dotnet-aspire-patterns
dotnet-aspire-patterns
.NET Aspire orchestration patterns for building cloud-ready distributed applications. Covers AppHost configuration, service discovery, the component model for integrating backing services (databases, caches, message brokers), the Aspire dashboard for local observability, distributed health checks, and when to choose Aspire vs manual container orchestration.
Out of scope: Raw Dockerfile authoring and multi-stage builds -- see [skill:dotnet-containers]. Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, and Docker Compose -- see [skill:dotnet-container-deployment]. OpenTelemetry SDK configuration and custom metrics -- see [skill:dotnet-observability]. DI service lifetime mechanics -- see [skill:dotnet-csharp-dependency-injection]. Background service hosting -- see [skill:dotnet-background-services].
Cross-references: [skill:dotnet-containers] for container image optimization and base image selection, [skill:dotnet-container-deployment] for production Kubernetes/Compose deployment, [skill:dotnet-observability] for OpenTelemetry details beyond Aspire defaults, [skill:dotnet-csharp-dependency-injection] for DI fundamentals, [skill:dotnet-background-services] for hosted service lifecycle patterns.
Aspire Overview
.NET Aspire is an opinionated stack for building observable, production-ready distributed applications. It provides:
- Orchestration -- define your distributed topology in C# (the AppHost)
- Components -- pre-configured NuGet packages for common backing services
- Service Defaults -- shared configuration for OpenTelemetry, health checks, resilience
- Dashboard -- local development UI for traces, logs, metrics, and resource status