8 min read
Harness Agent or Plain Agent? What Agent Framework Now Decides for You
The Agent Framework Harness bundles planning, memory, compaction, approvals and telemetry. When to accept its opinions and when a plain Agent is better.
.NET
55 articles
6 min read
Microsoft Agent Framework in .NET: A February 2026 Preview Field Guide
What Microsoft Agent Framework for .NET really is in February 2026: agents, sessions, tool approvals and handoffs, plus where it fits before it reaches GA.
6 min read
Semantic Kernel Apps in February 2026: Stay, Bridge, or Rewrite
Agent Framework is still in preview and Semantic Kernel is in fix-and-stabilise mode: how to decide whether to stay, bridge, or rewrite in February 2026.
8 min read
Semantic Kernel Agents in Production: What's Stable, What Isn't
Running Semantic Kernel agents in production in early 2026: which APIs are GA, which are preview, how to guard tool calls, and where Agent Framework fits.
1 min read
Performance Optimization for .NET 9 Applications on Azure
Results: Cold start reduced from 800ms to 150ms. These optimizations combined typically reduce Azure compute costs by 30-50% while improving response times.…
1 min read
Semantic Kernel: Building AI Orchestration with .NET
Semantic Kernel provides a clean abstraction for building AI-powered features while maintaining flexibility to switch between different LLM providers.
1 min read
Building Multi-Agent Systems with Semantic Kernel
Define clear responsibilities for each agent to avoid confusion and improve reliability. Multi-agent architectures excel at complex workflows where…
1 min read
Semantic Kernel Filters: Intercepting and Modifying AI Operations
Semantic Kernel supports several filter types: function invocation filters, prompt render filters, and auto function invocation filters. Each intercepts…
1 min read
Building AI Agents with Semantic Kernel Planners
Planners analyze a user's goal and create an execution plan using available plugins. The Handlebars planner generates a template-based plan, while function…
1 min read
Semantic Kernel Memory: Building Persistent AI Context
Use retrieved memories to enrich the system prompt or provide context for the AI. This enables personalized responses without requiring the user to repeat…
1 min read
Implementing Semantic Kernel Plugins for Enterprise Applications
Native plugins expose C# methods to the kernel, allowing the LLM to invoke them when appropriate.
1 min read
Getting Started with Semantic Kernel 2.x: A Practical Introduction
Semantic Kernel is an SDK that integrates Large Language Models (LLMs) with conventional programming languages. Version 2.x introduces a more streamlined…
1 min read
Semantic Kernel v2: Building Composable AI Applications in C#
Semantic Kernel v2 brings enterprise-grade patterns to AI development, making it easier to build maintainable, testable AI applications.
1 min read
Semantic Kernel: Building AI-Powered Applications with .NET
Learn how to use Microsoft's Semantic Kernel SDK to build intelligent applications that leverage GPT-4 and Azure OpenAI Service.
7 min read
Calling Azure OpenAI from C# Before There's an Official .NET SDK
Azure OpenAI is GA but has no official .NET SDK yet. How I'd build a thin, typed C# client over the 2022-12-01 REST API that is easy to delete later.
8 min read
Redis Caching Patterns in .NET 7 Isolated Azure Functions
Cache-aside, write-through, write-behind and refresh-ahead with Azure Cache for Redis in .NET 7 isolated Azure Functions, and when each one is the wrong choice.
8 min read
Debugging an Azure Functions Blob Trigger Locally with Azurite
Run and debug an isolated .NET Azure Functions blob trigger against Azurite, and understand the receipts, retries and limits of local testing.
1 min read
gRPC JSON Transcoding in .NET 7: REST and gRPC from One Service
JSON transcoding bridges this gap.
1 min read
Output Caching in ASP.NET Core 7: A Complete Guide
Output caching stores the complete HTTP response and serves it directly for subsequent identical requests, bypassing the entire request pipeline. Unlike…
1 min read
Rate Limiting Middleware in ASP.NET Core 7
Rate limiting protects your application by: Preventing denial of service attacks Ensuring fair usage among clients Protecting downstream services Managing…
1 min read
Minimal APIs in .NET 7: Filters, Route Groups, and Typed Results
The biggest addition filters provide middleware like functionality for individual endpoints: You can create reusable filter classes: Organize related…
1 min read
Azure Functions with .NET 7: Isolated Worker Process Model
The isolated worker process model separates your function code from the Azure Functions host: Version independence : Use any .NET version, including .NET 7…
1 min read
C# 11 Features: Raw String Literals, Required Members, and More
No more escaping nightmares. Raw string literals start and end with at least three quotes: They work with interpolation too just add more dollar signs: This…
2 min read
.NET 7 Release Candidate: Final Preview Before GA
.NET 7 continues the tradition of making .NET faster and more cloud-native with each release. Here's a preview of the key improvements we'll see at GA.
7 min read
“CQS (Command Query Separation) in Azure Functions”
Applying CQS (Command Query Separation) in Azure Functions is a pattern I've found genuinely useful for keeping serverless code maintainable as the number…
3 min read
Creating native MacOS background apps with .NET
For those who are already familiar with Windows Services, with .NET, you traditionally create a Windows Service project using the .NET Framework. But with…
4 min read
Creating MacOS universal apps in .NET
Not to confuse yourself with Xamarin.Mac and MAUI for Mac Catalyst, they are different from this. Xamarin.Mac is an abstraction on a lot of Cocoa based…
3 min read
Using named pipes for interprocess communication in C#
Pipes - a communication channel between two processes. Streams - a data collection that moves from a source to a destination.
