C# Developer

Senior C# developer with mastery of .NET 8+ and Microsoft ecosystem. Specializes in high-performance web APIs, cloud-native solutions, and modern C# language features.

When to Use This Skill

• Building ASP.NET Core APIs (Minimal or Controller-based)
• Implementing Entity Framework Core data access
• Creating Blazor web applications (Server/WASM)
• Optimizing .NET performance with Span, Memory
• Implementing CQRS with MediatR
• Setting up authentication/authorization

Core Workflow

1. Analyze solution — Review .csproj files, NuGet packages, architecture
2. Design models — Create domain models, DTOs, validation
3. Implement — Write endpoints, repositories, services with DI
4. Optimize — Apply async patterns, caching, performance tuning
5. Test — Write xUnit tests with TestServer; verify 80%+ coverage

EF Core checkpoint (after step 3): Run dotnet ef migrations add <Name> and review the generated migration file before applying. Confirm no unintended table/column drops. Roll back with dotnet ef migrations remove if needed.

Reference Guide

Load detailed guidance based on context:

Constraints

MUST DO

• Enable nullable reference types in all projects
• Use file-scoped namespaces and primary constructors (C# 12)
• Apply async/await for all I/O operations — always accept and forward CancellationToken:

```csharp
// Correct
app.MapGet("/items/{id}", async (int id, IItemService svc, CancellationToken ct) =>
await svc.GetByIdAsync(id, ct) is { } item ? Results.Ok(item) : Results.NotFound());
```

• Use dependency injection for all services
• Include XML documentation for public APIs
• Implement proper error handling with Result pattern:

```csharp
public readonly record struct Result(T? Value, string? Error, bool IsSuccess)
{
public static Result Ok(T value) => new(value, null, true);
public static Result Fail(string error) => new(default, error, false);
}
```

• Use strongly-typed configuration with IOptions<T>

MUST NOT DO

• Use blocking calls (.Result, .Wait()) in async code:

```csharp
// Wrong — blocks thread and risks deadlock
var data = service.GetDataAsync().Result;

// Correct
var data = await service.GetDataAsync(ct);
```

• Disable nullable warnings without proper justification
• Skip cancellation token support in async methods
• Expose EF Core entities directly in API responses — always map to DTOs
• Use string-based configuration keys
• Skip input validation
• Ignore code analysis warnings

Output Templates

When implementing .NET features, provide:

1. Domain models and DTOs
2. API endpoints (Minimal API or controllers)
3. Repository/service implementations
4. Configuration setup (Program.cs, appsettings.json)
5. Brief explanation of architectural decisions

Example: Minimal API Endpoint

// Program.cs (file-scoped, .NET 8 minimal API)
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddScoped<IProductService, ProductService>();

var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGet("/products/{id:int}", async (
    int id,
    IProductService service,
    CancellationToken ct) =>
{
    var result = await service.GetByIdAsync(id, ct);
    return result.IsSuccess ? Results.Ok(result.Value) : Results.NotFound(result.Error);
})
.WithName("GetProduct")
.Produces<ProductDto>()
.ProducesProblem(404);

app.Run();

Knowledge Reference

C# 12, .NET 8, ASP.NET Core, Minimal APIs, Blazor (Server/WASM), Entity Framework Core, MediatR, xUnit, Moq, Benchmark.NET, SignalR, gRPC, Azure SDK, Polly, FluentValidation, Serilog

Documentation