Hot Reload in Rider 2023.2 for .NET 6 Applications: Achieving Zero‑Downtime Migration

Goal

Migrate a small ASP.NET Core minimal API from .NET 6 to .NET 7 while preserving Rider’s Edit and Continue (hot reload) capability so that code changes can be applied without restarting the service.

Constraints and Uncertainty

Rider 2023.2 documents hot reload support for .NET 6 projects that use the Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web SDK and have launchSettings.json configured. The same documentation states that .NET 7 projects require Rider 2023.3 or later for equivalent hot reload behavior. It is unclear whether any configuration tweaks, SDK version overrides, or plug‑in settings in Rider 2023.2 can enable hot reload for a .NET 7 target, or if upgrading the IDE is the only viable path.

• What specific Rider 2023.2 settings, if any, allow hot reload to function when the project targets .NET 7?
• Are there known workarounds (e.g., using a .NET 6 SDK shim, custom launch profiles, or environment variables) that preserve zero‑downtime updates without upgrading to Rider 2023.3?
• If hot reload cannot be enabled in Rider 2023.2 for .NET 7, what is the minimal version of Rider that restores the feature, and are there any breaking changes in the hot reload workflow between those versions?