clr-interop.md

title	CLR interop reference
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CLR interop reference

G# targets the CLR directly. Imported .NET types are first-class in binding, evaluation, and emit: constructors, methods, fields, properties, indexers, events, delegates, operators, conversions, attributes, and generic metadata are all represented in the bound model. P/Invoke is supported through the @DllImport attribute on a ;-body func declaration; see Unmanaged interop (P/Invoke) below.

Imports and type names

Use import to bring a namespace into scope, or use an alias to shorten or disambiguate a namespace.

package Example

import System
import Collections = System.Collections.Generic

var list = Collections.List[int32]()
Console.WriteLine(list.Count)

The compiler adds an implicit System import by default, so Console.WriteLine(...) can resolve without import System. Pass /noimplicitimports or /no-implicit-imports to disable that behavior. CLR primitive types map to G# built-in names where possible; other CLR types are imported type symbols.

Constructing imported types

Imported constructors can be called with a simple type name when the type is imported, or with a qualified name when qualification is needed. Generic type arguments use G# bracket syntax.

import System.Collections.Generic

var list = List[int32]()
list.Add(42)

var dict = Dictionary[string, int32]()
dict["answer"] = 42

Constructor overload resolution uses the same imported member machinery as method calls, including numeric conversion ranking and optional/default argument support where metadata supplies defaults.

Members and overloads

Imported instance members use ordinary member syntax. Static members are accessed through the imported type. Properties and indexers bind as property/index expressions or assignments.

import System
import System.Collections.Generic

var text = "gsharp"
Console.WriteLine(text.Length)

var counts = Dictionary[string, int32]()
counts["g"] = 1
Console.WriteLine(counts.ContainsKey("g"))

Overload resolution considers imported methods, constructors, conversion operators, optional/default parameters (G# and CLR-supplied), ref-kind matching, numeric better-conversion tie breaking, and overload sets on user functions. Named arguments are accepted at the call site (F(timeout: 30)) for free functions, user methods, user constructors, extension functions, and inherited CLR methods (including delegate Invoke); indirect calls through a function-typed variable and variadic call sites do not accept names because the call target does not preserve parameter names. Diagnostics GS0244–GS0247 and GS0264–GS0267 cover the related failure modes.

Extension methods

G# receiver functions are declared with func (receiver T) Name(...) .... Imported CLR extension methods marked with [Extension] can also dispatch through instance syntax when their containing namespace is imported.

import System
import System.Linq
import System.Collections.Generic

var list = List[int32]()
list.Add(1)
list.Add(2)
list.Add(3)

var oddsAndEvens = list.CountBy(func(x int32) int32 { return x % 2 })
for kv in oddsAndEvens {
    Console.WriteLine(kv.Value)
}

The sample above relies on an imported extension method whose trailing optional comparer argument is omitted.

Delegates, function literals, and method groups

A G# function literal can convert to a compatible CLR delegate type, including named delegate types and the standard Action[...], Func[...], and Predicate[...] families. Method groups can convert to delegates when the target delegate signature is known. Delegate values and G# function values can also widen to System.Delegate and System.MulticastDelegate.

import System

var handler = func(sender object, e EventArgs) {
    Console.WriteLine("called")
}

Interpreter limitation: function-literal-to-delegate marshalling for some imported delegate scenarios is an emit-path feature. The evaluator supports G# closure values and many reflection calls, but delegate materialization is not identical to emitted IL in every case.

Events

CLR and G# events use += to subscribe and -= to unsubscribe. The right-hand side must be convertible to the event delegate type.

import System

var domain = AppDomain.CurrentDomain
domain.ProcessExit += func(sender object, e EventArgs) {
    Console.WriteLine("process exiting")
}

Event accessors on user types are declared with the G# event member form; imported CLR events bind through reflection metadata.

