.NET API Boilerplate Template

A ready-to-use .NET 8 Web API solution template for quickly starting new projects with best practices and a clean architecture.

✨ Features

• Clean architecture and folder structure

• Pre-configured for RESTful APIs

• Easily customizable solution and project names (__SolutionName__)

• Supports dependency injection, logging, and configuration out of the box

• Integrated Entity Framework Core 8 (Code-First) setup

• Auditable entities with CreatedBy, CreatedOn, UpdatedBy, and UpdatedOn

• Ready for JWT Authentication integration

• Ready for Docker and CI/CD deployment

🚀 Getting Started

1. Install the Template

Clone or download this repository, then run the following command in the root directory:

dotnet new --install {dotenet-api-boilerplate} .

This will install the template locally on your machine.

2. Create a New API Solution

To create a new solution using this template:

dotnet new dotnetapiboilerplate -n YourSolutionName

Replace YourSolutionName with your desired project name.All placeholders (__SolutionName__) will be automatically replaced.

3. Run Your New API Locally

Navigate to your new solution directory and run:

dotnet build dotnet run --project src/YourSolutionName.Api

🗄️ Database Setup (EF Core Code-First)

This template includes a ready-to-use EF Core setup with:

• AppDbContext (infrastructure layer)

• Repository & Unit of Work pattern

• Auditable and soft-delete support

• Optional data seeding

Follow these steps to generate and apply migrations:

1️⃣ Configure Connection String

Edit the appsettings.json file in your API project (YourSolutionName.Api) and set your connection string:

{ "ConnectionStrings": { "DefaultConnection": "Server=localhost;Database=YourSolutionNameDb;Trusted_Connection=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;" } }

2️⃣ Add EF Tools (if not installed)

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef

3️⃣ Create Initial Migration

From the solution root, run:

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate --project YourSolutionName.Infrastructure --startup-project YourSolutionName.Api

4️⃣ Apply Migration to Database

dotnet ef database update --project YourSolutionName.Infrastructure --startup-project YourSolutionName.Api

5️⃣ Verify Tables

After running the update, open your SQL Server and verify:

• Your database (e.g., YourSolutionNameDb) is created

• Tables such as Flights and __EFMigrationsHistory exist

6️⃣ Add New Migrations (after Model Changes)

Whenever you modify domain entities, simply run:

dotnet ef migrations add AddNewEntity --project YourSolutionName.Infrastructure --startup-project YourSolutionName.Api dotnet ef database update --project YourSolutionName.Infrastructure --startup-project YourSolutionName.Api

⚙️ Optional: Run Migrations Automatically on Startup

You can apply migrations automatically when the API starts by adding the following snippet in your Program.cs:

using (var scope = app.Services.CreateScope()) { var db = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService(); db.Database.Migrate(); }

This ensures the database is up-to-date each time you deploy.

🐳 Docker Support

Build and Run with Docker

docker build -t your-solution-name-api . docker run -d -p 8080:80 --name your-solution-name-api your-solution-name-api

Your API will be available at http://localhost:8080.

Customize Docker

• Modify the Dockerfile to change build or runtime options.

• Use environment variables for configuration (e.g., connection strings, JWT settings).

🔧 Customization

• Update namespaces, references, and configuration for your project.

• Add custom repositories, services, or modules as needed.

• Extend AppDbContext for new entities and relationships.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open issues or submit pull requests for improvements or bug fixes.

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.