dotnet-background-services

Patterns for long-running background work in .NET applications. Covers BackgroundService, IHostedService, hosted service lifecycle, and graceful shutdown handling.

Scope

• BackgroundService and IHostedService patterns
• Hosted service lifecycle and startup ordering
• Graceful shutdown and cancellation handling
• Periodic work, polling, and queue-draining loops

Out of scope

• DI registration mechanics and service lifetimes -- see [skill:dotnet-csharp-dependency-injection]
• Async/await patterns and cancellation token propagation -- see [skill:dotnet-csharp-async-patterns]
• Project scaffolding -- see [skill:dotnet-scaffold-project]
• Testing strategies for background services -- see [skill:dotnet-testing-strategy] and [skill:dotnet-integration-testing]
• Channel fundamentals and drain patterns -- see [skill:dotnet-channels]