The .Net Core ecosystem highlights modern software development’s flexibility and strength. It includes various libraries, each with unique tools, empowering developers to create robust and secure applications. From the intricate nuances of managing authentication and Security using IdentityServer and ASP.NET Core Identity to the resilience-enhancing capabilities of Polly, these libraries serve as invaluable assets for developers, enriching the development experience.

But this guide aims to do more than just introduce you to these .Net Core Libraries. Our primary goal is to provide you with the knowledge, insights, and practical skills necessary for effectively utilizing these ASP NET Core Libraries. With this expertise at your disposal, you will be well-equipped to design applications meet & exceed expectations in terms of reliability, performance, and Security.

Top .NET Core Libraries

ASP.NET Core has a thriving ecosystem of open-source libraries that augment the framework’s capabilities and accelerate development. This section explores some of the most useful .NET Core Libraries across categories like web frameworks, ORM, Security, APIs, testing, logging, and background jobs, adhering to .NET Core best practices to ensure efficient and robust development.

Let’s begin with the Database ORM!

.NET Core Libraries For Data Access & ORM

Entity Framework Core offers modern ORM capabilities, Dapper provides a lightweight micro-ORM approach, NHibernate is a mature feature-rich ORM, while ADO.NET with native database providers represents direct data access with optimal control and performance for scenarios where ORM may not be suitable.

Entity Framework Core – Object-Relational Mapper For .NET

GitHub Star: 12.8K | Fork: 3K | License: MIT License

Entity Framework Core is a popular object-relational mapper that allows .NET developers to work with a databases using .NET objects and LINQ. It eliminates the need for most of the data access code and database plumbing that developers usually need to write. It offers a level of abstraction for relational databases, facilitating the utilization of LINQ and Lambda expressions for data querying, storage, and retrieval. Additionally, it manages the translation between entities and database tables, oversees change tracking, enables both eager and lazy loading of related data, handles concurrency conflicts and transactions, supports caching, provides migration capabilities for altering database schemas, and extends compatibility to databases like SQL Server, SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and others.

Key Features of Entity Framework Core includes:

Dapper – Micro ORM for Mapping SQL Results to .NET Objects

GitHub Star: 16.5K | Fork: 3.6K | License: Apache 2.0

Dapper is a simple micro ORM that provides a thin wrapper over ADO.NET enabling you to map SQL query results to .NET objects. It eliminates the need to write a lot of repetitive SQL code and plumbing for results mapping. Dapper allows you to define the shape of result sets using anonymous types or concrete classes. It handles materializing result sets into objects, handling parameters, mappings to list/dict/dynamic etc. Dapper supports advanced mappings, stored procedures, multi-mapping, transactions, type handlers and more. It provides high performance and flexibility making it suitable for simple usage in microservices where you want precise control without the overhead of full ORM.

Key Features of Dapper

NHibernate – Mature ORM with SQL and LINQ Support

GitHub Star: 2.1K | Fork: 920 | License: LGPL-2.1 license

NHibernate is a mature and feature-rich object-relational mapper for .NET with a long history of production deployments. It provides an automated mechanism to map between .NET domain model objects and a traditional relational database. NHibernate supports mapping via XML or attributes, performs transparent persistence of changes via configured session management, provides querying capabilities via SQL, LINQ, criteria API, and supports advanced ORM features like caching, eager/lazy loading, cascading, inheritance mapping, concurrency control, compositional querying and more. NHibernate works with SQL Server, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL databases.

Key Features of NHibernate

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ASP NET Core Libraries For Web Frameworks

For building web applications and APIs in .NET, widely used options include ASP.NET Core MVC for robust MVC-pattern web apps, ASP.NET Web API for HTTP services, Blazer for interactive client-side web UIs using C#, Razor Pages for page-focused coding model, XAF for business apps, and bridges to NodeJS/Python.

ASP.NET Core MVC – Model View Controller Framework

GitHub Star: 32.7K | Fork: 9.4K | License: MIT license

ASP.NET Core MVC is a popular open-source web framework for building modern web APIs and web applications using the Model-View-Controller architectural pattern. It provides capabilities for routing HTTP requests to controllers, binding user input from requests to action method parameters, validating input using data annotations, injecting dependencies into controllers, returning responses using view templates built with Razor syntax, and integrated well with client-side JavaScript frameworks like Angular, React and Vue via JavaScript services. ASP.NET Core MVC has a modular architecture that is highly testable and extensible to plug in additional capabilities like logging, caching, authentication etc.