1 min read
In Memory SQLite database on C#
One of the advantages of using SQLite is the ability to treat the data store just like a SQL database. You can perform simple T-SQL query statements and…
1 min read
.NET MAUI Preview: Cross-Platform App Development
Install the required workloads: MAUI uses a single project for all platforms: Create the main app structure: Use the MVVM Community Toolkit for cleaner…
1 min read
.NET 7 Preview: Performance and Cloud-Native Features
Generic math interfaces Required members Improved minimal APIs Native AOT compilation Enhanced performance One of the most anticipated features is generic…
1 min read
Power BI .NET SDK: Building C# Applications with Power BI
The Power BI .NET SDK provides: Strongly typed API access Simplified authentication Full Power BI API coverage Easy integration with .NET applications SDK…
5 min read
Microsoft Ignite 2021 Recap: Looking Forward to the Intelligent Cloud
Ignite Fall 2021 was dense with announcements—Azure Container Apps, Chaos Studio, Load Testing, Service Connector, Azure Developer CLI, Arc-enabled data…
1 min read
Azure Functions with .NET 6: In-Process and Isolated Worker Models
In-Process: Functions run in the same process as the Functions host Isolated Worker: Functions run in a separate worker process
2 min read
Hot Reload in .NET 6: Edit Code Without Restarting
This is different from traditional "Edit and Continue" debugging - Hot Reload works with or without the debugger attached.
2 min read
Minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core 6: Building Lightweight HTTP Services
Minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core 6 are the answer to the question "why do I need controllers, action filters, model binding, and routing tables just to expose a…
1 min read
C# 10 Features: Writing Cleaner, More Expressive Code
C# 10 continues the trend of making the language more expressive while reducing boilerplate. Combined with .NET 6's performance improvements, it's a great…
2 min read
.NET 6 GA: The Long-Term Support Release That Changes Everything
No Startup.cs, no Main method, no namespace declarations. This is possible thanks to C# 10's global usings and file-scoped namespaces.
5 min read
Developing MacOS Apps using .NET
Mono is the original vision and execution of having .NET and C available to non Windows platform. The project has been around since 2004 and was as an…
2 min read
C# 10 Preview Features for Modern Development
C# 10 is the language release I've been most anticipating in a long time. Record structs, global usings, file-scoped namespaces, extended property…
2 min read
Exploring .NET 6 Preview Features for Azure Development
.NET 6 Preview 4 in June 2021 was the point where I started genuinely excited about the November GA. Minimal APIs, Blazor improvements, native AOT…
1 min read
ASP.NET Core Best Practices on Azure App Service
ASP.NET Core on Azure App Service is the combination I've deployed more than any other in the past three years, and the relationship between the .NET…
1 min read
Deploying Blazor WebAssembly Applications on Azure
Let's start with a new Blazor WebAssembly project: A typical Blazor WASM project includes: The most straightforward option for client side Blazor apps:…
1 min read
Real-Time Web Applications with Azure SignalR Service
I've tried to roll my own WebSocket fanout exactly once. It worked beautifully for 200 concurrent connections and melted at 2,000. Azure SignalR Service…
1 min read
Centralized Configuration Management with Azure App Configuration
Traditional configuration approaches using appsettings.json or environment variables have limitations: No central management Requires redeployment for…
1 min read
Running Windows Containers on Azure Kubernetes Service
Many enterprises have legacy .NET Framework applications that cannot easily migrate to .NET Core. Windows containers provide a path to containerization…
8 min read
Cosmos DB Change Feed in Production: Failures, Leases and Lag
Running Cosmos DB change feed consumers in production: Functions trigger vs processor, poison batches, dead-lettering, idempotency and lag estimation.
7 min read
Service Bus Sessions, Transactions and DLQs in the New .NET SDK
How to use Azure Service Bus sessions, session state, transactions and dead-letter queues with the Azure.Messaging.ServiceBus 7.0 SDK, and when not to bother.
8 min read
Designing Domain Events for Azure Event Grid Custom Topics
How to design the event contract, topic boundaries, filters and consumers for Azure Event Grid custom topics, and which .NET SDK to use in January 2021.
6 min read
Azure Functions on .NET 5: A First Look at the Isolated Worker Preview
What the .NET 5 isolated worker preview for Azure Functions looks like in January 2021, what it costs you today, and when to stay on .NET Core 3.1.
8 min read
Designing an Azure Cognitive Search Index with the v11 .NET SDK
How to size an Azure Cognitive Search service, design index fields you won't regret, and query safely with the newly GA Azure.Search.Documents v11 SDK.
7 min read
Form Recognizer v2.0 in .NET: Receipts, Layout and Custom Models
Using the Form Recognizer v2.0 API from .NET: prebuilt receipts, layout tables, and custom models with and without labels, plus where each one falls short.
8 min read
Replacing a Fragile HTTP Call with an Azure Service Bus Queue
Why an HTTP call between two services drops work, and how a Service Bus queue with peek-lock, duplicate detection and a watched dead-letter queue fixes it.
8 min read
Mining Customer Feedback with Azure Text Analytics v3
Using Azure Cognitive Services Text Analytics v3 and the .NET SDK to triage customer feedback: sentiment, key phrases, entities, batching and cost.
8 min read
Moving to the Azure Cosmos DB .NET SDK v3: Patterns I Keep
What changed from the v2 DocumentClient to the Cosmos DB .NET SDK v3, and the client, query, batch and bulk patterns I reuse after migrating.