F# Interactive v5 and above ships with extensions mechanism.

FSharp.DependencyManager.Paket implements this extension mechanism to hook same power as paket.dependencies file right inside .fsx scripts.

The extension is searching for paket.exe in the folder hierarchy containing the script, checking for a .paket folder containing paket.exe.

It falls back to those user directories if it can't find it in the parent folders:

• ~/.paket/paket.exe
• ~/.dotnet/tools/paket.exe
• ~/.nuget/packages/paket/{most-recent-version}/tools/paket.exe

You have two choices to deploy the assembly:

Install the FSharp.DependencyManager.Paket.dll aside of your F# Interactive binaries or the binary of the host process loading the extensions.

In general, the process will explicitly list the folders it is currently checking for extensions:

error FS3216: Package manager key 'paket' was not registered in [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\5.0.100\FSharp; C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\5.0.100\FSharp\], []. Currently registered: nuget

The locations to copy FSharp.DependencyManager.Paket.dll

Dotnet SDK:

• Windows
  C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\<version number>\FSharp
• macOS
  /usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk/<version number>/FSharp
• Linux
  /home/user/dotnet/sdk/<version number>/FSharp

Visual Studio:

• For Editor Support
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\<version number>\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\FSharp
• For Fsi Window Support
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\<version number>\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\FSharp\Tools

Use the --compilertool flag when invoking F# Interactive or refer to the documentation of the host process.

For example on windows:

--compilertool:"c:\users\username\.nuget\packages\fsharp.dependencymanager.paket\6.0.0-alpha055\lib\netstandard2.0"

For example on unix:

--compilertool:"~/.nuget/packages/fsharp.dependencymanager.paket/6.0.0-alpha055/lib/netstandard2.0"

Using it involves the #r directive with paket extension.

Here is an example importing FSharp.Data library:

#r "paket: nuget FSharp.Data"

open FSharp.Data
// do cool stuff

It is also possible to use github dependencies to import individual files:

#r "paket: github fsharp/FAKE src/legacy/FakeLib/Globbing/Globbing.fs"
#load @"fsharp\FAKE\src\legacy\FakeLib\Globbing\Globbing.fs"
 
let f = Fake.Globbing.search

Same remarks as for installation section above, you'd either make sure the assembly is deployed aside the host process binary, or you'd pass --compilertool flag when building the project options (through GetProjectOptionsFromScript).