning. `ISubscriptionEngineContext`, which is new in 2.0, gains a
`SessionTimeout` property; implementations must add it.
- **PubSub:** a subscriber now registers the `DataSetMetaData`
configured on its readers (OPC 10000-14 6.2.9.4), and the UADP decoder
decodes DataSetMessages that carry no ConfigurationVersion. Before, a
secured subscriber of the reference sample received no DataSets.
- **Source generator:** a ModelDesign method that declares its arguments
inline, without a method type, produced code that did not compile; it
now uses `MethodState`. The generated code of existing models is
unchanged.
- **MinimalClient sample:** waits for its first data-change notification
before it disconnects.
### Known issues, not addressed here
- UDP multicast: the publisher does not send on the interface that the
subscriber joins, and `MulticastLoopback` defaults to false. The PubSub
guide uses unicast for the exchange on one computer.
- The UDP metadata announcement is sent unsecured on secured writer
groups; a secured subscriber drops it with a warning.
- A server does not start in globalization-invariant mode, because
`ResourceManager` creates `CultureInfo("en-US")`. The Native AOT guide
cautions against the mode.
## Validation
- `git diff --check` and
`./.azurepipelines/validate-migration-plugin.ps1` (15 bundled migration
docs validated, plugin manifests synchronized).
- Local Markdown links, anchors, file-link casing, and contents lists
checked across all 87 documents under `docs/`. The index links every
top-level guide and every target of the previous index.
- Both Getting started routes, Your first information model, the PubSub
exchange, and the Native AOT publish of the Getting started client and
server were run as documented. The NuGet route and the tutorial use the
public `2.0.0-preview.5` packages.
- The changed libraries build for all target frameworks in Release
without warnings.
- Tests on .NET 10: Opc.Ua.SourceGeneration.Tests 199 passed;
Opc.Ua.SourceGeneration.Core.Tests 3,977 passed, 8 skipped;
Opc.Ua.Server.Tests `Fluent` category 621 passed; Opc.Ua.Client.Tests
subscription-engine tests 70 passed; Opc.Ua.PubSub.Tests 1,374 passed, 2
skipped; PubSub fuzz replay 145 passed. The new and affected tests also
pass on .NET Framework 4.8.
- Earlier merge validation: 174 resource-isolation tests passed on .NET
10.
- The full solution suite was not run locally.
Review and validation artifacts are maintained outside the repository.
---------
Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
OPC UA .NET Standard Stack
🆕 This is version 2.0 of the OPC UA .NET Standard Stack (current
master).Looking for the supported 1.x release? It lives on the
master378branch (last release:1.5.378). All new feature work happens here onmaster;master378continues to receive security and critical-bug fixes for the 1.x line.
The official OPC Foundation reference implementation of OPC UA for .NET — a certified, cross-platform stack with client, server, PubSub, GDS, complex types, and source-generated tooling. Used in production across industrial control, manufacturing, energy, and IoT systems.
📦 What it is
- A full-stack OPC UA implementation — Core / Client / Server / PubSub / GDS / LDS / Complex Types / Device Integration / Positioning libraries built on .NET, with UA-TCP and HTTPS transports.
- Cross-platform — runs on .NET 10, .NET 9, .NET 8 (LTS), .NET Framework 4.8, and .NET Standard 2.1; ships Native-AOT-friendly assemblies.
- Certified for compliance — the reference server has been certified through an OPC Foundation Certification Test Lab and is continuously verified against the latest Compliance Test Tool (CTT).
- Companion-spec coverage — Part 9 (Alarms & Conditions), Part 11 (Historical Access), Part 13 (Aggregates), Part 16 (State Machines), Part 17 (Alias Names), Part 18 (Role Management), Part 20 (File Transfer), Part 100 (Device Integration), Parts 210/211 (Relative Spatial Location and Global Positioning), OPC-10030 (ISA-95 Common Model) with OPC-10031-4 Job Control V1/V2, OPC 30270 / OPC UA for Asset Administration Shell V2 and V3, OPC 10100-1 (WoT Connectivity), OPC 40001-1 (Industrial Automation), OPC 40010-1 (Robotics).
- Modern developer surface — first-class
Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjectionhosting (services.AddOpcUa()), fluent server + client builders, source-generated NodeManagers and DataTypes, and an MCP server so LLMs / Copilot can drive an OPC UA client.