Operator overloads and conversions

Imported CLR operator overloads and conversion operators participate in binding. User-defined G# operator declarations use receiver syntax and map to CLR op_* names for emit and interop.

class Vec {
    X int32
    Y int32
}

func (v Vec) operator +(other Vec) Vec {
    return Vec{X: v.X + other.X, Y: v.Y + other.Y}
}

Built-in primitive operators remain table-driven and do not rely on imported operator metadata.

Attributes and annotations

G# uses Kotlin-style annotation syntax for CLR attributes:

@Obsolete("use NewName")
func OldName() {
}

@Attribute
class Trace {
}

Annotation names resolve either to the exact type name or to the conventional Attribute suffix form. Use-site targets include field, param, return, type, method, property, event, module, assembly, and genericparam. Arguments must be compile-time constants supported by CLR attribute metadata. @Attribute is declaration sugar for attribute classes and implies a System.Attribute base class.

Compiler-synthesized attributes such as CompilerGenerated, Extension, AsyncStateMachine, Nullable, and NullableContext are reserved. @DllImport opts a function into P/Invoke (see Unmanaged interop (P/Invoke) below); the historical blanket-rejection at GS0211 no longer fires.

By-ref pointers (& / * / *T)

G# has a managed by-ref surface that lets you call CLR methods with ref, out, and in parameters. It is implemented end-to-end in binding and emit: taking the address of a local and passing it to a ref/out parameter compiles to ldloca and runs.

Surface	Meaning
&x	Address-of: produces a managed pointer to the lvalue x, used to pass ref / out / in arguments.
*p	Dereference: reads or writes through a managed pointer p.
*T	The managed-pointer (by-ref) type, equivalent to C#'s ref T at a parameter or local level.

Taking an address with & requires an lvalue — a local, parameter, field, or array element. The address-of operand is what makes the argument flow by reference at the call site, so & is written explicitly at CLR ref/out/in call sites:

import System

var result = 0
var ok = Int32.TryParse("42", &result)
if ok {
    Console.WriteLine(result)
}

The same & form drives any ref/out BCL API, for example Interlocked.CompareExchange:

import System
import System.Threading

var counter = 0
Interlocked.CompareExchange(&counter, 1, 0)
Console.WriteLine(counter)

out variables need not be definitely assigned before the call: passing &result at an out position is allowed even when result was never written, and after the call the variable is considered definitely assigned. Variables passed at a ref (not out) position must already be definitely assigned.

At the CLR metadata level, *T maps to ELEMENT_TYPE_BYREF — a managed reference, the same encoding as C#'s ref T — and not to ELEMENT_TYPE_PTR (an unmanaged pointer). No unmanaged-pointer semantics (arithmetic, pinning, fixed) are implied.

Limitations

The by-ref surface is deliberately scoped to managed references for CLR interop. The following are out of scope today: unmanaged pointers, pointer arithmetic, and unsafe blocks. By-ref returns from G# functions (func f(...) ref T) use diagnostics GS0248–GS0255, and the scoped parameter modifier is wired up. The full Roslyn-style ref-safe-to-escape / safe-to-escape two-level escape analysis is not implemented. V1 uses a simpler rule: by-ref values cannot escape their declaring scope, and a scoped parameter cannot be returned.

Diagnostics

Diagnostic	Reported when
GS9001	& is applied to a non-lvalue expression.
GS9002	A ref/out/in argument is missing the required & at the call site.
GS9003	A variable is passed at a ref (not out) position before being definitely assigned.
GS9004	A by-ref value would escape its declaring scope (captured in a lambda, returned, or stored in a field).
GS9005	& is applied to a constant.
GS9006	A pointer (*T) type is used as a field type.

Spans and ref struct types

G# can consume CLR ref struct types — most importantly System.Span[T] and System.ReadOnlySpan[T] — as ordinary stack-only locals, parameters, and fields. This surface builds on the by-ref machinery above.

