ASP.NET Core in 2026 with Daniel Roth
.NET Rocks! Podcast Recap
Published:
Duration: 1 hr 0 min
Guests: Daniel Roth
Summary
This episode features Daniel Roth discussing the future of ASP.NET Core and Blazor, with a focus on upcoming .NET 11 features and improvements. The episode provides insights into performance enhancements, new validation features, and the integration of AI functionalities.
What Happened
Daniel Roth provides an overview of the ongoing developments in ASP.NET Core, focusing on the upcoming .NET 11 release. He explains that four high-level themes guide this development, including addressing pain points, enhancing performance, boosting security, and improving observability.
Blazor is highlighted as the recommended web UI framework, with efforts underway to make it robust for users transitioning from traditional server-side frameworks. In .NET 10, features like pause and resume support were introduced, and .NET 11 will expand state persistence capabilities with server-side APIs to pause and resume circuits.
A major focus is on improving performance, particularly in the runtime async model, which will make async code execution more efficient. Roth also details the introduction of async validation in ASP.NET Core, a long-requested feature that will be integrated into minimal APIs and Blazor, involving collaboration with the core Libraries team.
The episode discusses the shift towards Agentic apps in Blazor, integrating AI functionalities to create smarter applications. AGUI (Agentic UI) is a protocol being developed for interactions between front ends and AI backends, with early prototypes available in the Microsoft Agent Framework repository.
Roth talks about Blazor's potential to handle tens of thousands of concurrent users, highlighting circuit pausing as a method to optimize server utilization. Additionally, a new template for building .NET-based web workers is being added in .NET 11, designed to offload work from the UI thread.
The episode notes the ongoing pause in Blazor WebAssembly's multi-threading work as the team transitions to the CoreCLR runtime. This transition is expected to improve future performance and compatibility with other .NET developments.
Finally, Roth outlines the development of C# 15, focusing on features like returning multiple types from a controller action or minimal API. The concept of using unions in ASP.NET Core is also considered, potentially simplifying complex patterns.
Key Insights
- ASP.NET Core 11 focuses on solving top user pain points, enhancing performance, improving security, and increasing observability. The development process involves collaboration with teams across different locations worldwide.
- Blazor is positioned as the primary web UI framework for .NET, with features to support users transitioning from server-side rendering frameworks. New state management capabilities and performance improvements are being introduced in .NET 11.
- The .NET 11 release will see the introduction of async validation, a sought-after feature that will enhance minimal APIs and Blazor. This feature is being developed in collaboration with the core Libraries team.
- Microsoft is developing AGUI (Agentic UI) to facilitate interactions between front ends and AI backends, with early prototypes available. This is part of a broader strategy to integrate AI functionalities into ASP.NET Core applications.