Clean Solution vs Clean Repository in Visual Studio Online Build

What is the difference between the Clean option on the Visual Studio Build task and the Clean option on the Repository tab of Visual Studio Online Build?

The Clean check box on the Visual Studio Build task will execute the Clean targets of projects in your solution. The result will leave all the source behind and simply delete the output of the previous builds. This the same as selecting Clean Solution from the Build menu in Visual Studio.


The Clean dropdown on the Repository tab deletes all the contents of the folder on your build agent and downloads the source again.

Comments (1) -

  • David V. Corbin

    10/26/2015 3:40:19 AM | Reply

    Thanks for the post, it will help many. Unfortunately neither approach is ideal for FAST CI builds in many circumstances. I have often found it necessary to write custom tasks (and in many cases avoid the use of simple standard tasks) in order to achieve the optimal results.

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