A by-ref-like (ref struct) value carries System.Runtime.CompilerServices.IsByRefLikeAttribute and is stack-only: the CLR forbids any use that would let it reach the heap. G# enforces this with GS0219 — boxing or converting it to a reference type, storing it in a non-ref struct field, capturing it in a closure, hoisting it into an async/iterator state machine, using it as a generic type argument, or declaring it as a top-level global are all rejected. Because of the last rule, span locals live inside functions.

Span element access

A Span[T] / ReadOnlySpan[T] indexer returns a managed pointer (ref T / ref readonly T). Reading an element in rvalue position auto-dereferences the ref return to the pointee T (you do not write *), and a Span[T] element write s[i] = v stores through the returned ref T:

import System

func sumSpan(values []int32) int32 {
    var s ReadOnlySpan[int32] = values   // []T -> ReadOnlySpan[T] implicit conversion
    var total = 0
    var i = 0
    for i < s.Length {
        total = total + s[i]             // read auto-dereferences ref readonly int32 -> int32
        i = i + 1
    }
    return total
}

func writeBack(values []int32) int32 {
    var s Span[int32] = values
    s[0] = 100                           // store through the ref int32 from get_Item
    s[2] = 300
    return s[0] + s[1] + s[2]
}

A ReadOnlySpan[T] element is ref readonly T, so writing through it is a hard error — GS0226 (s[0] = 1 on a ReadOnlySpan[T]); reading it is always allowed. Auto-dereference is the same general rule for every ref-returning CLR member (indexers, ref property getters, ref-returning methods): ref returns auto-dereference in rvalue position; taking an address still requires &.

Slice-to-span conversion

A []T slice converts implicitly to Span[T] / ReadOnlySpan[T] (via the BCL's op_Implicit) at local initialization and in argument position, so a slice flows straight into a span-typed BCL or user API without an explicit cast.

Closed generic value-type fields

A user ref struct may embed a closed constructed generic value-type field, such as a span:

import System

ref struct Window {
    data ReadOnlySpan[int32]
}

func firstLen(w Window) int32 {
    return w.data.Length
}

Such a field is emitted with its real layout (valuetype ReadOnlySpan<int32>, never as System.Object), and instance-member calls on the field receiver take its address correctly. Under the reified emit, all generic shapes — open and closed, value and reference — carry real metadata, so the value-type field path is the same path everything else takes.

Limitations

The following remain out of scope: the full two-level ref-safe-to-escape analysis (including [UnscopedRef]) — though the scoped parameter modifier is wired up; open generic value-type ref struct fields (ref struct Buffer[T] { data ReadOnlySpan[T] }); stackalloc and other span-creation primitives; and a lowercase span[T] alias (spans are imported CLR types Span[T] / ReadOnlySpan[T], requiring import System).

Generics interop

Imported generic types and methods use G# bracket syntax:

import System.Collections.Generic

var xs = List[int32]()

G# emits reified CLR generic metadata end-to-end: constructed generic types and methods become honest TypeSpec/MethodSpec blobs, type-argument inference for imported open generic methods is supported, and variance markers and constraints in G#'s own type parameter model round-trip as GenericParam variance flags and GenericParamConstraint rows. User-declared generic types (data struct Box[T], class Pair[A, B], generic interfaces, generic delegates) carry the matching GenericParam rows on their TypeDef, signatures over T encode Var(idx), generic-method signatures use MVar(idx), and closed CLR generics that mention an in-scope type parameter (List[T], Dictionary[string, T]) emit as real GenericInstantiation blobs. C# / F# consumers see GetGenericArguments() return the type parameters, GetField / GetMethod return the parameter type, and there is no box/unbox.any at the call/access boundary. Closed constructed generic value types (e.g. ReadOnlySpan[int32], Nullable[int32]) in field position have always carried their real layout (see Spans and ref struct types) and continue to do so.

