C# Error CS0054 – Inconsistent accessibility: indexer return type ‘type’ is less accessible than indexer ‘indexer’

C# Compiler Error

CS0054 – Inconsistent accessibility: indexer return type ‘type’ is less accessible than indexer ‘indexer’

Reason for the Error

You would receive this error when you have a indexer defined in a class where the type of the indexer is not publicly accessible.

For example, try compiling the below code snippet.

class Student
{
}

public class DeveloperPublish
{
    public Student this[int i]   // CS0054  
    {
        get
        {
            return new Student();
        }
    }

    public static void Main() { 
    
    }
}

This will result with the compiler error because the Student class is defined as private and is being used as a indexer in the DeveloperPublish class.

Error CS0054 Inconsistent accessibility: indexer return type ‘Student’ is less accessible than indexer ‘DeveloperPublish.this[int]’

Solution

Ensure that the type that you are using for the indexer is public. You can set the access-modifier of the Student class to public to fix this error.