Search notes:

Microsoft Build Engine

Microsoft Build Engine is also referred to as MSBuild.
Visual Studio uses this engine to build applications, but MSBuild can be used without Visual Studio.
MSBuild was originally bundled with .NET Framework. Starting with Visual Studio 2015, it is bundled with Visual Studio.
MSBuild replaces nmake.exe
The main executable is MSBuild.exe and can be executed from the command line (cmd.exe, PowerShell). 
C:\path\to\project> MSBuild aProject.proj -property:Configuration=Debug

MSBuild Project files

msbuild.exe uses MSBuild Project files to determine build instructions.
These project files are XML files and similar in nature to Apache Ant or Nant.

Versions

Version ~.NET Framework~ Visual Studio Typical location
2.0 2.0 2005 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\2.0.50727
3.5 3.5 2008 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\3.5
4.8.3761.0 4.5.2 2010/12 C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\4.0.30319
12.0 4.5.2 2013 C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin
14.0 4.6 2015 C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin
15.0 4.7 2017 C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\{Community,Enterprise,BuildTool}\MSBuild\15.0\Bin
16.0 4.7.2 2019 C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\{Community,Enterprise,BuildTool}\MSBuild\15.0\Bin (?)

See also

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSBuild
Azure Pipelines can help to implement a build, test and deployment pipeline for any app.
The Microsoft.Build namespace.
The implementation of MSBuild tasks is found in the Microsoft.Build.Tasks namespace.

Index