Interpolated strings and formatting

Interpolated string literals are sigil-free in G# — holes ($name, ${expr}, ${expr,alignment:format}) live inside ordinary "…" strings — but their lowering is CLR formatting interop. The target type drives which formatting type is used:

• By default an interpolated string lowers to System.Runtime.CompilerServices.DefaultInterpolatedStringHandler. The handler is a ref struct, so value-typed holes are appended without boxing, and the result is materialized with ToStringAndClear().
• When the contextual target type is System.IFormattable or System.FormattableString, the string lowers to FormattableStringFactory.Create(format, args) instead of an eager string. Formatting is deferred, so the caller chooses the culture via ToString(IFormatProvider). This applies in let/return/cast contexts and when the interpolation is passed directly as an argument to a FormattableString parameter.
• A parameter annotated with [InterpolatedStringHandler] receives the handler value directly, and [InterpolatedStringHandlerArgument] forwarding is honored when the handler constructor requests additional arguments.

import System
import System.Globalization

func renderInvariant(fs FormattableString) string {
    return fs.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
}

let total = 1234.5
let qty = 7
let fs FormattableString = "amount: ${total:N2} (x${qty,4})"

Console.WriteLine(fs.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))
Console.WriteLine(fs.ToString(CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("de-DE")))

Alignment (,4) and format (:N2) clauses are preserved in the synthesized composite format string, so the same FormattableString renders differently under different cultures. The grammar and diagnostics for holes are documented in the language specification.

Unmanaged interop (P/Invoke)

A ; at the place of the body marks a function as having no managed body; when the function carries an @DllImport("libname", ...) annotation, the binder treats it as a P/Invoke stub and the emitter produces a CLR PinvokeImpl MethodDef row, an ImplMap row pointing at the deduplicated ModuleRef for libname, and (when requested) the SetLastError / ExactSpelling / charset / calling-convention bits.

package P
import System
import System.Runtime.InteropServices

@DllImport("libc", EntryPoint: "strlen", CharSet: CharSet.Ansi)
func NativeStrLen(text string) nint;

@DllImport("libc", EntryPoint: "open", SetLastError: true)
func NativeOpen(path string, flags int32) int32;

Console.WriteLine(NativeStrLen("Hello, world!"))     // prints 13
var fd = NativeOpen("/no/such/file", 0)
Console.WriteLine(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error())      // POSIX errno propagated through the CLR

Attribute knobs

Name	Type	Default	Notes
Library name (positional)	string	required	The unmanaged library to resolve (passed to dlopen / LoadLibrary).
EntryPoint	string	function name	Native symbol to resolve.
CharSet	System.Runtime.InteropServices.CharSet	Ansi	Governs how string parameters and return values are marshalled.
SetLastError	bool	false	When true, the CLR captures GetLastError / errno and exposes it via Marshal.GetLastWin32Error.
CallingConvention	CallingConvention	Winapi	Maps to MethodImportAttributes.CallingConvention*.
ExactSpelling	bool	CharSet == Auto	When false, the CLR may probe for an A/W suffix.
PreserveSig	bool	true	When false, an HRESULT return becomes a thrown exception (COM-style).
BestFitMapping	bool?	unspecified	Tri-state best-fit mapping override.
ThrowOnUnmappableChar	bool?	unspecified	Tri-state unmappable-character behavior override.

Supported v1 marshalling types

Every primitive integer (int8/16/32/64, uint8/16/32/64), nint/nuint, float32/float64, bool, char, string (governed by CharSet), single-element *T byref-style pointers (where T is primitive), and slices of primitives. Anything outside this set is rejected at bind time with GS0323.

Diagnostics

GS0322–GS0329 cover every malformed P/Invoke shape — missing library name, body present, unsupported marshalling type, unsupported function shape (async / generic / extension / shared / ref-returning), bad CharSet / CallingConvention / EntryPoint values, and ; body without @DllImport. The historical GS0211 blanket-rejection is retired. See the Diagnostics reference for the full table.

