fluent-validation

name	fluent-validation
description	Use when adding FluentValidation validators, custom rules, or async validation to a .NET project.
metadata	{"category":"core","agent":"dotnet-architect","when-to-use":"When writing input validation rules using FluentValidation"}

FluentValidation (Standalone)

Core Principles

• Fail fast — validate at system boundaries before any business logic executes
• Explicit rules — every validation constraint is a readable, testable RuleFor call
• Reusable validators — share common rules via Include() and composition, not inheritance hierarchies
• One validator per request model — do not validate domain entities (they protect their own invariants)
• Separation of concerns — validators live in the Application layer, not in controllers or domain

When to Use

• DTOs / request models — CreateOrderRequest, UpdateCustomerCommand
• API boundary input — anything arriving from HTTP, gRPC, or message consumers
• Form input — Blazor / MVC form models before submission
• Configuration objects — validating options at startup with IValidateOptions<T>
• Cross-field rules — "end date must be after start date" expressed declaratively

When NOT to Use

• Domain invariants — enforce inside the entity/aggregate constructor and methods
• Simple null checks on internals — a required keyword or ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull suffices
• Authorization — validation is not a substitute for policy-based auth checks
• Database constraints — unique indexes and FK constraints belong in the persistence layer

Patterns

Basic Validator

using FluentValidation;

namespace Ordering.Application.Validators;

public sealed class CreateOrderRequestValidator : AbstractValidator<CreateOrderRequest>
{
    public CreateOrderRequestValidator()
    {
        RuleFor(x => x.CustomerId)
            .NotEmpty()
            .WithMessage("Customer ID is required.");

        RuleFor(x => x.OrderDate)
            .LessThanOrEqualTo(DateOnly.FromDateTime(DateTime.UtcNow))
            .WithMessage("Order date cannot be in the future.");

        RuleFor(x => x.LineItems)
            .NotEmpty()
            .WithMessage("Order must contain at least one line item.");

        RuleForEach(x => x.LineItems)
            .SetValidator(new LineItemValidator());
    }
}

public sealed class LineItemValidator : AbstractValidator<LineItemDto>
{
    public LineItemValidator()
    {
        RuleFor(x => x.ProductId).NotEmpty();
        RuleFor(x => x.Quantity).GreaterThan(0);
        RuleFor(x => x.UnitPrice).GreaterThan(0m);
    }
}

DI Registration

Register all validators from an assembly in one call:

using FluentValidation;

// In Program.cs or a DI module
builder.Services.AddValidatorsFromAssemblyContaining<CreateOrderRequestValidator>();

This scans the assembly and registers every IValidator<T> as Scoped by default. Override with:

builder.Services.AddValidatorsFromAssemblyContaining<CreateOrderRequestValidator>(
    lifetime: ServiceLifetime.Transient);

Manual Validation

Inject IValidator<T> and call ValidateAsync explicitly:

using FluentValidation;

namespace Ordering.Application.Handlers;

public sealed class CreateOrderHandler(
    IValidator<CreateOrderRequest> validator,
    IOrderRepository repository)
{
    public async Task<Guid> HandleAsync(
        CreateOrderRequest request,
        CancellationToken ct = default)
    {
        var result = await validator.ValidateAsync(request, ct);

        if (!result.IsValid)
        {
            throw new ValidationException(result.Errors);
        }

        var order = Order.Create(request.CustomerId, request.OrderDate, request.LineItems);
        await repository.AddAsync(order, ct);
        return order.Id;
    }
}

