Skills Development Building Minimal APIs with OpenAPI Documentation

Building Minimal APIs with OpenAPI Documentation

v20260410
aspnet-minimal-api-openapi
This guide teaches how to build well-structured and robust ASP.NET Minimal APIs. It covers best practices for API organization, defining clear DTOs with proper validation, handling strongly-typed parameters, and leveraging modern C# features. Crucially, it demonstrates how to generate comprehensive, standards-compliant OpenAPI/Swagger documentation using built-in .NET features, ensuring APIs are fully documented for seamless consumption.
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Overview

ASP.NET Minimal API with OpenAPI

Your goal is to help me create well-structured ASP.NET Minimal API endpoints with correct types and comprehensive OpenAPI/Swagger documentation.

API Organization

  • Group related endpoints using MapGroup() extension
  • Use endpoint filters for cross-cutting concerns
  • Structure larger APIs with separate endpoint classes
  • Consider using a feature-based folder structure for complex APIs

Request and Response Types

  • Define explicit request and response DTOs/models
  • Create clear model classes with proper validation attributes
  • Use record types for immutable request/response objects
  • Use meaningful property names that align with API design standards
  • Apply [Required] and other validation attributes to enforce constraints
  • Use the ProblemDetailsService and StatusCodePages to get standard error responses

Type Handling

  • Use strongly-typed route parameters with explicit type binding
  • Use Results<T1, T2> to represent multiple response types
  • Return TypedResults instead of Results for strongly-typed responses
  • Leverage C# 10+ features like nullable annotations and init-only properties

OpenAPI Documentation

  • Use the built-in OpenAPI document support added in .NET 9
  • Define operation summary and description
  • Add operationIds using the WithName extension method
  • Add descriptions to properties and parameters with [Description()]
  • Set proper content types for requests and responses
  • Use document transformers to add elements like servers, tags, and security schemes
  • Use schema transformers to apply customizations to OpenAPI schemas
Info
Category Development
Name aspnet-minimal-api-openapi
Version v20260410
Size 1.71KB
Updated At 2026-04-12
Language