How to deprecate a NuGet package?
30 Sep 2019 by Kolappan N
NuGet recently announced that it is adding support for package deprecation. This was a much needed feature. Here is the guide to deprecating packages on NuGet.
Steps to deprecate
- Go to Manage Packages page in NuGet website.
- Select your package and click the edit icon.
You will find a deprecation section like the one in the screenshot below
Nuget deprecation menu - Select the version you want to deprecate. You can select all versions if you are deprecating the whole package.
- Select a reason.
- If this package is being deprecated in favor of another, provide information about the alternate package.
- Save the package.
Client side warnings
Once you have deprecated a package, warning will be shown in the NuGet website. Visual Studio starting from 16.3 (Visual Studio 2019) will show a warning for deprecated packages and show the warning message and alternate packages info.

Undoing Deprecation of a package
Okay now if you have started to work on your old package again and you want to undo the deprecation process. Here is how you can do it.
- Go to the deprecation section of your package as mentioned in the steps above.
- Uncheck the check boxes under reasons for deprecating and save.
- Your package is no longer deprecated.
Note: Deprecated packages are still searchable in NuGet. You can unlist your packages if you do not want them to be visible.