Auto-Validation in Minimal API

Use an endpoint filter to validate before the handler runs:

using FluentValidation;

namespace Ordering.Api.Filters;

public sealed class ValidationFilter<T> : IEndpointFilter where T : class
{
    public async ValueTask<object?> InvokeAsync(
        EndpointFilterInvocationContext context,
        EndpointFilterDelegate next)
    {
        var validator = context.HttpContext.RequestServices.GetService<IValidator<T>>();
        if (validator is null)
        {
            return await next(context);
        }

        var model = context.Arguments.OfType<T>().FirstOrDefault();
        if (model is null)
        {
            return await next(context);
        }

        var result = await validator.ValidateAsync(model);
        if (!result.IsValid)
        {
            return Results.ValidationProblem(
                result.ToDictionary(),
                title: "Validation Failed",
                type: "https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc9110#section-15.5.1");
        }

        return await next(context);
    }
}

Register the filter on an endpoint or group:

app.MapPost("/api/orders", CreateOrder)
    .AddEndpointFilter<ValidationFilter<CreateOrderRequest>>();

// Or apply to an entire route group
app.MapGroup("/api/orders")
    .AddEndpointFilter<ValidationFilter<CreateOrderRequest>>();

Auto-Validation in Controllers

Use an action filter that resolves IValidator<> for each action argument:

using FluentValidation;
using FluentValidation.AspNetCore;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Filters;

namespace Ordering.Api.Filters;

public sealed class FluentValidationActionFilter(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    : IAsyncActionFilter
{
    public async Task OnActionExecutionAsync(
        ActionExecutingContext context, ActionExecutionDelegate next)
    {
        foreach (var (_, value) in context.ActionArguments)
        {
            if (value is null) continue;
            var validatorType = typeof(IValidator<>).MakeGenericType(value.GetType());
            if (serviceProvider.GetService(validatorType) is not IValidator validator)
                continue;
            var result = await validator.ValidateAsync(new ValidationContext<object>(value));
            if (!result.IsValid)
                result.AddToModelState(context.ModelState);
        }

        if (!context.ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            context.Result = new BadRequestObjectResult(
                new ValidationProblemDetails(context.ModelState));
            return;
        }
        await next();
    }
}

Register globally in Program.cs:

builder.Services.AddControllers(o => o.Filters.Add<FluentValidationActionFilter>());

Custom Validators

Use Must() for synchronous custom rules and cross-field validation:

public sealed class DateRangeRequestValidator : AbstractValidator<DateRangeRequest>
{
    public DateRangeRequestValidator()
    {
        RuleFor(x => x.StartDate)
            .NotEmpty();

        RuleFor(x => x.EndDate)
            .NotEmpty()
            .Must((request, endDate) => endDate > request.StartDate)
            .WithMessage("End date must be after start date.");

        RuleFor(x => x.Currency)
            .Must(BeAValidCurrencyCode)
            .WithMessage("Currency must be a valid ISO 4217 code.");
    }

    private static bool BeAValidCurrencyCode(string currency) =>
        currency.Length == 3 && currency.All(char.IsUpper);
}

Async Validators

Use MustAsync() when validation requires I/O such as database uniqueness checks:

public sealed class CreateCustomerRequestValidator : AbstractValidator<CreateCustomerRequest>
{
    public CreateCustomerRequestValidator(ICustomerRepository repository)
    {
        RuleFor(x => x.Email)
            .NotEmpty().EmailAddress()
            .MustAsync(async (email, ct) => !await repository.ExistsByEmailAsync(email, ct))
            .WithMessage("A customer with this email already exists.");

        RuleFor(x => x.TaxId)
            .NotEmpty()
            .MustAsync(async (taxId, ct) => !await repository.ExistsByTaxIdAsync(taxId, ct))
            .WithMessage("A customer with this Tax ID already exists.");
    }
}

Important: async validators require ValidateAsync() -- calling Validate() synchronously will throw.

