Metadata Inspector

Overview

The Metadata Inspector is a standalone command-line tool for examining .NET assembly metadata, included with your Demeanor Enterprise subscription. It reads any .NET assembly (Framework, Core, .NET 5–10) and lets you explore its types, methods, fields, properties, events, custom attributes, IL code, and all 31 ECMA-335 metadata tables.

Use it to:

• Understand the structure of any .NET assembly
• Verify what an obfuscator preserved or renamed
• Compare assemblies before and after obfuscation
• Audit assemblies for specific attributes, interfaces, or patterns
• Decode custom attribute blobs without writing code

Installation

The inspector ships with the Demeanor Enterprise NuGet package:

inspect MyApp.dll

It can also be run directly from the build output:

dotnet path/to/inspect.dll MyApp.dll

Two Ways to Use It

One-shot mode (CLI flags)

Pass flags to get a specific view and exit:

inspect MyApp.dll --summary
inspect MyApp.dll --table typedef
inspect MyApp.dll --type WeatherForecast
inspect MyApp.dll --query "show public methods returning string"

Interactive mode (REPL)

Launch without flags to enter the interactive prompt. Type queries directly:

inspect MyApp.dll

inspect> summary
inspect> show public methods
inspect> which types implement IDisposable
inspect> describe OrderService
inspect> quit

Query Language

The inspector understands structured English queries. You don't need to memorize command syntax — just describe what you want to see. The inspector shows how it interpreted your query before displaying results.

Showing items

Filtering by accessibility

Filtering by signature

Filtering by owner / location

Filtering by type hierarchy

Counting

Detail views

Searching

How matching works

All name matching is case-insensitive and uses substring containment by default. show methods on Order matches OrderService, OrderRepository, and ReorderQueue.

AI-Assisted Inspection (MCP)

For complex queries or full obfuscation audits, connect the inspector to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or any MCP-compatible AI assistant. Instead of learning query syntax, just ask questions in plain English — the AI constructs the right tool calls and gives you contextual answers.

You: "Analyze MyApp.dll and tell me what to exclude before obfuscation."

Claude: [calls inspect_types, inspect_attributes, inspect_properties]
        I found 3 areas to review...

See the full AI-Assisted Inspection guide for setup and examples.

One-Shot CLI Options

All options work from the command line for scripting and CI/CD integration.

Display options

Filters and formatting

MCP server

Metadata Tables

The inspector can display any of the 31 ECMA-335 metadata tables. Use --table <name> in one-shot mode.

Core tables

Reference tables

Relationship tables

Generic tables

Interop and layout tables

Assembly-level tables

Examples

Quick overview of an assembly

inspect MyApp.dll --summary

Compare before and after obfuscation

inspect obfuscated/MyApp.dll --diff original/MyApp.dll

Find all types that implement a specific interface

inspect MyApp.dll -q "which types implement IHostedService"

Audit for specific attributes

inspect MyApp.dll -q "types with attribute JsonSerializable"

Check what an obfuscator preserved

inspect obfuscated/MyApp.dll -q "show public properties"

Explore interactively

inspect MyApp.dll

inspect> summary
  Assembly:   MyApp
  Types:      142
  Methods:    891
  ...

inspect> show types implementing IDisposable
  -> Show types implementing IDisposable
  public class MyApp.Data.DbContext : System.Object
  public class MyApp.Services.HttpClientPool : System.Object
  (2 type(s))

inspect> describe DbContext
  -> Show details of type DbContext
  === MyApp.Data.DbContext ===
  Base: System.Object
  Implements: System.IDisposable
  Fields (3): ...
  Methods (12): ...

inspect> show methods on DbContext
  -> Show methods on DbContext
  ...

inspect> quit

Script-friendly JSON output

inspect MyApp.dll --json --summary

AI-assisted inspection

For complex queries, connect the inspector to Claude Code via MCP. See AI-Assisted Inspection.

# In Claude Code, just ask:
# "Show me all public methods that accept a CancellationToken and return Task"
# Claude calls the inspector tools and gives you the answer in context.

How Query Translation Works

Under the hood, every query (whether typed as English or passed via --table) is converted into a structured InspectQuery object with these fields:

Available filter fields

Each filter has a field, an operator, and a value. Not every field applies to every target — the inspector validates compatibility and rejects mismatched combinations.

Filter operators

When using AI-assisted inspection via MCP, the AI assistant constructs queries using these exact fields and operators. In the CLI, the -> interpretation line shows you how your English was parsed before execution.