Key Features of ASP.NET Core MVC

ASP.NET Core Razor Pages – Page Focused Framework Model

GitHub Star: 416 | Fork: 172 | License: MIT license

ASP.NET Core Razor Pages is a page-focused approach for coding web apps without the need for controllers and actions. It uses Razor for embedding server-side code in CSHTML pages. Key capabilities include organization of pages using the Pages folder structure, handling page requests through handler methods, model binding, filters, areas, dependency injection, layouts with shared UI elements, supporting common patterns like CRUD operations, built-in tag helpers, and easy integration with client-side frameworks. Overall, Razor Pages provides a productive alternative to the MVC pattern.

Key Features of Razor Pages

Blazor – UI Framework Using C# and HTML

GitHub Star: 9.3K | Fork: 668 | License: Apache-2.0 license

Blazor is a web UI framework from Microsoft that enables building interactive client-side web apps using C# and HTML. Blazor uses WebAssembly to run .NET code in the browser alongside JavaScript. Key features include Razor components model, event handling, routing, layouts, dependency injection, and JavaScript interoperability. Blazor supports various hosting models including client-side WebAssembly, server-side, and hybrid. By enabling full-stack .NET development, Blazor simplifies building modern web apps with .NET on both client and server.

Key Features of Blazor

.NET Core Libraries For Security

Security libraries provide tools & APIs to enhance software security. These libraries offer features such as authentication, authorization, encryption, and vulnerability detection. Common example includes OWASP libraries for web application security and libraries like Bouncy Castle for cryptographic operations, helping developers safeguard their applications and data.

IdentityServer – OpenID Connect & OAuth 2.0 Framework

GitHub Star: 9.1K | Fork: 3.9K| License: Apache-2.0 license

IdentityServer is an open-source framework for implementing modern authentication and authorization using protocols like OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 in .NET applications. It can act as an identity provider and token service, supports user registration and login, integration with ASP.NET Core Identity for user storage, access token issuance and Validation, single sign-on across applications, flexible deployment options, and extensibility mechanisms via plugins for stores, tokens, providers etc. It is commonly used to handle user management and secure access control in microservices architectures.

Key Features of IdentityServer

ASP.NET Core Identity – Membership System For User Management

GitHub Star: 229 | Fork:151| License: MIT License

ASP.NET Core Identity is a membership system that adds user login functionality and user management to ASP.NET Core applications. It provides APIs for managing user accounts, roles, credentials and profile data, account confirmation via email, password reset workflow, account lockout on invalid logins, two-factor authentication for enhanced Security, and pluggable persistence via EF Core or other data stores. It integrates seamlessly with ASP.NET Core’s authentication middleware to support cookie-based login as well as token-based authentication for SPAs.

Key Features of ASP.NET Core Identity

JWT – Jwt.NET – JSON Web Token Library

GitHub Star: 2K | Fork:454| License: MIT License

Jwt.Net library provides APIs for using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) in .NET applications. It enables generating, validating, serializing and deserializing JWT tokens as well as controlling token content and signing via public/private key pairs or symmetric secrets. Additional capabilities include time-based token expiry, custom JSON serialization, compression, token revocation, and integrating JWT authentication in ASP.NET Core. The library provides full lifecycle handling of JWTs to represent claims securely between parties for common scenarios like API access authorization.

Key Features of JWT

.NET Core Libraries For Testing

.NET has a comprehensive ecosystem of open source libraries for unit testing, integration testing, mocking, test doubles, browser automation, and other testing needs. Popular options include xUnit, NUnit, MSTest, Moq, FakeItEasy, Selenium, SpecFlow, and more. These libraries enable automated testing of .NET applications for quality and reliability.

xUnit – Testing Framework to Write Unit and Integration Tests

GitHub Star: 3.8K | Fork:757| License: Apache-2.0 license

xUnit is a widely used open-source unit testing framework for .NET It has a fluid assertive syntax and capabilities like Fact and Theory attributes to define test cases, setup/teardown methods, collection assertions, exception assertions, parallel test execution, customizable assertions, and organization of tests into classes and assemblies. xUnit integrates with all .NET runtimes including .NET Framework, .NET Core, and Mono. It is highly extensible to customize every part of the testing pipeline.

