Akka.Hosting Actor Patterns

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Building entity actors that represent domain objects (users, orders, invoices, etc.)
• Need actors that work in both unit tests (no clustering) and production (cluster sharding)
• Setting up scheduled tasks with akka-reminders
• Registering actors with Akka.Hosting extension methods
• Creating reusable actor configuration patterns

Core Principles

1. Execution Mode Abstraction - Same actor code runs locally (tests) or clustered (production)
2. GenericChildPerEntityParent for Local - Mimics sharding semantics without cluster overhead
3. Message Extractors for Routing - Reuse Akka.Cluster.Sharding's IMessageExtractor interface
4. Akka.Hosting Extension Methods - Fluent configuration that composes well
5. ITimeProvider for Testability - Use ActorSystem.Scheduler instead of DateTime.Now