Source-generator-shaped P/Invoke (@LibraryImport)

The modern @LibraryImport(...) attribute is the source-generator-shaped sibling of @DllImport. The syntax is identical (;-bodied func, attribute on the declaration), but the emitter generates an explicit managed marshalling stub (outer wrapper) that calls a hidden blittable inner P/Invoke. The runtime never auto-marshals at the unmanaged boundary, which makes the resulting assemblies AOT-friendly and verifiable under ilverify.

package P
import System
import System.Runtime.InteropServices

@LibraryImport("libc", EntryPoint: "getpid")
func GetPid() int32;

@LibraryImport("libc", EntryPoint: "strlen", StringMarshalling: StringMarshalling.Utf8)
func NativeStrLen(text string) nuint;

Console.WriteLine(GetPid())
Console.WriteLine(NativeStrLen("Hello, world!"))     // prints 13

Name	Type	Default	Notes
Library name (positional)	string	required	Same ModuleRef cache as @DllImport.
EntryPoint	string	function name	Native symbol to resolve.
SetLastError	bool	false	Threaded through to the inner blittable P/Invoke.
StringMarshalling	System.Runtime.InteropServices.StringMarshalling	required when a string is present (GS0344)	Utf8 or Utf16. Custom is rejected with GS0343 in v1.
StringMarshallingCustomType	Type	reserved	Accepted only with Custom, which v1 rejects.

Knobs that exist on @DllImport but not on @LibraryImport (matching the BCL surface): CharSet (superseded by per-call StringMarshalling), CallingConvention (overridden via the separate [UnmanagedCallConv] attribute in C#; not exposed in v1), PreserveSig, BestFitMapping, ThrowOnUnmappableChar.

The diagnostics unique to @LibraryImport are GS0342 (mixing with @DllImport), GS0343 (invalid StringMarshalling), and GS0344 (string surface — parameter or return — without StringMarshalling). A string return type is supported: the outer stub materializes the managed string via Marshal.PtrToStringUTF8/PtrToStringUni and treats the returned native buffer as non-owning. The existing GS0322–GS0329 codes continue to apply where relevant. See the Diagnostics reference for the full table.

Struct and class marshalling (@StructLayout / @FieldOffset)

A struct or class declaration carries an optional @StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential) or @StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit) annotation; an explicit-layout type's fields each carry an @FieldOffset(N) annotation. Both attributes are CLR pseudo-custom attributes — the runtime reconstructs them at reflection time from the ClassLayout and FieldLayout metadata-table rows, so the emitter writes those rows directly and skips the normal CustomAttribute encoding (decompilers therefore see exactly one [StructLayout] per type, not two).

@StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)
struct Point {
    var X int32
    var Y int32
}

@StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit, Size: 8)
struct LargeInteger {
    @FieldOffset(0) var LowPart  uint32
    @FieldOffset(4) var HighPart int32
    @FieldOffset(0) var QuadPart int64
}

@DllImport("libc", EntryPoint: "some_native")
func AcceptPoint(p Point) int32;

Supported LayoutKind values: Sequential (default for blittable structs) and Explicit. LayoutKind.Auto is rejected (GS0346) because the CLR may reorder fields, which breaks the bit-for-bit ABI contract. Pack and Size are accepted as named arguments and forwarded to the ClassLayout row when present.

A struct or class appearing in a P/Invoke signature must be blittable: every field is a primitive integer/float, an nint / nuint, a pointer (*T), or a blittable nested struct. bool, char, string, decimal, slices, sequences, and unannotated classes are non-blittable in v1; the binder reports GS0349 with the offending type's name. Per-field [MarshalAs] for non-blittable fields is not supported.

Classes are special-cased: a class must carry an explicit @StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential|Explicit) annotation before it can appear in a P/Invoke signature (the default class layout is Auto), and even then it can only flow by reference — using a class as a P/Invoke return type is rejected with GS0351. Return a struct or nint instead.