Key Features of xUnit

Moq – Mocking Library For Mocks and Stubs

GitHub Star: 5.4K | Fork:787| License: BSD 3-Clause License

Moq is a popular mocking library for .NET that allows developers to create mock objects for unit testing in order to isolate system under test from its dependencies. With Moq, you can setup mock behavior expectations, verify interactions after test run, parameterize mocks, specify callbacks for members, raise custom events, recursive mocking, configure real implementations, and more. The declarative syntax makes mocks easy to read and maintain. Moq works with interfaces, classes, and static/private members.

Key Features of Moq

FakeItEasy – Mocking Framework For Faking Dependencies

GitHub Star: 1.5K | Fork:181| License: MIT License

FakeItEasy is a .NET mocking library that makes it easy to fake dependencies for fast and reliable unit tests. Its expressive syntax models real-world behavior of dependencies. Features include strict or loose mocks, automatic fake generation, configurable proxy behavior,PROPERTY and METHOD syntax, recursive fakes, unmatchable loose stubs, fake callbacks, configurable assertions, integrations with test runners, and more. FakeItEasy creates fakes instead of mocks avoiding the need to setup every member.

Key Features of FakeItEasy

Selenium – UI Testing Automation Library

GitHub Star: 27.9K | Fork:7.8K| License: Apache-2.0 license

Selenium is a well-known open-source automated testing platform for web applications. It enables testers to simulate user behaviors including clicking buttons, filling out forms, and browsing across online sites by automating browser interactions. Selenium offers versatility for test script writing by supporting several programming languages. It is well regarded for its capacity to test web applications across several browsers, making it a potent tool for guaranteeing cross-browser compatibility. The software development industry frequently uses Selenium for web application testing since it also supports parallel test execution, takes screenshots, and connects with testing tools.

Key Features of Selenium

.NET Core Libraries For Resilience Policies

In .NET, a resilience policy is a strategy employed to enhance application reliability in the face of faults and failures. It includes mechanisms such as retrying failed operations, circuit-breaking to prevent system overload, and setting timeouts for responses. Resilience policies are crucial for building robust and fault-tolerant applications, particularly in distributed systems, where network issues or service unavailability can occur.

They help ensure consistent and reliable application behavior under adverse conditions.

Polly – Fault Handling Policies Like Retry, CircuitBreaker etc.

GitHub Star: 12.3K | Fork:1.1K| License: BSD-3-Clause license

Polly stands out as a renowned .NET library dedicated to fortifying applications with resilience and fault-tolerance mechanisms. This versatile toolkit furnishes developers with an array of policies, including retry, circuit-breaker, and timeout, streamlining the process of gracefully handling transient issues and mishaps in distributed systems. Polly offers an elegant solution for managing these scenarios, ultimately elevating the dependability of software systems. By defining these policies, developers can craft applications that autonomously manage exceptions, retries, and circuit state transitions, ensuring uninterrupted user experiences in the face of challenges.

Key Features of Polly

App.Metrics – In-Process Monitoring For Web Apps

GitHub Star: 2.2K | Fork:286| License: Apache-2.0 license

App.Metrics is an open-source instrumentation library that allows you to monitor and measure performance of your .NET applications. It tracks quantitative data like HTTP request metrics, counters, gauges, histograms etc. that provide insights into app health, throughput, dependencies, and errors. Key capabilities include automatic metering of web apps, publishing metrics via endpoints or logs, configuration of metrics, dashboard, and integrations with Grafana for analytics and monitoring.

Key Features of App.Metrics

HealthChecks – Framework For Reporting Health Of Web Apps

GitHub Star: 6.6K | Fork:729| License: BSD-3-Clause license

HealthChecks.NET is a versatile library that allows developers to monitor the health of their .NET applications and services. It offers a wide range of built-in checks for various components like databases, external services, and custom checks, ensuring that your applications are running smoothly. With its flexibility and ease of integration, HealthChecks.NET is a valuable tool for maintaining the reliability of your web services and applications.

