diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.props b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.props
index 3afa05c31b..0295c8a39f 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.props
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.props
@@ -1,5 +1,19 @@
 <Project>
-  <PropertyGroup>
-    <MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>Microsoft.AspNetCore.All</MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>
+  <!--
+    The _AspNetCoreAllSharedFxIsEnabled property is meant for internal use only. When set to 'false',
+    the default value of MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary will be Microsoft.NETCore.App. It was added to support
+    a better SDK exprience on platforms where the ASP.NET Core shared framework is not avaiable.
+    In these cases, ASP.NET Core can still be as if it were just a set of NuGet packages.
+  -->
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(_AspNetCoreAllSharedFxIsEnabled)' == '' ">
+    <!--
+      Disable the base runtime, Microsoft.AspNetCore.App, when this package is imported
+    -->
+    <_AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled>false</_AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled>
+
+    <!--
+      NB: this is _AspNetCore*All*SharedFxIsEnabled, not _AspNetCore*App*SharedFxIsEnabled
+    -->
+    <_AspNetCoreAllSharedFxIsEnabled>true</_AspNetCoreAllSharedFxIsEnabled>
   </PropertyGroup>
-</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</Project>
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.targets b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.targets
index abc3cf0fbb..69c476529b 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.targets
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All.targets
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
 <Project>
+  <!--
+    This property instructs the .NET Core SDK to treat this package as the shared framework platform.
+    This affects how the SDK will trim references and publish output, determines how the runtimeconfig
+    files are generated, and may affect how optimizations are preformed by other tools.
+
+    NB: this is _AspNetCore*All*SharedFxIsEnabled, not _AspNetCore*App*SharedFxIsEnabled
+  -->
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(_AspNetCoreAllSharedFxIsEnabled)' == 'true' ">
+    <MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>Microsoft.AspNetCore.All</MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
   <Target Name="EnsureTFMCompatibility" BeforeTargets="_CheckForInvalidConfigurationAndPlatform">
     <Error
       Text="This version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.All is only compatible with the netcoreapp2.1 target framework. Please target netcoreapp2.1 or choose a version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.All compatible with $(TargetFramework)."
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.props b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.props
index 3f8e30b23b..b45f971fa7 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.props
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.props
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 <Project>
+  <!--
+    The _AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled property is meant for internal use only. When set to 'false',
+    the default value of MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary will be used. It was added to support
+    a better SDK exprience on platforms where the ASP.NET Core shared framework is not avaiable.
+    In these cases, ASP.NET Core can still be as if it were just a set of NuGet packages.
+
+    NB: this is _AspNetCore*App*SharedFxIsEnabled, not _AspNetCore*All*SharedFxIsEnabled
+  -->
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>Microsoft.AspNetCore.App</MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>
+    <_AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled Condition=" '$(_AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled)' == '' ">true</_AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <!--
@@ -9,5 +17,5 @@
   <ItemGroup>
     <ProjectCapability Include="AspNetInProcessHosting" />
   </ItemGroup>
-  
-</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
+
+</Project>
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.targets b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.targets
index 22fd71eb25..35bce0f129 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.targets
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App/build/netcoreapp2.1/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.targets
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
 <Project>
+  <!--
+    This property instructs the .NET Core SDK to treat this package as the shared framework platform.
+    This affects how the SDK will trim references and publish output, determines how the runtimeconfig
+    files are generated, and may affect how optimizations are preformed by other tools.
+
+    NB: this is _AspNetCore*App*SharedFxIsEnabled, not _AspNetCore*All*SharedFxIsEnabled
+  -->
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(_AspNetCoreAppSharedFxIsEnabled)' == 'true' ">
+    <MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>Microsoft.AspNetCore.App</MicrosoftNETPlatformLibrary>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
   <Target Name="EnsureTFMCompatibility" BeforeTargets="_CheckForInvalidConfigurationAndPlatform">
     <Error
       Text="This version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App is only compatible with the netcoreapp2.1 target framework. Please target netcoreapp2.1 or choose a version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App compatible with $(TargetFramework)."