foundatio

name

foundatio

description

Use when working with Foundatio infrastructure abstractions for .NET -- caching, queuing, messaging, file storage, distributed locking, or background jobs. Apply when using ICacheClient, IQueue, IMessageBus, IFileStorage, ILockProvider, IJob, or resilience patterns like retry and circuit breakers. Covers in-memory and production implementations (Redis, Azure, AWS, Kafka, RabbitMQ). Use context7 MCP to fetch current API docs and examples.

Foundatio

Pluggable infrastructure abstractions for distributed .NET apps. Interface-first, testable, swappable between in-memory (dev/test) and production providers (Redis, Azure, AWS) with zero application code changes.

Documentation via context7

Use context7 MCP for complete, up-to-date API docs and examples. The main library ID covers all abstractions and implementations:

query-docs(libraryId="/foundatiofx/foundatio", query="How to configure queue retry policies and dead letter handling")

Query with specific questions, not single keywords. All provider docs (Redis, Azure, AWS, Kafka, etc.) are included in the main library.

Core Interfaces

Interface	Purpose	In-Memory	Production
ICacheClient	Key-value caching with TTL	InMemoryCacheClient	Redis, Hybrid
IQueue<T>	FIFO message queuing	InMemoryQueue<T>	Redis, SQS, Azure
IMessageBus	Pub/sub messaging	InMemoryMessageBus	Redis, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Azure
IFileStorage	File storage abstraction	InMemoryFileStorage	S3, Azure Blob, Minio
ILockProvider	Distributed locking	CacheLockProvider	Redis-backed
IJob	Background job processing	N/A	Hosted services
ISerializer / ITextSerializer	Binary and text serialization	SystemTextJsonSerializer	MessagePack, JsonNet
IResiliencePolicy	Retry, circuit breaker, timeout	ResiliencePolicyBuilder	N/A

DI Registration

All services are singletons (maintain internal state/connections). Jobs are scoped.

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Quick start -- all in-memory defaults
builder.Services.AddFoundatio();

// Or register individually with options
builder.Services.AddSingleton<ICacheClient>(sp =>
    new InMemoryCacheClient(o => o.MaxItems(1000)
        .LoggerFactory(sp.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>())));
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IMessageBus, InMemoryMessageBus>();
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IFileStorage, InMemoryFileStorage>();
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IQueue<OrderWorkItem>>(sp =>
    new InMemoryQueue<OrderWorkItem>());

// Lock provider (message bus optional but enables faster lock release via pub/sub)
builder.Services.AddSingleton<ILockProvider>(sp =>
    new CacheLockProvider(
        sp.GetRequiredService<ICacheClient>(),
        sp.GetService<IMessageBus>(),
        sp.GetService<TimeProvider>(),
        sp.GetService<ILoggerFactory>()));

Swap to production by changing only DI registration:

// DI owns and disposes the shared multiplexer during host shutdown.
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IConnectionMultiplexer>(sp =>
    ConnectionMultiplexer.Connect("localhost:6379"));

builder.Services.AddSingleton<ICacheClient>(sp =>
    new RedisCacheClient(o =>
    {
        o.ConnectionMultiplexer = sp.GetRequiredService<IConnectionMultiplexer>();
        o.LoggerFactory = sp.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>();
    }));
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IMessageBus>(sp =>
    new RedisMessageBus(o =>
    {
        o.Subscriber = sp.GetRequiredService<IConnectionMultiplexer>().GetSubscriber();
        o.LoggerFactory = sp.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>();
    }));
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IQueue<OrderWorkItem>>(sp =>
    new RedisQueue<OrderWorkItem>(o =>
    {
        o.ConnectionMultiplexer = sp.GetRequiredService<IConnectionMultiplexer>();
        o.LoggerFactory = sp.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>();
    }));

Usage Patterns

Caching

await _cache.SetAsync("user:123", user, TimeSpan.FromHours(1));

var result = await _cache.GetAsync<User>("user:123");
if (result.HasValue)
    return result.Value;

await _cache.IncrementAsync("requests:today", 1);
await _cache.RemoveByPrefixAsync("user:");

Queues

await _queue.EnqueueAsync(new OrderWorkItem { OrderId = orderId });

var entry = await _queue.DequeueAsync(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
if (entry is not null)
{
    await ProcessAsync(entry.Value);
    await entry.CompleteAsync();   // success
    // or: await entry.AbandonAsync();  // retry later
}

Messaging (Pub/Sub)

await _messageBus.SubscribeAsync<OrderCreated>(async (msg, ct) =>
{
    await HandleOrderCreatedAsync(msg, ct);
});

await _messageBus.PublishAsync(new OrderCreated { OrderId = orderId });

File Storage

await _storage.SaveFileAsync("reports/monthly.pdf", pdfStream);

using var stream = await _storage.GetFileStreamAsync("reports/monthly.pdf", StreamMode.Read);
var exists = await _storage.ExistsAsync("reports/monthly.pdf");
await _storage.DeleteFilesAsync("reports/old-*");

