NuGet is a Visual Studio extension that makes it easy to add, remove, and update libraries and tools in Visual Studio projects that use the .NET Framework. When you add a library or tool, NuGet copies files to your solution and automatically makes whatever changes are needed in your project, such as adding references and changing your app.config or web.config file. When you remove a library, NuGet removes files and reverses whatever changes it made in your project so that no clutter is left.
NuGet provides a quick and easy way to add features to an existing application while ensuring that those features are integrated into source control. After installing a library, you can commit changes to your source control repository, and then another developer can perform a get operation against the repository in order to start working with the new features.
Everything necessary to install a library or tool is bundled into a package (a .nupkg file). A package includes files to copy to your project and a manifest file that describes the contents of the package and what needs to be done to add or remove the library. Packages are bundled into feeds that Visual Studio accesses in order to present lists of available packages. There is an official feed that is the default source for NuGet, and you can contribute to that feed or create your own feeds.
You work with packages by using a dialog box in Visual Studio or by using PowerShell cmdlets in a dedicated Visual Studio window. Both options are accessible from the Visual Studio main menu; you can also open the dialog box from a Solution Explorer context menu. The PowerShell cmdlets require PowerShell 2.0. Therefore, NuGet requires one of the following operating systems:
NuGet runs in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer 2010.