middleware-patterns

ASP.NET Core middleware pipeline ordering determines the sequence of request processing, where registered components execute in order and response delegation reverses. Correctly configuring this sequence ensures authentication, routing, and error handling behave as intended across your web API.

Convention-based middleware relies on standard class structures and dependency injection, while factory-based middleware uses the IMiddleware interface for more explicit lifetime management. Choosing between them depends on your application's scoped service requirements and pipeline complexity.

Conditional pipeline branching uses MapWhen and UseWhen to evaluate request conditions and route processing dynamically. Implementing these patterns allows you to execute specialized middleware branches only for specific API endpoints or request criteria.

Handling exceptions in the ASP.NET Core request pipeline is best achieved using built-in and custom exception handling strategies, including the IExceptionHandler interface. This approach ensures robust error capture and consistent API responses across all endpoints.

You can write inline middleware directly within the Configure method for simple request logging tasks in ASP.NET Core. This approach is ideal for lightweight, single-use pipeline tasks without the overhead of creating a dedicated convention-based class.