criticalmanufacturing · pedroapap · Aug 21, 2026 · Jul 23, 2026 · Aug 13, 2026 · Aug 14, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,25 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [commit-and-tag-version](https://github.com/absolute-version/commit-and-tag-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+## [6.0.0-3](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/compare/6.0.0-2...6.0.0-3) (2026-08-21)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add dependency version for v12 (dotnet, node, ng22) ([3c3019a](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/commit/3c3019af1202e790770c25240493335c35deb89e))
+* add support for pre-releases ([2d89954](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/commit/2d89954ae20f980209508aea1a702f3f634dca49))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* update SharpCompress package version and improve TAR.GZ handling in CmfPackageController ([c3f654b](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/commit/c3f654bb62b8b4032f924e17c8332f30281b0a8a))
+
+
+### Under the hood
+
+* remove outdated NPX version handling logic from NPXCommand ([5a75a86](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/commit/5a75a86b21231a7582d9ccd64ba9b8a0605e511d))
+* replace Version with MesVersion for improved semantic version handling across the CLI ([7893e74](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/commit/7893e749d07c83a60498c513ce9bf91aa8d3aabf))
+
 ## [6.0.0-2](https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/cli/compare/6.0.0-1...6.0.0-2) (2026-07-22)
 
 

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Builders/NPXCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Builders/NPXCommand.cs
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
-using System.Linq;
 using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
 using Cmf.CLI.Core.Objects;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 
 namespace Cmf.CLI.Builders
 {
@@ -40,18 +39,6 @@ public override ProcessBuildStep[] GetSteps()
                 // Bypass any interactive confirmation prompts that might appear
                 "-y"
             };
-
-            // The initial versions of NPX (<= 6) that are used by MES v8 and v9 must be called like this:
-            //      npx -y true
-            // Later versions of NPX (>= 7) that are used by MES v10 and greater, must be called only like this:
-            //      npx -y
-            // So we get the MES version of the project, and we assume that the user must be running the supported
-            // node version for that MES project
-            var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance?.ProjectConfig?.MESVersion;
-            if (mesVersion != null && mesVersion < new Version(10, 0)) 
-            {
-                args.Add("true");
-            }
 
             args.Add(this.Command);
             if (this.Args != null) 

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/UILayerTemplateCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/UILayerTemplateCommand.cs
@@ -41,13 +41,13 @@ protected void CloneHTMLStarter(Version versionTag, IDirectoryInfo target)
             target.GetFiles(".gitkeep").FirstOrDefault()?.Delete();
             Log.Verbose("cloning html starter");
             // git init
-            (new GitCommand() { Command = "init", WorkingDirectory = target }).Exec();
+            new GitCommand() { Command = "init", WorkingDirectory = target }.Exec();
             // git remote add origin https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/html-starter
-            (new GitCommand() { Command = "remote", WorkingDirectory = target, Args = new[] { "add", "origin", "https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/html-starter" } }).Exec();
+            new GitCommand() { Command = "remote", WorkingDirectory = target, Args = ["add", "origin", "https://github.com/criticalmanufacturing/html-starter"] }.Exec();
             // git fetch
-            (new GitCommand() { Command = "fetch", WorkingDirectory = target }).Exec();
+            new GitCommand() { Command = "fetch", WorkingDirectory = target }.Exec();
             // git pull origin $vars['HTMLStarterVersion']
-            (new GitCommand() { Command = "pull", WorkingDirectory = target, Args = new[] { "origin", versionTag.ToString() } }).Exec();
+            new GitCommand() { Command = "pull", WorkingDirectory = target, Args = ["origin", versionTag.ToString()] }.Exec();
             Log.Debug("delete .git folder");
             this.DeleteFolderWithReadOnlyFiles(target.GetDirectories(".git").FirstOrDefault());
             // delete apps/.gitkeep

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/build/html/ExtractI18nCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/build/html/ExtractI18nCommand.cs
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@
 using Cmf.CLI.Utilities;
 using System.Xml.Linq;
 using System.Linq;
-using System;
 using Newtonsoft.Json;
 using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 
 namespace Cmf.CLI.Commands.html;
 
