.NET Architecture

Design patterns and architectural guidance for building scalable, maintainable .NET applications. This meta-skill provides navigation to ~15 architecture-focused skills covering vertical slices, domain modeling, messaging, resilience, and system design.

When to Use This Skill

Load this skill when:

• Designing application architecture and structure
• Implementing domain-driven design patterns
• Setting up messaging and event-driven systems
• Adding resilience patterns (retry, circuit breaker)
• Choosing between architectural approaches

Quick Navigation

Core Patterns

Need	Load Skill	Level
Vertical slices, minimal APIs	dotnet-architecture-patterns	Intermediate
Domain modeling, DDD	dotnet-domain-modeling	Advanced
SOLID principles	dotnet-solid-principles	Intermediate

Messaging & Events

Need	Load Skill	Level
Pub/sub, competing consumers	dotnet-messaging-patterns	Advanced
Producer/consumer queues	dotnet-channels	Advanced
Real-time communication	dotnet-realtime-communication	Advanced

Resilience & Reliability

Need	Load Skill	Level
Retry, circuit breaker	dotnet-resilience	Intermediate
Background services	dotnet-background-services	Intermediate
Service communication choice	dotnet-service-communication	Intermediate

Infrastructure

Need	Load Skill	Level
Caching strategies	dotnet-architecture-patterns	Intermediate
Observability	dotnet-observability	Intermediate
Structured logging	dotnet-structured-logging	Intermediate

API Design

Need	Load Skill	Level
API versioning	dotnet-api-versioning	Intermediate
Middleware patterns	dotnet-middleware-patterns	Intermediate
Minimal APIs	dotnet-minimal-apis	Intermediate

Modern Platforms

Need	Load Skill	Level
Aspire patterns	dotnet-aspire-patterns	Advanced
gRPC services	dotnet-grpc	Intermediate
Real-time features	dotnet-realtime-communication	Advanced

Architectural Decision Trees

Which Architecture Pattern?

Simple CRUD API → Minimal APIs (dotnet-minimal-apis)
        ↓
Complex Business Logic → Vertical Slices (dotnet-architecture-patterns)
        ↓
Distributed System → Aspire (dotnet-aspire-patterns)
        ↓
Event-Driven → Messaging Patterns (dotnet-messaging-patterns)

Which Resilience Pattern?

Scenario	Pattern	Skill
Transient failures	Retry	dotnet-resilience
Cascading failures	Circuit Breaker	dotnet-resilience
Slow dependencies	Timeout	dotnet-resilience
Bulkhead isolation	Bulkhead	dotnet-resilience

Which Communication Style?

Scenario	Pattern	Skill
Synchronous request/response	REST/gRPC	dotnet-service-communication
Asynchronous events	Pub/Sub	dotnet-messaging-patterns
Real-time updates	SignalR/SSE	dotnet-realtime-communication
Background jobs	Channels	dotnet-channels

Complete Skill List

Core Architecture (5 skills)

• dotnet-architecture-patterns - Vertical slices, pipelines, caching
• dotnet-domain-modeling - DDD, aggregates, value objects
• dotnet-solid-principles - SOLID/DRY principles
• dotnet-middleware-patterns - ASP.NET Core middleware
• dotnet-minimal-apis - Minimal API patterns

Messaging & Events (4 skills)

• dotnet-messaging-patterns - Pub/sub, competing consumers
• dotnet-channels - Channel<T>, backpressure
• dotnet-realtime-communication - SignalR, SSE, gRPC streaming
• dotnet-service-communication - Protocol decisions

Resilience (2 skills)

• dotnet-resilience - Polly v8, patterns
• dotnet-background-services - IHostedService

Observability (3 skills)

• dotnet-observability - OpenTelemetry
• dotnet-structured-logging - Log pipelines
• dotnet-api-versioning - API versioning

Modern Platforms (3 skills)

• dotnet-aspire-patterns - Distributed apps
• dotnet-grpc - gRPC services
• dotnet-resilience - Fault tolerance

Cross-References

• Web Development → dotnet-web meta-skill
• Data Access → dotnet-data meta-skill
• Performance → dotnet-performance meta-skill
• Security → dotnet-security meta-skill
• Fundamentals → dotnet-fundamentals meta-skill

Architectural Styles Covered

Vertical Slice Architecture

• Feature-based organization
• Self-contained slices
• Reduced cross-feature coupling

Domain-Driven Design

• Aggregate boundaries
• Value objects
• Domain events
• Repository patterns

Event-Driven Architecture

• Pub/sub messaging
• Competing consumers
• Dead letter queues
• Saga patterns

Resilience Patterns

• Retry with exponential backoff
• Circuit breaker
• Timeout and bulkhead
• Idempotency keys

Version Assumptions

• .NET 8.0+ for most patterns
• Aspire requires .NET 8.0+
• gRPC requires .NET 6.0+
• HybridCache requires .NET 8.0+

See Also

• INDEX.md - Complete skill index
• TAXONOMY.md - Taxonomy schema