Distributed Locks

await using var lck = await _locker.AcquireAsync(
    "resource:order-123",
    timeUntilExpires: TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1));

if (lck is not null)
{
    await DoExclusiveWorkAsync();
}
// lock auto-released via IAsyncDisposable

Resilience

var policy = new ResiliencePolicyBuilder()
    .WithMaxAttempts(5)
    .WithExponentialDelay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1))
    .WithJitter()
    .Build();

await policy.ExecuteAsync(async ct =>
{
    await unreliableService.CallAsync(ct);
});

Jobs

Standard Job

public class CleanupJob : JobBase
{
    public CleanupJob(
        TimeProvider timeProvider,
        IResiliencePolicyProvider resiliencePolicyProvider,
        ILoggerFactory loggerFactory = null)
        : base(timeProvider, resiliencePolicyProvider, loggerFactory) { }

    protected override async Task<JobResult> RunInternalAsync(JobContext context)
    {
        await CleanupOldRecordsAsync(context.CancellationToken);
        return JobResult.Success;
    }
}

Job with Lock (Singleton / Leader Election)

JobWithLockBase acquires a distributed lock before each run. If the lock isn't available the run is cancelled. Implements IJobWithOptions.

[Job(Description = "Singleton maintenance", Interval = "5s")]
public class MaintenanceJob : JobWithLockBase
{
    private readonly ILockProvider _lockProvider;

    public MaintenanceJob(
        ICacheClient cache, IMessageBus messageBus,
        TimeProvider timeProvider, IResiliencePolicyProvider resiliencePolicyProvider,
        ILoggerFactory loggerFactory) : base(timeProvider, resiliencePolicyProvider, loggerFactory)
    {
        _lockProvider = new CacheLockProvider(cache, messageBus, loggerFactory);
    }

    // new CancellationToken(true) = try once, skip if lock is held
    protected override Task<ILock?> GetLockAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
        _lockProvider.AcquireAsync(nameof(MaintenanceJob), TimeSpan.FromMinutes(15),
            cancellationToken: new CancellationToken(true));

    protected override async Task<JobResult> RunInternalAsync(JobContext context)
    {
        await DoMaintenanceAsync(context.CancellationToken);
        return JobResult.Success;
    }
}

Queue Processor Job

public class OrderProcessorJob : QueueJobBase<OrderWorkItem>
{
    public OrderProcessorJob(
        IQueue<OrderWorkItem> queue,
        TimeProvider timeProvider,
        IResiliencePolicyProvider resiliencePolicyProvider,
        ILoggerFactory loggerFactory = null)
        : base(queue, timeProvider, resiliencePolicyProvider, loggerFactory) { }

    protected override async Task<JobResult> ProcessQueueEntryAsync(
        QueueEntryContext<OrderWorkItem> context)
    {
        var item = context.QueueEntry.Value;
        await ProcessOrderAsync(item.OrderId, context.CancellationToken);
        return JobResult.Success;
    }
}

Hosting Integration

Requires Foundatio.Extensions.Hosting package:

builder.Services.AddJob<CleanupJob>(o => o.WaitForStartupActions());
builder.Services.AddCronJob<CleanupJob>("0 */6 * * *");
builder.Services.AddDistributedCronJob<CleanupJob>("0 */6 * * *");

Testing

Use Foundatio.Xunit.v3 for test logging and DI integration. Two base classes:

• TestWithLoggingBase -- lightweight, no DI container. _logger (ILogger) for logging; Log (ILoggerFactory) for passing to Foundatio services.
• TestLoggerBase -- full DI via TestLoggerFixture. Override ConfigureServices to register services. Log (ILogger) for logging; TestLogger (ILoggerFactory) for passing to Foundatio services.

using Foundatio.Caching;
using Foundatio.Xunit;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using Xunit;

public class OrderServiceTests : TestLoggerBase
{
    public OrderServiceTests(ITestOutputHelper output, TestLoggerFixture fixture)
        : base(output, fixture) { }

    protected override void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddSingleton<ICacheClient>(sp =>
            new InMemoryCacheClient(o => o.LoggerFactory(TestLogger)));
        services.AddSingleton<OrderService>();
    }

    [Fact]
    public async Task GetStatusAsync_WithCachedOrder_ReturnsCachedStatus()
    {
        // Arrange
        var cache = Services.GetRequiredService<ICacheClient>();
        await cache.SetAsync("order:123", "shipped");
        Log.LogInformation("Seeded cache with order status");

        // Act
        var status = await Services.GetRequiredService<OrderService>()
            .GetStatusAsync("123");