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ public class ExtractI18nCommand : BaseCommand
     /// <summary>
     /// The minimum MES Version that supports this command
     /// </summary>
-    private readonly Version MIN_MES_VERSION = new Version(11, 2, 0);
+    private readonly NuGetVersion MIN_MES_VERSION = new NuGetVersion(11, 2, 0);
 
     /// <summary>
     /// constructor

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/build/html/LocalizeCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/build/html/LocalizeCommand.cs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 using Cmf.CLI.Core.Objects;
 using Cmf.CLI.Utilities;
 using System.Linq;
-using System;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 
 namespace Cmf.CLI.Commands.html;
 
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ public class LocalizeCommand : BaseCommand
     /// <summary>
     /// The minimum MES Version that supports this command
     /// </summary>
-    private readonly Version MIN_MES_VERSION = new Version(11, 2, 0);
+    private readonly NuGetVersion MIN_MES_VERSION = new NuGetVersion(11, 2, 0);
 
     public override void Configure(Command cmd)
     {

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/init/InitCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/init/InitCommand.cs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 using Cmf.CLI.Utilities;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 using Newtonsoft.Json;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 
 namespace Cmf.CLI.Commands
 {
@@ -514,8 +515,8 @@ internal void Execute(InitArguments x)
 
             if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x.ngxSchematicsVersion))
             {
-                var mesVer = Version.Parse(x.BaseVersion);
-                x.ngxSchematicsVersion = $"release-{mesVer.Major}{mesVer.Minor}{mesVer.Build}";
+                var mesVer = NuGetVersion.Parse(x.BaseVersion);
+                x.ngxSchematicsVersion = GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVer);
             }
 
             Log.Information($"Using ngx-schematics version: {x.ngxSchematicsVersion}");
@@ -578,10 +579,10 @@ internal void Execute(InitArguments x)
 
             #region version-specific bits
 
-            var version = Version.Parse(x.BaseVersion);
+            var version = new NuGetVersion(x.BaseVersion);
             args.AddRange(new []{ "--dotnetSDKVersion", ExecutionContext.ServiceProvider.GetService<IDependencyVersionService>().DotNetSdk(version) });
 
-            if(version < new Version(10,0))
+            if(version < new NuGetVersion(10, 0, 0))
             {
                 throw new CliException("MES Versions under 10 are no longer supported with the newest version of the CLI. Please use cmf-cli 5.8.0 or lower.");
             }

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/DataCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/DataCommand.cs
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public override void Configure(Command cmd)
         protected override List<string> GenerateArgs(IDirectoryInfo projectRoot, IDirectoryInfo workingDir, List<string> args)
         {
             var repoType = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.RepositoryType ?? CliConstants.DefaultRepositoryType;
-            Version version = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
+            var version = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
 
             var relativePathToRoot =
                 this.fileSystem.Path.Join("..", //always one level deeper

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/HTMLCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/HTMLCommand.cs
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ public void ExecuteV10(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version)
             var packageName = base.GeneratePackageName(workingDir)!.Value.Item1;
             var packageDir = workingDir.GetDirectories(packageName).First();
 
-            var schematicsVersion = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ngxSchematicsVersion) ? ngxSchematicsVersion : $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}";
+            var schematicsVersion = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ngxSchematicsVersion?.ToString()) ? ngxSchematicsVersion.ToString() : GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion);
 
             //After v11 we use Angular default routing
             var routing = mesVersion.Major >= 11 ? "true" : "false";
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ public void ExecuteV10(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version)
                     "add", "--registry", ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.NPMRegistry.OriginalString,
                                       "--skip-confirmation", $"@criticalmanufacturing/ngx-schematics@{schematicsVersion}",
                                       "--eslint", "--application", baseLayer.ToString(),
-                                      "--version", $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}"
+                                      "--version", GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion)
                 ],
                 WorkingDirectory = packageDir,
                 ForceColorOutput = false
@@ -170,7 +170,15 @@ public void ExecuteV10(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version)
                 rootPkgJson.devDependencies["cross-env"] = "^10.1.0";
             }
 
