INSTALL.md

libsodium for .NET can be installed as follows:

$ dotnet add package Sodium.Core --version 1.4.1-preview.1

Supported Platforms

The Sodium.Core package is intended to run on all supported versions of .NET on the following platforms:

	-x64	-x86	-arm64	-arm
android-	✓	✓	✓	✓
ios-			✓
linux-	✓		✓	✓
linux-musl-	✓		✓	✓
maccatalyst-	✓		✓
osx-	✓		✓
tvos-			✓
win-	✓	✓	✓

Please note:

1. On Windows, the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 is required. This is part of Visual Studio and the .NET SDK but might not be present on a clean Windows installation.

2. The AES-GCM implementation in libsodium is hardware-accelerated and may not be available on all architectures. Support can be determined at runtime using the static IsAvailable property of the Sodium.SecretAeadAes class.

Tested Platforms

Sodium.Core 1.4.1-preview.1 has been tested to run on the following platforms and .NET versions at the time of release:

OS	Version	Architecture	.NET
Windows Server	10.0.26100	x64	10.0.5 / 9.0.14
macOS	15.7	arm64	10.0.5 / 9.0.14
Alpine Linux	3.23	x64	10.0.5
Ubuntu	24.04	x64	10.0.5 / 9.0.14

The other supported platforms should work as well, but have not been tested.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are some frequently asked questions:

Q: What causes a System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load shared library 'libsodium' or one of its dependencies. when using libsodium for .NET?
A: This exception can occur if the operating system or architecture is not supported, or if the Visual C++ Redistributable has not been installed on a Windows system. Please refer to the Supported Platforms section above.

Q: Is libsodium for .NET still actively developed?
A: No, libsodium-core is now in maintenance mode. While bug fixes and compatibility updates for new .NET versions will continue, no new features or enhancements are being added. For actively developed .NET libsodium bindings, please see libsodium.org.