🔥 dotnet-hotspots

dotnet-hotspots is a .NET global tool that analyzes your Git repository's commit history to identify the most frequently changed files — often a sign of bug-prone areas, architectural bottlenecks, or critical business logic that needs extra attention.

📷 Example

Top 10 Hot Files — Code Files Only
================================================================================
Rank   Changes  File Path
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1      312      src/Services/UserService.cs
2      287      src/Data/ApplicationDbContext.cs
3      201      src/Controllers/AuthController.cs
4      198      src/Services/OrderService.cs
5      176      src/Models/User.cs
6      154      src/Services/PaymentService.cs
7      143      src/Controllers/OrderController.cs
8      121      src/Repositories/UserRepository.cs
9      115      src/Services/EmailService.cs
10     98       src/Models/Order.cs
================================================================================
Code files found: 143  |  Total files in repo: 381  |  Use --all to see everything

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Install as a .NET global tool:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-hotspots-tool

Basic Usage

Navigate to any Git repository and run:

dotnet-hotspots

That's it! You'll see the top 30 most frequently changed files.

📚 Usage Examples

Show top 10 hot files

dotnet-hotspots --10

Note: --<number> accepts any positive integer — --10, --50, --100, etc. Without this flag the default is top 30.

Show top 50 hot files

dotnet-hotspots --50

Show all files (including docs, configs, build artifacts, etc.)

dotnet-hotspots --all

Get help

dotnet-hotspots --help

Show version

dotnet-hotspots --version

🛠️ Requirements

• .NET 8.0+ (for installation)
• Git repository (the tool analyzes Git history)
• Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

📦 Installation Options

Global Tool (Recommended)

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-hotspots-tool

Update to Latest Version

dotnet tool update --global dotnet-hotspots-tool

Uninstall

dotnet tool uninstall --global dotnet-hotspots-tool

Local Installation (Per Project)

dotnet tool install dotnet-hotspots-tool

🧠 How It Works

dotnet-hotspots analyzes your repository's commit history using git log to:

1. Extract file paths from all commits
2. Count occurrences of each file across commits
3. Rank files by frequency of changes
4. Display results in a clean, readable format

The tool focuses on commit frequency rather than lines changed, giving you insight into which files require the most attention from developers.

🔍 Smart Filtering

By default, dotnet-hotspots filters out non-code files so the results focus on what matters. Use --all to disable filtering and see everything.

Excluded folders: bin, obj, dist, build, publish, packages, .git, .vs, .idea, .nuget, .vscode, node_modules

Excluded extensions: .md, .txt, .pdf, .log, .lock, .sum

Excluded files: .gitignore, .gitattributes, .editorconfig, .csharpierignore, .dockerignore, .env, Makefile, LICENSE, Dockerfile (and Dockerfile.* variants)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

📣 Issues or Suggestions

Any issues or suggestions, please create an issue on Github.

☕ Buy me a coffee

Donations are welcome to appreciate my work and to keep this project alive, but isn't required at all.