The diagnostics introduced by this feature are GS0346 (invalid LayoutKind), GS0347 (missing @FieldOffset on an explicit-layout field), GS0348 (@FieldOffset on a non-explicit type), GS0349 (non-blittable type in a P/Invoke signature), GS0350 (invalid @FieldOffset value), and GS0351 (class as P/Invoke return type). See the Diagnostics reference for the full table and worked examples.

Byref parameters (ref / out / in)

The runtime marshals the byref slot as a managed pointer T* to the unmanaged callee — the canonical shape for libc APIs that write a result through an out-pointer (time(time_t *), clock_gettime(int, struct timespec *), pipe(int [2]), posix_memalign(void **, size_t, size_t)).

package P
import System
import System.Runtime.InteropServices

@DllImport("libc", EntryPoint: "time")
func native_time(ref t int64) int64;

var t = 0L
var rc = native_time(ref t)
Console.WriteLine(rc == t)   // True

The pointee type T must be blittable. Accepted pointees: the blittable primitives (int8–int64, uint8–uint64, nint, nuint, float32, float64) and @StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential|Explicit)-annotated structs whose fields are all blittable. Rejected pointees: bool, char, string, object, decimal, slices, sequences, classes (which already flow by reference), and nullable value types (T?) — each produces the new GS0352 diagnostic with a tailored message. Non-blittable struct pointees continue to use GS0349 because the remediation ("add @StructLayout / fix field blittability") is identical to the by-value struct case.

The ref string case in particular needs an explicit ref nint + Marshal.PtrToStringUTF8 / Marshal.StringToCoTaskMemUTF8 round trip — the runtime cannot infer the unmanaged encoding (or the buffer-ownership contract) for a byref string slot. ref bool / ref char likewise need an explicit ref uint8 (POSIX) or ref int32 (Windows) declaration plus user-side widening, because the unmanaged width of BOOL / char depends on the surrounding @MarshalAs — accepting a byref slot silently would produce inconsistent bit-widths across platforms.

Both @DllImport and @LibraryImport support byref parameters with no additional knobs. The @LibraryImport outer/inner stub pair forwards the byref slot through both halves — no allocation or free is required for byref-blittable parameters since the address is the caller's managed slot. Byref parameters mix freely with string parameters in @LibraryImport: the string still routes through the existing CoTaskMem allocate / free in the outer wrapper's try / finally, while the byref slot flows straight through.

The retired GS0326 ("ref/out/in parameter is not supported") no longer fires for ref-kind parameters; the diagnostic remains the umbrella for the other unsupported function shapes (async, generic, instance, extension, shared, ref-return).

Function-pointer marshalling

P/Invoke supports passing managed callbacks and raw unmanaged function pointers across the P/Invoke boundary. Two complementary shapes are supported:

Shape A — delegate types annotated with @UnmanagedFunctionPointer(CallingConvention.Cdecl). The G# delegate is passed by value; the runtime synthesizes a stable C-ABI thunk via Marshal.GetFunctionPointerForDelegate.

package P
import System
import System.Runtime.InteropServices

@UnmanagedFunctionPointer(CallingConvention.Cdecl)
type Int64Comparer = delegate func(a nint, b nint) int32

@DllImport("libc", EntryPoint: "qsort")
func native_qsort(base nint, nmemb nint, size nint, cmp Int64Comparer) void;

Shape B — raw function pointers spelled unmanaged[Cdecl] (T1, T2, ...) -> R. Encoded as ELEMENT_TYPE_FNPTR in the metadata blob; at runtime the value is an address-sized integer (interconvertible with nint). This is the right shape for declaring callbacks at the bare metal — e.g. a dlsym return slot, or a P/Invoke parameter that the caller already holds as a nint.

package P
import System
import System.Runtime.InteropServices

@DllImport("libc", EntryPoint: "dlsym")
func native_dlsym(handle nint, name string) unmanaged[Cdecl] () -> void;

Supported calling conventions are Cdecl, Stdcall, Thiscall, Fastcall. The bracketed slot after unmanaged is mandatory (omitting it reports GS0356). Returning a managed delegate from a P/Invoke is rejected (GS0355) because the runtime cannot infer the lifetime contract; use Shape B or nint + Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer instead.

