.NET Aspire 13.x Skill

.NET Aspire 13.x provides orchestration for this distributed ledger platform. The AppHost (src/Apps/Sorcha.AppHost/AppHost.cs) orchestrates 7 microservices with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis. Services use AddServiceDefaults() for consistent OpenTelemetry, health checks, and service discovery. JWT signing keys are generated once and shared across all services via environment variables.

Version Info

Component	Version	Notes
Aspire.AppHost.Sdk	13.0.0	SDK in .csproj — legacy dual-SDK format
Aspire.Hosting.*	13.1.0	AppHost hosting packages
Aspire.StackExchange.Redis	13.1.0	Service-level Redis integration
Aspire.Hosting.Testing	13.1.0	Integration/E2E test infrastructure
Aspire Dashboard	9.0.0	Docker image (separate versioning)

Sorcha Package Locations:

• AppHost: src/Apps/Sorcha.AppHost/Sorcha.AppHost.csproj
• ServiceDefaults: src/Common/Sorcha.ServiceDefaults/Extensions.cs
• Services: Blueprint, Register, Wallet, Validator (each has Aspire.StackExchange.Redis)
• Tests: Gateway Integration, Wallet Integration, UI E2E (each has Aspire.Hosting.Testing)

Quick Start

Adding a Service to AppHost

// In AppHost.cs - Add project with resource references
var myService = builder.AddProject<Projects.Sorcha_MyService>("my-service")
    .WithReference(redis)                                    // Service discovery
    .WithReference(walletDb)                                // Database connection
    .WithEnvironment("JwtSettings__SigningKey", jwtSigningKey); // Shared config

Named References (v13+)

// Control the environment variable prefix for a resource reference
var myService = builder.AddProject<Projects.Sorcha_MyService>("my-service")
    .WithReference(postgres.AddDatabase("mydb"), "primary-db");  // ConnectionStrings__primary-db

Consuming Aspire in a Service

// In Program.cs - Every service starts with this
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddServiceDefaults();                    // OpenTelemetry, health checks, discovery
builder.AddRedisOutputCache("redis");            // Reference by resource name
builder.AddRedisDistributedCache("redis");

var app = builder.Build();
app.MapDefaultEndpoints();                       // /health and /alive

Key Concepts

Concept	Usage	Example
Resource Name	Identifier for service discovery	"redis", "tenant-service"
WithReference	Injects connection string/URL	.WithReference(postgres)
Named Reference	Custom env var prefix (v13+)	.WithReference(db, "mydb")
WithEnvironment	Pass config to service	.WithEnvironment("Key", value)
WithExternalHttpEndpoints	Expose outside Aspire network	.WithExternalHttpEndpoints()
AddServiceDefaults	Shared Aspire configuration	builder.AddServiceDefaults()
Connection Properties	Access individual fields (v13+)	resource.GetConnectionProperty("HostName")
WithHttpsCertificate	TLS termination (v13.1+)	.WithHttpsCertificate(cert)
ContainerRegistryResource	Registry config (v13.1+ exp.)	builder.AddContainerRegistry(...)

What's New in Aspire 13.x

v13.0 Highlights

• New SDK format: Single <Project Sdk="Aspire.AppHost.Sdk/13.0.0"> replaces dual-SDK
• Polyglot connections: Resources expose HostName, Port, JdbcConnectionString
• Named references: WithReference(resource, "customName") for env var prefixes
• MCP dashboard: Aspire dashboard exposes MCP endpoints for AI assistants
• Container file artifacts: PublishWithContainerFiles() for frontend-in-backend
• Pipeline system: aspire do for coordinated build/publish/deploy
• aspire init: Interactive solution initialization and discovery
• VS Code extension: Native project creation, debugging, deployment

v13.1 Highlights

• aspire mcp init: Configure MCP for AI coding agents
• TLS termination: WithHttpsCertificate() for YARP, Redis, Keycloak, Vite
• Container registry: Experimental ContainerRegistryResource
• Dashboard Parameters tab: Dedicated parameter inspection
• GenAI visualizer: Tool definitions, evaluations, preview media
• Azure Managed Redis: Replaces AddAzureRedisEnterprise()
• DevTunnels stabilized: No longer preview

Breaking Changes (v9 -> v13)

Old API	New API	Notes
AddNpmApp()	AddJavaScriptApp()	Removed in v13
AddNodeApp()	Refactored	Different parameter ordering
Aspire.Hosting.NodeJs	Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript	Package renamed
.Model property	.ModelName	OpenAI/GitHub models
.Database property	.DatabaseName	Milvus/MongoDB/MySQL/Oracle
Dual-SDK .csproj	Single SDK .csproj	Optional migration

Sorcha AppHost Architecture

AppHost.cs orchestrates:
  postgres ──┬── tenant-db ───── tenant-service
             └── wallet-db ───── wallet-service
  mongodb ───── register-db ──── register-service
  redis ────── (shared by all services)

  tenant-service ──── (JWT issuer, auth provider)
  blueprint-service ─── (workflow engine)
  validator-service ──── wallet-service, register-service, peer-service, blueprint-service
  api-gateway ──── (routes to all services, external HTTP)
  ui-web ──── api-gateway (Blazor WASM frontend)

Common Patterns

Database Resources

// PostgreSQL with multiple databases
var postgres = builder.AddPostgres("postgres").WithPgAdmin();
var tenantDb = postgres.AddDatabase("tenant-db", "sorcha_tenant");
var walletDb = postgres.AddDatabase("wallet-db", "sorcha_wallet");

// MongoDB for document storage
var mongodb = builder.AddMongoDB("mongodb").WithMongoExpress();
var registerDb = mongodb.AddDatabase("register-db", "sorcha_register");

// Redis for caching
var redis = builder.AddRedis("redis").WithRedisCommander();

Service Dependencies

// Service references other services for discovery
var validatorService = builder.AddProject<Projects.Sorcha_Validator_Service>("validator-service")
    .WithReference(redis)
    .WithReference(walletService)
    .WithReference(registerService)
    .WithReference(peerService)
    .WithReference(blueprintService);

Health Endpoints

// ServiceDefaults provides these automatically
app.MapHealthChecks("/health");           // Readiness - all checks
app.MapHealthChecks("/alive", new HealthCheckOptions
{
    Predicate = r => r.Tags.Contains("live")  // Liveness - tagged checks only
});

TLS Termination (v13.1+)

// Configure HTTPS certificates on containers
var redis = builder.AddRedis("redis")
    .WithHttpsCertificate(cert);

// YARP with TLS
var gateway = builder.AddProject<Projects.Sorcha_ApiGateway>("api-gateway")
    .WithHttpsCertificate();

See Also

• patterns - AppHost patterns, SDK format, named references, TLS, MCP
• workflows - CLI commands, testing, deployment, troubleshooting

Related Skills

• See the dotnet skill for .NET 10 patterns
• See the minimal-apis skill for endpoint configuration
• See the redis skill for cache configuration
• See the postgresql skill for database patterns
• See the mongodb skill for document storage
• See the docker skill for containerization

Documentation Resources

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Library ID: /dotnet/docs-aspire (High reputation, 3264 code snippets)

Recommended Queries:

• "AppHost service orchestration configuration"
• "service discovery WithReference patterns"
• "OpenTelemetry observability setup"
• "health checks readiness liveness"
• "aspire 13 breaking changes migration"
• "TLS termination WithHttpsCertificate"
• "MCP model context protocol dashboard"