Reusable Rules

Extract shared validation logic with Include():

public sealed class PaginationValidator : AbstractValidator<IPaginatedRequest>
{
    public PaginationValidator()
    {
        RuleFor(x => x.Page).GreaterThanOrEqualTo(1);
        RuleFor(x => x.PageSize).InclusiveBetween(1, 100);
    }
}

public sealed class AuditFieldsValidator : AbstractValidator<IAuditableRequest>
{
    public AuditFieldsValidator()
    {
        RuleFor(x => x.CorrelationId).NotEmpty();
        RuleFor(x => x.RequestedBy).NotEmpty().MaximumLength(256);
    }
}

public sealed class SearchOrdersRequestValidator : AbstractValidator<SearchOrdersRequest>
{
    public SearchOrdersRequestValidator()
    {
        Include(new PaginationValidator());
        Include(new AuditFieldsValidator());

        RuleFor(x => x.Status)
            .IsInEnum()
            .When(x => x.Status.HasValue);
    }
}

ProblemDetails Integration

Map FluentValidation errors to RFC 9457 ProblemDetails via IExceptionHandler:

using FluentValidation;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Diagnostics;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace Ordering.Api.ExceptionHandlers;

public sealed class ValidationExceptionHandler : IExceptionHandler
{
    public async ValueTask<bool> TryHandleAsync(
        HttpContext httpContext, Exception exception, CancellationToken ct)
    {
        if (exception is not ValidationException validationException)
            return false;

        var errors = validationException.Errors
            .GroupBy(e => e.PropertyName)
            .ToDictionary(g => g.Key, g => g.Select(e => e.ErrorMessage).ToArray());

        var problemDetails = new ValidationProblemDetails(errors)
        {
            Type = "https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc9110#section-15.5.1",
            Title = "Validation Failed",
            Status = StatusCodes.Status400BadRequest,
            Instance = httpContext.Request.Path
        };

        httpContext.Response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status400BadRequest;
        await httpContext.Response.WriteAsJsonAsync(problemDetails, ct);
        return true;
    }
}

Register in Program.cs:

builder.Services.AddExceptionHandler<ValidationExceptionHandler>();
builder.Services.AddProblemDetails();
app.UseExceptionHandler();

Decision Guide

Scenario	Approach	Why
Simple DTO field constraints	RuleFor with built-in validators	Readable, testable, no custom logic needed
Cross-field validation	Must() with model access	Access to sibling properties via (model, field) overload
Uniqueness / DB lookup	MustAsync() with injected repo	Requires async I/O — keeps validator DI-friendly
Shared pagination / audit rules	Include() with interface validators	Avoids duplication across multiple request validators
Minimal API validation	ValidationFilter<T> endpoint filter	Runs before handler, returns ValidationProblem automatically
MVC controller validation	FluentValidationActionFilter	Integrates with ModelState and ValidationProblemDetails
Complex nested objects	SetValidator() on child + RuleForEach	Composes child validators, validates each collection element
Domain invariants	Do NOT use FluentValidation	Enforce inside entity constructor / methods
Startup config validation	IValidateOptions<T> with FluentValidation	Fail fast at app start if configuration is invalid

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Correct Approach
Validating domain entities with FluentValidation	Domain entities enforce their own invariants in constructors and methods
Calling Validate() synchronously when async rules exist	Always use ValidateAsync() — sync call throws on async rules
One mega-validator for all request types	One validator per request model, compose with Include()
Throwing generic exceptions on validation failure	Throw ValidationException(result.Errors) and handle with IExceptionHandler
Duplicating rules across validators	Extract shared rules into reusable validators and use Include()
Validating inside the controller action body	Use filters or middleware to validate before the action executes
Ignoring CancellationToken in async validators	Pass CancellationToken through MustAsync to support request cancellation
Hard-coding error messages without context	Use WithMessage() with placeholders: {PropertyName}, {PropertyValue}
Registering validators as Singleton when they have scoped dependencies	Use default Scoped lifetime or Transient if injecting scoped services

Detect Existing Patterns

1. Search for existing AbstractValidator<T> implementations in Application/Validators/
2. Check Program.cs for AddValidatorsFromAssembly registration calls
3. Look for endpoint filters or action filters that perform validation
4. Identify IExceptionHandler implementations that handle ValidationException
5. Follow the established validator naming convention: {RequestType}Validator