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ConnectSoft Templates Overview

This document provides an overview of ConnectSoft solution templates. Templates are pre-configured, reusable solution structures that enable rapid development of production-ready applications following ConnectSoft's architectural principles and best practices.

See also the Templates registry for a master table of repos, dotnet new short names, and alignment notes.

Canonical CLI short names (microservice templates)

Base and extended microservice templates use connectsoft-* dotnet new short names (for example connectsoft-base, connectsoft-apigateway). See Template naming guide for the full table, installer model (base vs composed extended packages), and migration from legacy cs-* names.

Template Architecture

ConnectSoft templates follow a three-layer architecture model:

Layer 1: Shared Libraries

  • NuGet packages (ConnectSoft.Extensions.*)
  • Cross-cutting infrastructure (logging, messaging, persistence, etc.)
  • Used by all templates

Layer 2: Base Template

  • Base Template (ConnectSoft.BaseTemplate) - Foundation for all specialized templates
  • Domain-agnostic microservice structure
  • Clean Architecture layout
  • Common infrastructure and bootstrapping

Layer 3: Specialized Templates

All specialized templates are derived from the Base Template:

  • Microservice Template - Full-featured microservice with Clean Architecture, DDD, and event-driven capabilities
  • Worker Template — Background worker service (Layer 3 ConnectSoft.WorkerTemplate; same submodule and layering model as other specialized templates)
  • Identity Backend Template - Identity and user management service with authentication and authorization
  • Authorization Server Template - OAuth2/OpenID Connect authorization server for token management
  • API Gateway Template - API gateway with routing, aggregation, authentication, and rate limiting
  • Health Checks Aggregator (ConnectSoft.HealthChecksAggregatorTemplate) — aggregated health APIs over downstream services; short name connectsoft-healthchecks-aggregator
  • SaaS bounded-context hosts — five ConnectSoft.Saas.*Template repos (Tenants, Products Catalog, Entitlements, Metering, Billing); see registry for each connectsoft-saas-* short name
  • Microsoft Bot Framework Template (ConnectSoft.MicrosoftBotFrameworkTemplate) — Layer 3 microservice with Microsoft Bot Framework; base-template/ submodule and forked Application / ApplicationModel (Identity-style). Short name connectsoft-microsoft-bot-framework when the composed template package is published.

Template Categories

Backend Service Templates

All backend service templates are derived from the Base Template:

  • Base Template - Foundation template providing core microservice structure
  • Microservice Template - Full-featured microservice with multiple service models
  • Worker Template - Background job processing and scheduled tasks
  • Identity Backend Template - User identity and management
  • Authorization Server Template - OAuth2/OpenID Connect server
  • API Gateway Template - API gateway and reverse proxy
  • Health Checks Aggregator — federated health endpoints (overview)
  • SaaS bounded-context templates — overview for ConnectSoft.Saas.* hosts
  • Microsoft Bot Framework Template - Conversational bots on the shared microservice kernel (Layer 3; not part of the generic microservice template)
  • MAUI Base Template (ConnectSoft.MauiBaseTemplate) — .NET MAUI cross-platform application kernel; dotnet new short name connectsoft-maui-base. Separate from ConnectSoft.BaseTemplate (microservice kernel); see Architecture.

Library Templates

  • Library Template - Reusable .NET libraries
  • API Library Template - Service agent libraries for API integration
  • AI Skills Library (ConnectSoft.AISkillsLibraryTemplate) — Blazor MFE and AI templates; short name connectsoft-aiskills-library

Frontend Templates

  • Blazor Component Library — reusable Blazor RCL / design-system style library
  • Blazor Microfrontend Library — microfrontend module packaging
  • Blazor Shell — application shell / portal host
  • Marketing Site Template (ConnectSoft.MarketingSiteTemplate) — Blazor Server marketing website with UIKit, Flowbite, JSON-driven pages, SEO, analytics, and lead capture; dotnet new short name connectsoft-marketing-site
  • Blazor MFE product templates — AI Chat, Authorization Server Admin, and other MFE product repos (including links to additional repositories without a published dotnet new short name yet)

Mobile (MAUI) templates

  • MAUI Base Template (ConnectSoft.MauiBaseTemplate) — Clean Architecture MAUI solution with optional observability, localization, SQLite/offline, Serilog, MSAL-oriented auth, and HTTP resilience. Use with backend templates (REST + OIDC) as the mobile client counterpart to Factory microservices — not via the base-template/ submodule used by Layer 3 service templates.

Platform Templates

  • Platform Template - Multi-service SaaS platforms

Documentation Templates

  • Documentation Template - MkDocs-based documentation sites

Template Inheritance Model

All specialized backend templates extend the Base Template through:

Git Submodule (Build-Time)

  • Base Template included as base-template/ submodule
  • Specialized templates add domain-specific projects
  • Both base and specialized code coexist in the same solution
  • Fully buildable as normal .NET solutions

Overlay Composition (Generation-Time)

  • At generation time, base + overlay are composed
  • Final template includes both base structure and domain-specific code
  • Template metadata (template.json) is merged from base + extend files

Documentation Composition

  • ConnectSoft.Documentation is the source of truth for shared concepts, standards, architecture, technologies, and cross-cutting concerns.
  • ConnectSoft.BaseTemplate keeps Layer 2 implementation references: exact projects, registration methods, options, feature flags, MSBuild behavior, packages, tests, and troubleshooting.
  • Layer 3 templates keep overlay docs only: purpose, inherited features, feature matrix, domain-specific projects, configuration deltas, runbook, tests, and generated-solution behavior.
  • Every template repo should carry a docs-manifest.yml so tooling can validate coverage, generate matrices, compose generated-solution docs, and report missing canonical topics.
  • Generated solutions receive curated docs. They link to central canonical docs by default and include selected BaseTemplate/overlay implementation pages only when the enabled features need them.

Key Features

Templates commonly provide:

Template Selection Guide

When to Use Base Template

  • Creating new specialized template overlays
  • Understanding microservice foundation structure
  • Building domain-agnostic microservice infrastructure

When to Use Microservice Template

  • Building backend services with REST/gRPC APIs
  • Creating domain-specific services
  • Implementing business logic services
  • Building event-driven services

When to Use Worker Template

  • Building background job processing services
  • Implementing scheduled task execution
  • Creating message queue consumers
  • Building long-running task processors

When to Use Identity Backend Template

  • Building identity and user management services
  • Implementing user authentication
  • Managing user profiles and accounts
  • Creating multi-tenant identity solutions

When to Use Authorization Server Template

  • Building OAuth2/OpenID Connect servers
  • Implementing token-based authentication
  • Creating authorization servers for API access
  • Building SSO (Single Sign-On) solutions

When to Use API Gateway Template

  • Aggregating multiple microservices
  • Implementing API versioning
  • Managing API authentication
  • Rate limiting and throttling

When to Use Microsoft Bot Framework Template

  • Building Azure Bot Service / Bot Framework endpoints with the ConnectSoft microservice layout
  • Needing dialogs, adaptive cards, and bot telemetry on the shared kernel
  • Accepting forked Application / ApplicationModel maintenance when updating the base-template submodule (same model as the Identity template)

Template Documentation

For detailed information about each template: