ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs in 2026: Architecture, Performance and Interview Questions
Master ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs with this deep dive covering route groups, endpoint filters, Native AOT compilation, typed results, and common interview questions.
.NET
BACKEND
Comprehensive development platform with C# as modern language and ASP.NET Core for building REST APIs, microservices and high-performance web applications. Cross-platform architecture with Entity Framework Core, native dependency injection and rich ecosystem for enterprise-grade applications.
What you'll learn
Modern C# with async/await, LINQ, pattern matching, records and nullable reference types
ASP.NET Core MVC and Minimal APIs for performant REST endpoints
Entity Framework Core for ORM with migrations, LINQ to SQL and change tracking
Native Dependency Injection with service lifetime (Singleton, Scoped, Transient)
Middleware pipeline for authentication, logging, CORS and error handling
Authentication & Authorization with Identity, JWT Bearer, OAuth2 and OpenID Connect
SignalR for real-time communication (WebSockets, Server-Sent Events)
Comprehensive testing (xUnit, NUnit, Moq, integration tests with WebApplicationFactory)
Exceptional performance with Span<T>, Memory<T>, System.Text.Json and AOT compilation
Cross-platform with .NET runtime (Windows, Linux, macOS, Docker containers)
Key topics to master
The most important concepts to understand this technology and ace your interviews
1
C#: value/reference types, boxing/unboxing, async/await, Task, ValueTask
2
LINQ: query syntax, method syntax, deferred execution, IEnumerable vs IQueryable
3
ASP.NET Core: Program.cs, Startup, middleware pipeline, hosting model
4
Controllers and Minimal APIs: routing, model binding, action results
5
Dependency Injection: service registration, lifetimes (Singleton, Scoped, Transient)
6
Entity Framework Core: DbContext, DbSet, migrations, relationships, lazy/eager loading
7
LINQ to Entities: Include, ThenInclude, AsNoTracking, projections, raw SQL
8
Authentication: ASP.NET Core Identity, JWT tokens, claims, policies, roles
9
Authorization: [Authorize], policy-based, resource-based, custom requirements
10
Middleware: built-in (UseRouting, UseAuthentication), custom middleware
11
Configuration: appsettings.json, environment variables, Options pattern, IConfiguration
12
Error handling: exception filters, middleware, ProblemDetails, global handlers
13
Validation: Data Annotations, FluentValidation, model state, custom validators
14
Testing: unit tests (xUnit, NUnit), integration tests, mocking (Moq, NSubstitute)
15
SignalR: hubs, strongly-typed hubs, groups, connection lifecycle
16
Performance: async best practices, Span<T>, Memory<T>, object pooling, caching
17
API versioning, Swagger/OpenAPI, rate limiting, health checks
18
Logging (ILogger, Serilog), monitoring, Docker, deployment (Azure, AWS, on-premise)
Recent .NET articles
Discover our latest articles and guides on .NET
.NET 10 in 2026: New Features, Native AOT and C# 14 for Interview Preparation
.NET 10 ships as a long-term support release with Native AOT improvements, C# 14 extension members, the field keyword, and file-based apps. A complete guide covering new features, performance gains, and interview-ready knowledge for .NET developers in 2026.
.NET MAUI in 2026: Cross-Platform Development Tutorial and Interview Questions
.NET MAUI tutorial covering cross-platform development with .NET 10, handlers, MVVM, HybridWebView, and essential interview questions for 2026.