For the full feature breakdown see OPC UA Profiles and Facets and the What's New in 2.0 tour.
🚀 Getting started
To run a first OPC UA client and server, from NuGet packages or from the samples in this repository, follow Getting started. The documentation index then leads from the core concepts to advanced and experimental features.
You need the .NET 10 SDK to build the repo. From the repository root:
dotnet restore UA.slnx
dotnet build UA.slnx
For the supported target frameworks and platform notes see
the Developer Guide. The official NuGet packages
are published to nuget.org under the OPCFoundation.NetStandard
prefix — the meta package
OPCFoundation.NetStandard.Opc.Ua
pulls in everything, or reference individual packages directly, e.g.
OPCFoundation.NetStandard.Opc.Ua.Client for clients or
OPCFoundation.NetStandard.Opc.Ua.Server for servers. Preview builds from
every successful master build are available from the
GitHub Packages NuGet feed,
which is the only feed they are published to. nuget.org receives a version
only through a manually approved promotion from a release/<major>.<minor>
branch — that is where the 2.0.0-preview.N packages already on nuget.org
came from, via the earlier release/2.0.0 line. To use those, enable
prerelease packages and float with 2.0.0-preview.* until 2.0.0 is
released. The XRegistry, WoT Connectivity, Vision, Robotics,
Redundancy, Positioning, OpenUSD, ISA95, AI, and DI package families remain
preview packages when the root version is promoted to a stable version, and
keep their own -preview.N versions on nuget.org. See
docs/ReleaseProcess.md for how and when stable
versions are released.
Samples
The stack also includes a large collection of platform-independent sample applications that turn its core services and companion models into runnable client/server workflows. More applications, including platform-specific examples, are available in the companion OPC UA .NET Samples repository.
Developer tools
- OPC UA MCP Server — installable .NET tool and container that exposes OPC UA client operations as MCP tools for LLMs and Copilot. The tools also ship as libraries (
…Opc.Ua.Mcp.Core,.PubSub,.Diagnostics,.PubSub.Diagnostics) so an application can embed them next to its own MCP tools.
🔧 Migrating from 1.5.378 to 2.0
The 2.0 release introduces breaking API changes, and comes with a full prescriptive migration guide that links to per-area documentation for the migration sub-topics.
Most of the mechanical migration work is automated:
OPCFoundation.NetStandard.Opc.Ua.MigrationAnalyzerNuGet — install it in your project to get 26 analyzer rules throughUA0030(excludingUA0013,UA0016,UA0017, and the shim-onlyUA0029) plus one-click code fixes for the patterns in the guide. Setup steps are in the package's NugetREADME.md.- Migration agent skill — the
opcua-v20-migrationskill walks Copilot / Claude / any coding agent through installing the NuGet, runningdotnet format analyzersto apply auto-fixes, and handling the small residual manual patterns. The skill knows which sub-doc to load for each symptom so it stays context-efficient.
Copilot CLI discovers the skill automatically inside a clone. To install it for use in any repository:
copilot plugin marketplace add OPCFoundation/UA-.NETStandard
copilot plugin install opcua-v20-migration@opcua-dotnet
If you are still on 1.x and not ready to upgrade, stay on the
master378
branch — it continues to receive security and critical-bug fixes.
🤝 Contributing and license
Community contributions are welcome. Fork the repository, make your changes on a branch, and open a pull request; see CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution workflow.
Contributors must sign the OPC Foundation Contributor License Agreement (CLA). The CLA "I AGREE" gate is presented automatically on your first PR.
The project is licensed under the OPC Foundation MIT License. Report security vulnerabilities via the process documented in SECURITY.md.
📚 Further reading
- Documentation index — every per-feature doc with a one-line description.
- What's New in 2.0 — narrative tour of the 1.5.378 → 2.0 changes grouped by theme and layer.
- OPC UA Profiles and Facets — facets / transports / security policies the stack implements.
- Migration Guide — prescriptive
per-version migration reference (links to
docs/migrate/2.0.x/). - OPC UA Online Reference — the official OPC 10000 series specification index.
- Preview Nuget package feed —
prerelease builds from every successful
masterbuild.