ASP.NET Core

If you’ve worked with modern ASP.NET Core, you’ve almost certainly encountered MediatR. It’s a fantastic library, and for good reason; it has become the de-facto standard for implementing the CQRS pattern in .NET, helping you build clean, decoupled, and maintainable applications. But have you ever paused to look behind the curtain? In my experience building several lean microservices, I’ve found that while MediatR is a go-to, there are times when a simpler, handcrafted approach is more effective. This post is born from that experience. ...

A practical guide to structuring ASP.NET Core APIs for reliable integration and unit testing using clean architecture principles and minimal, production-ready C# code.

Cut payload size by 60–80% in ASP.NET Core with built-in Brotli and Gzip compression. Step-by-step code, production tweaks, and real benchmarks.

Your app performs well with MemoryCache for 1K users. But when traffic scales to 10K users across three load-balanced servers, cache misses explode and response times spike to 800ms. I’ve seen production APIs crash under load because the team relied solely on MemoryCache. Here’s how we fixed it with hybrid caching strategies that combine the speed of local memory with the consistency of distributed cache. TL;DR MemoryCache works for single servers but fails in distributed environments Hybrid caching uses MemoryCache (L1) + Redis (L2) for best performance Multi-tenant apps need tenant-scoped cache keys to prevent data leakage System.Text.Json provides the best balance of performance and debuggability Monitor cache hit ratios per tenant and cache level for optimal tuning MemoryCache works great for single-server applications, but it hits hard limits in distributed environments. This guide covers hybrid caching strategies that keep your multi-tenant ASP.NET Core apps fast and scalable, with real benchmarks and production-ready code. ...

Learn how to avoid common ASP.NET Core dependency injection lifetime mistakes. This guide covers DbContext misuse, scope leaks in singletons, transient performance traps, background service issues, and middleware lifetime bugs with real production fixes.

Learn why UseRouting() must always come before MapGet() in ASP.NET Core and how the middleware order impacts your request pipeline.

Bad middleware doesn’t just break requests, it breaks entire tenants. Learn the anti-patterns to avoid in your ASP.NET Core SaaS architecture and how to fix them.

Discover how using custom middleware for authentication in ASP.NET Core SaaS APIs leads to cleaner, faster, and more maintainable code compared to traditional authorization filters.

In multi-tenant SaaS applications, custom middleware gives you the earliest hook in the request pipeline, even before dependency injection kicks in. Middleware runs at the very beginning of your pipeline, providing access to raw request data before any transformations occur.

TL;DR Repeating logic across controllers (like logging or header checks)? Move it to middleware. Modifying requests/responses in controllers? Middleware handles that cleanly and early. Your services use HttpContext? Extract that logic into middleware for cleaner, testable code. If your services are bloated or you’re duplicating logic across controllers, middleware might be the extension point you actually need. Many developers reach for filters or services first, when middleware would’ve been faster, simpler, and more maintainable. ...