Minimal APIs
Minimal APIs is a lightweight, high-performance framework for building HTTP APIs in .NET, introduced with .NET 6. It provides a simplified, declarative syntax for defining endpoints without the boilerplate of traditional controllers, using a fluent API approach. It is designed for microservices, serverless functions, and simple web APIs where minimal overhead and fast startup are priorities.
Developers should use Minimal APIs when building small to medium-sized APIs that require high performance, low memory usage, and rapid development, such as in microservices architectures, IoT applications, or serverless environments like Azure Functions. It is ideal for scenarios where the full MVC framework is unnecessary, as it reduces complexity and improves startup times, making it suitable for cloud-native and containerized deployments.