        // Assert
        Assert.Equal("shipped", status);
    }
}

Gotchas

• Lock returns null: TryAcquireAsync returns null when the lock cannot be acquired -- always guard with is not null before doing work. AcquireAsync throws LockAcquisitionTimeoutException instead of returning null.
• Dispose streams and locks: ILock is IAsyncDisposable -- use await using. Streams from GetFileStreamAsync are IDisposable -- use using var.
• Cache TTL floor: Expiration values below 5ms are treated as already-expired and the key is silently removed. If you compute TTL dynamically (e.g., expiresAt - now), guard against near-zero values.
• Cache GetAsync returns CacheValue<T>: Check result.HasValue before accessing result.Value. A missing key returns HasValue = false, not an exception.
• Cache stampede (thundering herd): The cache-aside pattern (Get -> miss -> load -> Set) is vulnerable to stampedes when a popular key expires and many callers regenerate simultaneously. Use CacheLockProvider to serialize regeneration: acquire a lock keyed on the cache key, double-check the cache after acquiring, and only then call the backing store. See the Cache Stampede Protection docs for the full pattern.
• Queue auto-complete: QueueJobBase<T> auto-completes entries based on JobResult by default. Set AutoComplete = false only when you need manual CompleteAsync()/AbandonAsync() control. Manual DequeueAsync does NOT auto-complete.
• GetQueueEntryLockAsync error handling: If GetQueueEntryLockAsync returns null, the queue entry is abandoned. If it throws, the entry is also abandoned and a JobResult.FromException is returned. Use TryAcquireAsync (not AcquireAsync) in your override since the return type is Task<ILock?>.
• Failure semantics depend on job type: JobResult only has IsSuccess -- there is no separate "failed but don't retry" status. For queue-processed jobs (QueueJobBase<T>.ProcessQueueEntryAsync, or setting context.Result in a WorkItemJob handler), a non-success result triggers AbandonAsync, which re-queues the entry and eventually dead-letters it after Retries is exhausted -- reserve FailedWithMessage/FromException for transient errors you want retried, and log + return JobResult.Success/SuccessWithMessage(...) for permanent errors to avoid a pointless retry loop. For standalone/manual jobs (JobBase, a one-off RunAsync()/RunInConsoleAsync() run, or scheduled/cron jobs via Foundatio.Extensions.Hosting), there is no built-in retry or dead letter queue -- a failed result just produces an error-level log, a non-zero exit code from RunInConsoleAsync, or a failed entry in the job run history. Returning FailedWithMessage/FromException there is correct even for permanent errors, since nothing inside Foundatio will retry it.
• JobWithLockBase vs manual locking: Use JobWithLockBase when the entire run must be single-instance (leader election). Use manual ILockProvider.AcquireAsync inside JobBase for finer-grained locking within a job.
• JobContext.RenewLockAsync: Call in long-running jobs (both JobBase and QueueJobBase) to prevent lock expiration mid-processing.
• Register as singletons: All infrastructure services (ICacheClient, IMessageBus, IQueue<T>, IFileStorage, ILockProvider) maintain internal state and connections -- always register as singletons.
• CacheLockProvider + IMessageBus: IMessageBus is optional but recommended. Without it, lock release falls back to polling. With it, locks are released instantly via pub/sub notification.
• In-memory for tests: All in-memory implementations are functionally equivalent to production providers. Swap via DI for fast, isolated unit tests with no external dependencies.

NuGet Packages

Core

Package	Provides
Foundatio	Core interfaces, in-memory implementations, resilience, SystemTextJsonSerializer
Foundatio.Extensions.Hosting	AddJob, AddCronJob, AddDistributedCronJob, startup actions, hosted services

Serializers

ITextSerializer extends ISerializer for human-readable formats (JSON). ISerializer covers binary formats. Default is SystemTextJsonSerializer (included in core).

Package	Provides
Foundatio.JsonNet	JsonNetSerializer : ITextSerializer (Newtonsoft.Json)
Foundatio.MessagePack	MessagePackSerializer : ISerializer (binary, high-throughput)
Foundatio.Utf8Json	Utf8JsonSerializer : ITextSerializer (fast JSON)

Providers

Package	Provides
Foundatio.Redis	Redis cache, queue, messaging, locks, storage
Foundatio.AzureStorage	Azure Blob storage, Azure Storage queues
Foundatio.AzureServiceBus	Azure Service Bus queues + messaging
Foundatio.AWS	SQS queues, SQS messaging, S3 storage
Foundatio.Kafka	Kafka messaging
Foundatio.RabbitMQ	RabbitMQ messaging
Foundatio.Minio	MinIO S3-compatible storage
Foundatio.Aliyun	Aliyun OSS storage
Foundatio.Storage.SshNet	SFTP storage

Testing & Other

Package	Provides
Foundatio.TestHarness	Shared test base classes for validating custom implementations
Foundatio.Xunit	xUnit v2 test logging, retry attributes
Foundatio.Xunit.v3	xUnit v3 test logging, retry attributes
Foundatio.DataProtection	ASP.NET Core Data Protection key storage via IFileStorage