testcontainers-integration-tests

You can run integration tests against real databases in .NET by using TestContainers to spin up ephemeral Docker containers. This provides production-like environments for end-to-end validation without relying on mocks.

Testing database migrations in xUnit is best done by spinning up isolated Docker containers for each test class. TestContainers manages this lifecycle, ensuring automatic cleanup so your local environment remains unaffected.

Yes, you can use TestContainers with .NET and xUnit to test message queues and caches. It spins up real infrastructure in Docker containers, enabling end-to-end validation for these services across your projects.

Yes, you need Docker installed because TestContainers spins up real infrastructure in containers. You also need the TestContainers library for .NET and xUnit to orchestrate and run the integration tests.

To ensure automatic cleanup of test containers in .NET, implement IAsyncLifetime in your xUnit tests. TestContainers orchestrates this by spinning up isolated containers per test class and tearing them down automatically.

Use TestContainers instead of mocks when you need to validate behavior, reliability, and performance against real infrastructure like databases, queues, and caches. It provides production-like environments in CI and local development.