The tiny tutorial for .NET Minimal APIs is really slick, but how do we build an actual-sized application with them? Is that even a good idea?

Recent releases of .NET include an exciting new option for hosting web applications: Minimal APIs, which provide a lightweight request-to-response handling framework in the vein of Express.js or Ruby's Sinatra. The announcement came with lean and mean examples which are exciting, but leave something to be desired when it comes to imagining a real-world application.

In this session, we will pick up where the tutorial drops off to see how an actual application takes shape using this new framework. We'll see what patterns develop as we add more endpoints than fit on one screen, and how to implement necessary components such as security, documentation and API versioning without losing the desired slim profile.

My team selected Minimal APIs for a small-but-growing application last summer. It turned out to be a good fit, but jumping the hurdles and smoothing the rough edges revealed where and how it wouldn't be. I come to you now with tips and tricks to make your experience with the framework better, and to inform you when (and when not) a similar choice is the right move.