Minimal API is a fairly new way to implement Web APIs, introduced in .NET 6.
I initially thought it was only suitable for small projects, as its name suggests. Recently, I read some articles and watched videos about how to organize Minimal API projects, and I have changed my mind.
The main reason I believed Minimal API was only for small projects is that most demos are quite small and put all APIs in Program.cs, which is obviously not scalable and somewhat messy.
By using extension methods, it is quite convenient to group APIs into different files, making them much easier to manage.
A third-party library Carter also seems useful in grouping APIs.
Below are some articles and videos I found useful regarding organizing Minimal API applications:
Milan Jovanović’s video
Milan Jovanović’s blog
Tess Ferrandez’s article about organizing ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs
Milan uses extension methods for IEndpointRouteBuilder while Tess using WebApplication. I prefer the IEndpointRouteBuilder approach because MS official document says so.
In my previous experience with Spring Boot, I was used to a more MVC style when implementing Web APIs. However, I am glad to see a new way to develop them. I’m not sure if Minimal API is suitable for “large” projects, but it really looks promising to me for many Web API applications.