-            rootPkgJson.scripts["serve"] = "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=8192 npm run start -- --host 0.0.0.0 --disable-host-check --port 7000";
+
+            if (mesVersion.Major < 12)
+            {
+                rootPkgJson.scripts["serve"] = "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=8192 npm run start -- --host 0.0.0.0 --disable-host-check --port 7000";
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                rootPkgJson.scripts["serve"] = "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=8192 npm run start -- --host 0.0.0.0 --port 7000";
+            }
 
             if (ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.RepositoryType == RepositoryType.App)
             {

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/HelpCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/HelpCommand.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.CommandLine;
 using System.IO.Abstractions;
@@ -16,6 +15,7 @@
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 using Newtonsoft.Json;
 using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 
 namespace Cmf.CLI.Commands.New
 {
@@ -64,9 +64,10 @@ protected override List<string> GenerateArgs(IDirectoryInfo projectRoot, IDirect
                         projectRoot.FullName)
                 ).Replace("\\", "/");
 
+            var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
             var requireModuleSES =
-                ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion >= new Version(11, 0, 0) &&
-                ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion < new Version(11, 2, 0);
+                mesVersion >= new NuGetVersion(11, 0, 0) &&
+                mesVersion < new NuGetVersion(11, 2, 0);
 
             var angularDeps = ExecutionContext.ServiceProvider.GetService<IDependencyVersionService>().Angular(ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion);
 
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ public void Execute(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version)
 
             var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
 
-            this.schematicsVersion = ngxSchematicsVersion ?? $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}";
+            this.schematicsVersion = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ngxSchematicsVersion?.ToString()) ? ngxSchematicsVersion.ToString() : GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion);
 
             //Switch between v10 and v11 template 
             switch (majorVersion)

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/IoTCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/IoTCommand.cs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 using Cmf.CLI.Services;
 using Cmf.CLI.Utilities;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
-using System;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.CommandLine;
 using System.IO.Abstractions;
@@ -114,10 +114,10 @@ public void Execute(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version, string htmlPackag
             var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
             // (ATL) Automation Task Library Package
             // only introduced in v10.2.7
-            var executeV10ATL = !isAngularPackage && mesVersion >= new Version(10, 2, 7) && mesVersion < new Version(11, 0, 0);
+            var executeV10ATL = !isAngularPackage && mesVersion >= new NuGetVersion(10, 2, 7) && mesVersion < new NuGetVersion(11, 0, 0);
 
             // only introduced in v11
-            var executeV11ATL = !isAngularPackage && mesVersion >= new Version(11, 0, 0);
+            var executeV11ATL = !isAngularPackage && mesVersion >= new NuGetVersion(11, 0, 0);
 
             if (executeV10ATL)
             {
@@ -160,7 +160,6 @@ public void ExecuteV10ATL(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version)
             }
 
             var iotCustomPackageWorkDir = iotCustomPackage.GetFileInfo().Directory;
-            var iotCustomPackageName = base.GeneratePackageName(iotCustomPackageWorkDir)!.Value.Item1;
 
             var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
 
@@ -175,8 +174,10 @@ public void ExecuteV10AngularPackage(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version,
             {
                 throw new CliException(CliMessages.IoTV10HTMLPackageMustBeProvided);
             }
-
+
+            var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
             var ngxSchematicsVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.NGXSchematicsVersion;
+            var schematicsVersion = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(ngxSchematicsVersion?.ToString()) ? ngxSchematicsVersion.ToString() : GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion);
 
             IDirectoryInfo htmlPackageDir = fileSystem.DirectoryInfo.New(htmlPackageLocation);
 
@@ -208,11 +209,6 @@ public void ExecuteV10AngularPackage(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version,
             }
 
             var iotCustomPackageWorkDir = iotCustomPackage.GetFileInfo().Directory;
-            var iotCustomPackageName = base.GeneratePackageName(iotCustomPackageWorkDir)!.Value.Item1;
-
-            var mesVersion = ExecutionContext.Instance.ProjectConfig.MESVersion;
-
-            var schematicsVersion = ngxSchematicsVersion ?? $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}";
 
             Log.Debug($"Creating new IoT Workspace {packageName}");
 
