Microsoft Docs Lookup

Training data goes stale, especially for fast-moving surfaces like .NET, MSBuild, and Azure SDKs. When a question hinges on current, version-specific behavior, check Microsoft Learn rather than guessing from memory.

How to look things up

1. Prefer a Microsoft Learn MCP server if one is connected (tools named like microsoft_docs_search / microsoft_docs_fetch, or similar). Check with ToolSearch if unsure. It returns live, current doc content.
2. Otherwise use WebSearch/WebFetch against learn.microsoft.com — search for the specific API/feature, then fetch the page for full detail when the summary isn't enough.

When to reach for docs instead of guessing

• Understanding a concept — "how does X actually work"
• API signatures, config options, CLI flags — especially anything version-specific
• Limits, quotas, defaults
• Confirming something changed between versions (e.g. .NET 8 → .NET 10, an MSBuild SDK bump)
• Anything where being wrong would waste a build/test cycle rather than just being imprecise in conversation

Skip this for things you're confident about from well-established, stable APIs (e.g. basic C# syntax) — the point is to catch drift on things that change, not to look up everything.

Query effectiveness

Be specific — vague queries return vague results.

❌ "MSBuild items"
✅ "MSBuild ItemGroup Include exclude wildcard syntax"

❌ ".NET HttpClient"
✅ ".NET 10 HttpClient SocketsHttpHandler connection pooling defaults"

Include version and platform when relevant (.NET 10, EF Core 9, Windows App SDK 1.6) — docs for the same API surface can differ meaningfully across versions.

Fetching the full page

Search results are often excerpts. Fetch the full page when:

• It's a tutorial/quickstart and you need every step, not a fragment
• A config/CLI reference needs the complete option list
• The excerpt is visibly cut off mid-explanation