Guide

The upgrade readiness checklist

Quick answer. Before upgrading any framework, get a green baseline, pin the current versions, write down your customizations, check dependency compatibility, back up the database, and agree on a rollback plan. This checklist works with or without UpgradePilot.

1. Establish a green baseline

Build and run the full test suite on the current version and record the results.
Fix or quarantine flaky tests now; otherwise you can’t tell regressions from noise.
Tag the current commit so you have a known-good rollback target.

2. Inventory your customizations

List the template files, base classes and services you have changed (for ASP.NET Zero and ABP this is where conflicts appear).
Note custom modules, overridden services and patched third-party packages.
For frontends, list libraries with strict peer-dependency ranges.

3. Check dependency compatibility

Run dotnet list package --outdated and npm outdated to see the gap.
Check that each critical third-party package supports the target version.
Read the vendor’s official breaking-change and migration notes for every major you’ll cross.

4. Protect the data

Back up databases and verify the restore.
Review generated EF Core migrations; treat drops and column changes as destructive until proven otherwise.
Plan how migrations roll out in each environment.

5. Prepare CI and hosting

Update SDK pins (global.json), Node versions and CI images for the target.
Confirm your hosting platform supports the target runtime or framework version.
Make sure the pipeline builds both backend and frontend for mixed repos.

6. Decide how you’ll review

Do the upgrade on its own branch and open a pull request.
Assign reviewers for conflicts, migrations and behavior changes separately.
Agree who can approve a rollback and what triggers one.

Next steps

See the technology guides, the documentation hub, or request a free upgrade assessment.