@@ -256,7 +252,7 @@ public void ExecuteV10AngularPackage(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version,
                                                  "--skip-confirmation", $"@criticalmanufacturing/ngx-iot-schematics@{schematicsVersion}",
                                                  "--lint",
                                                  "--base-app", baseLayer.ToString(),
-                                                 "--version", $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}" },
+                                                 "--version", GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion) },
                 WorkingDirectory = iotCustomPackageWorkDir,
                 ForceColorOutput = false
             }.Exec();
@@ -276,7 +272,7 @@ public void ExecuteV10AngularPackage(IDirectoryInfo workingDir, string version,
             #endregion Link To HTML Package
         }
 
-        private static void InstallYoeman(IDirectoryInfo iotCustomPackageWorkDir, Version mesVersion)
+        private static void InstallYoeman(IDirectoryInfo iotCustomPackageWorkDir, NuGetVersion mesVersion)
         {
             Log.Debug($"Installing Yeoman");
 

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/TestCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/TestCommand.cs
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.CommandLine;
 using System.IO.Abstractions;
-using System;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 using Cmf.CLI.Services;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 
 namespace Cmf.CLI.Commands.New
 {
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ public void Execute(string version)
             #region version-specific bits
             args.AddRange(new []{ "--targetFramework", ExecutionContext.ServiceProvider.GetService<IDependencyVersionService>().DotNetTargetFramework(mesVersion) });
 
-            if (mesVersion >= new Version(11, 2, 3))
+            if (mesVersion >= new NuGetVersion(11, 2, 3))
             {
                 args.Add("--hostPerformanceTests");
             }

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateDotnetDriverCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateDotnetDriverCommand.cs
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ private List<string> GenerateArgs(
             var args = new List<string>();
             args.AddRange(new[]
             {
-                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}",
+                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion),
                 "--directoryName", directoryName,
                 "--identifier", identifier,
                 "--identifierCamel", identifierCamel,

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateDotnetFrameworkDriverCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateDotnetFrameworkDriverCommand.cs
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ private List<string> GenerateArgs(
             var args = new List<string>();
             args.AddRange(new[]
             {
-                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}",
+                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion),
                 "--directoryName", directoryName,
                 "--identifier", identifier,
                 "--identifierCamel", identifierCamel,

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateDriverCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateDriverCommand.cs
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ private List<string> GenerateArgs(
             var args = new List<string>();
             args.AddRange(new[]
             {
-                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}",
+                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion),
                 "--directoryName", directoryName,
                 "--identifier", identifier,
                 "--identifierCamel", identifierCamel,

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateTaskLibraryCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/new/iot/GenerateTaskLibraryCommand.cs
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ private List<string> GenerateArgs(
                 "--identifierLower", identifier.Replace(" ", "").ToLower().Trim(),
                 "--packageName", fullPackageName,
                 "--packageVersion", packageVersion,
-                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", $"release-{mesVersion.Major}{mesVersion.Minor}{mesVersion.Build}",
+                "--targetSystemVersionProcessed", GenericUtilities.GetNpmDistTag(mesVersion),
                 "--dependsOnScope", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dependsOnScope),
                 "--mandatoryForScope", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(mandatoryForScope),
                 "--dependsOnProtocol", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dependsOnProtocol),

diff --git a/cmf-cli/Commands/upgrade/UpgradeBaseCommand.cs b/cmf-cli/Commands/upgrade/UpgradeBaseCommand.cs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 using Cmf.CLI.Factories;
 using Cmf.CLI.Utilities;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
-using System;
+using NuGet.Versioning;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.CommandLine;
 using System.IO;
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ private void UpdateProjectConfig(IDirectoryInfo packagePath, string baseVersion)
                     text = UpgradeBaseUtilities.UpdateJsonValue(text, key, baseVersion);
                 }
 
-                if (new Version(baseVersion).Major >= 11)
+                if (NuGetVersion.Parse(baseVersion).Major >= 11)
                 {
                     // TODO: find a more elegant way to apply these changes to files/packages when this command is executed.
                     // For the moment, sneaking this if-statement in will do the job but long-term we'll need an approach that