Key Features of HealthCheck

.NET Core Libraries For Mapping

.NET Core offers a plethora of libraries for mapping, simplifying the transformation of data between different structures. These ASP NET Core libraries provide essential tools and techniques for developers to efficiently convert, project, and manipulate data, enabling seamless integration and interaction within diverse application scenarios.

AutoMapper – Object-Object Mapping Library

GitHub Star: 9.5K | Fork:1.7K| License: MIT License

AutoMapper is a popular object-to-object mapping library for .NET that maps between model types based on convention. It eliminates repetitive projection code when converting between view models, DTOs, and domain models. Key features include flattening, mapping inheritance, collections, custom type converters, expression mapping, and configuration validation. AutoMapper simplifies projections and transfer of data between layer boundaries in enterprise applications.

Key Features of AutoMapper

Mapster – Type-Safe Mapping Tool

GitHub Star: 3.9K | Fork: 297| License: MIT license

Mapster is a fast object mapper for .NET that performs type-safe mapping between model types at compile time using generics and lambdas expression. This avoids runtime reflection and mapping configuration. Features include nested mappings, pre/post mapping actions, ignoring unmapped properties, adapters for custom logic, and mapping to different types. Mapster focuses on speed, type safety, and usability for model translations in business applications.

Key Features of Mapster

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.NET Core Libraries For Validation

For validating data models in .NET, widely used options are Fluent Validation for declarative validation rules, DataAnnotationsValidator for attributes-based Validation, Validator for enterprise validation from patterns and rules, and Chain of Responsibility validation for piping validators.

These .NET Core Libraries simplify input validation in web and business apps.

Fluent Validation – Declarative Validation Rules

GitHub Star: 8.4K | Fork: 1.2K| License: Apache-2.0 license

Fluent Validation provides a fluent interface for building strongly-typed validation rules for .NET models. It allows validating objects using reusable validators with conditional logic, parameterized rules, custom error messages, and support for child collections and complex types. Fluent Validation simplifies validation code by avoiding attributes scattered across model classes. Integrations are available for ASP.NET Core, Xamarin, and other frameworks.

Key Features of Fluent Validation

DataAnnotationsValidator – MVC Integration For DataAnnotation Rules

DataAnnotationsValidator enables client-side and server-side Validation using DataAnnotation attributes in ASP.NET Core MVC. It provides MVC integration for validation attributes like Required, StringLength, Regex, and custom validators. Features include localized error messages, conditional Validation, validating entire object graph, validating child properties, and easy AJAX integration. Overall, it provides a simple way to get Validation in MVC using declarative attributes.

Features of Data Annotation Validator

These were some of the best NET Core Libraries divided in to the categories for better understanding. These .NET Core Libraries empower developers with essential tools & solutions, enhancing productivity and enabling the creation of robust, efficient, and feature rich applications in the ever-evolving software landscape

Which Libraries & Tools are Commonly Favoured by Developers in the .NET Core Ecosystem?

Among the preferred tools in the .NET Core development ecosystem, developers commonly rely on ASP.NET Core Libraries & tools for robust web application development, and Entity Framework Core for efficient data access using object-relational mapping.

Additionally, there are ASP NET Core Libraries like AutoMapper, xUnit, FluentValidation, and Polly, which assist in tasks such as data mapping, testing, Validation, and handling resilience in applications. For logging, structured logs, background job processing, and task management, Serilog, NLog, and Hangfire are commonly used. Lastly, Dapper is a valuable resource for optimizing data access with its focus on flexibility and performance.

These .NET Core Libraries collectively expedite development processes for web applications, services, data handling, testing, logging, and job management, and their widespread adoption is attributed to their reliability, capabilities, and active maintenance by the .NET development community.

Wrapping Up!

In Summary, .NET Core provides a wide range of helpful Popular NET Core Libraries for developers. These .NET Core Libraries cover various aspects of software development, like building websites, working with data, testing, and more. They’re popular because they work well and have strong support from the developer community. Staying updated with these .NET Core Library is crucial for successful software development in the world of .NET Core development.