GC lifetime contract (Shape A). The CLR keeps the delegate rooted only for the duration of Marshal.GetFunctionPointerForDelegate + the inner native call. The caller is responsible for holding an explicit reference to the delegate for as long as the native side might call back; the canonical pattern is to assign the delegate to a local or field and end the scope with GC.KeepAlive(<delegate>).

The diagnostics introduced by this feature are GS0353 (missing @UnmanagedFunctionPointer), GS0354 (unknown calling convention), GS0355 (delegate return), and GS0356 (missing [CC] slot).

Per-parameter @MarshalAs overrides

Per-parameter @MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.…) overrides on P/Invoke declarations. Without @MarshalAs, each parameter is marshalled using the implicit rule for its G# type (string ⇒ LPSTR per CharSet, bool ⇒ BOOL, []T ⇒ LPArray, …). @MarshalAs lets you opt the parameter into a different unmanaged form — typically a Windows …W Unicode entry-point, a modern UTF-8 C API, or a C function that takes an int-sized boolean flag.

package P
import System.Runtime.InteropServices

@DllImport("user32", EntryPoint: "MessageBoxW")
func MessageBoxW(
    hWnd nint,
    @MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr) lpText string,
    @MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr) lpCaption string,
    uType uint32) int32;

@DllImport("libfoo", EntryPoint: "sum_buf")
func native_sum_buf(
    @MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPArray, SizeParamIndex: 1) buf []int32,
    count int32) int64;

@DllImport("libfoo", EntryPoint: "set_flag")
func native_set_flag(@MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.I4) on bool) int32;

The v1 supported UnmanagedType values are LPStr, LPWStr, LPUTF8Str, BStr, LPArray, SafeArray, I1, U1, I2, U2, I4, U4, I8, U8, Bool, VariantBool, SysInt, SysUInt, Struct, ByValTStr (requires SizeConst:), and ByValArray (requires SizeConst:). LPArray requires SizeConst: and/or SizeParamIndex:. Anything else (CustomMarshaler, IUnknown, IDispatch, FunctionPtr, Currency, LPStruct) is rejected with GS0357.

The annotation is a CLR pseudo-custom attribute: the binder validates the combination, the emitter writes a FieldMarshal table row (ECMA-335 II.23.4) plus ParameterAttributes.HasFieldMarshal on the Param row, and no CustomAttribute row is added. This matches C#'s [MarshalAs] shape exactly and round-trips through ildasm / ILSpy.

Interaction with @LibraryImport. @MarshalAs on a non-string @LibraryImport parameter is honoured by writing the FieldMarshal row on the outer Param. @MarshalAs on a @LibraryImport string parameter is rejected with GS0360 — the function-wide StringMarshalling: knob is the canonical per-call lever for string encoding under the source-generator-shaped P/Invoke.

The diagnostics introduced by this feature are GS0357 (unsupported UnmanagedType), GS0358 (type mismatch), GS0359 (missing required knob), and GS0360 (rejected combination).

Unsupported interop surface

The following are not yet implemented as source features: user-supplied custom marshallers (StringMarshalling.Custom and per-field [MarshalAs]), fixed-size buffers inside marshalled structs, default parameter values in G# declarations, and C#-style null literals. Use nil for nullable values, import .NET APIs for library functionality, and wrap unsupported marshalling shapes behind a thin C# shim for now. (string return types under @LibraryImport are now supported with a non-owning return policy.)