Certificate configuration

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Why HTTPS matters

HTTPS is essential for protecting the security and privacy of data transmitted between services. It encrypts traffic to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and man-in-the-middle attacks. For production environments, HTTPS is a fundamental security requirement.

However, enabling HTTPS during local development to match the production configuration presents unique challenges. Development environments typically use self-signed certificates that browsers and applications don’t trust by default. Managing these certificates across multiple services, containers, and different language runtimes can be complex and time-consuming, often creating friction in the development workflow.

Aspire simplifies HTTPS configuration for local development by providing APIs to:

Configure HTTPS endpoints with appropriate certificates for server authentication
Manage certificate trust so resources can communicate with services using self-signed certificates
Automatically handle the .NET provided ASP.NET Core development certificate (a per-user self-signed certificate valid only for local domains) across different resource types

Overview

Aspire provides two complementary sets of certificate APIs:

HTTPS endpoint APIs: Configure the certificates that resources use for their own HTTPS endpoints (server authentication)
Certificate trust APIs: Configure which certificates resources trust when making outbound HTTPS connections (client authentication)

Both sets of APIs work together to enable secure HTTPS communication during local development. For example, a Vite frontend might use WithHttpsDeveloperCertificate to serve HTTPS traffic, while also using WithDeveloperCertificateTrust to trust the dashboard’s OTLP endpoint certificate.

HTTPS endpoint configuration

HTTPS endpoint configuration determines which certificate a resource presents when serving HTTPS traffic. This is server-side certificate configuration for resources that host HTTPS/TLS endpoints.

Default behavior

For resources that have a certificate configuration defined with WithHttpsCertificateConfiguration, Aspire attempts to configure it to use the ASP.NET Core development certificate if available. This automatic configuration works for many common resource types including YARP, Redis, and Keycloak containers; Vite based JavaScript apps; and Python apps using Uvicorn.

You can control this behavior using the HTTPS endpoint APIs described below.

Use the development certificate

To explicitly configure a resource to use the ASP.NET Core development certificate for its HTTPS endpoints:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Explicitly use the developer certificate
var nodeApp = builder.AddViteApp("frontend", "../frontend")
    .WithHttpsDeveloperCertificate();

// Use developer certificate with an encrypted private key
var certPassword = builder.AddParameter("cert-password", secret: true);
var pythonApp = builder.AddUvicornApp("api", "../api", "app:main")
    .WithHttpsDeveloperCertificate(certPassword);

builder.Build().Run();

The WithHttpsDeveloperCertificate method:

Configures the resource to use the ASP.NET Core development certificate
Only applies in run mode (local development)
Optionally accepts a password parameter for encrypted certificate private keys
Works with containers, Node.js, Python, and other resource types

Use a custom certificate

To configure a resource to use a specific X.509 certificate for HTTPS endpoints:

using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Load your certificate
var certificate = new X509Certificate2("path/to/certificate.pfx", "password");

// Use the certificate for HTTPS endpoints
builder.AddContainer("api", "my-api:latest")
    .WithHttpsCertificate(certificate);

// Use certificate with a password parameter
var certPassword = builder.AddParameter("cert-password", secret: true);
builder.AddNpmApp("frontend", "../frontend")
    .WithHttpsCertificate(certificate, certPassword);

builder.Build().Run();

The certificate must:

Include a private key
Be a valid X.509 certificate
Be appropriate for server authentication

Disable HTTPS certificate configuration

To prevent Aspire from configuring any HTTPS certificate for a resource:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Disable automatic HTTPS certificate configuration
var redis = builder.AddRedis("cache")
    .WithoutHttpsCertificate();

builder.Build().Run();

Use WithoutHttpsCertificate when:

The resource doesn’t support HTTPS
You want to manually configure certificates
The resource has its own certificate management

Customize certificate configuration

For resources that need custom certificate configuration logic, use WithHttpsCertificateConfiguration to specify how certificate files should be passed to the resource:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddContainer("api", "my-api:latest")
    .WithHttpsCertificateConfiguration(ctx =>
    {
        // Pass certificate paths as command line arguments
        ctx.Arguments.Add("--tls-cert");
        ctx.Arguments.Add(ctx.CertificatePath);
        ctx.Arguments.Add("--tls-key");
        ctx.Arguments.Add(ctx.KeyPath);

        // Or set environment variables
        ctx.EnvironmentVariables["TLS_CERT_FILE"] = ctx.CertificatePath;
        ctx.EnvironmentVariables["TLS_KEY_FILE"] = ctx.KeyPath;

        // Use PFX format if the resource requires it
        ctx.EnvironmentVariables["TLS_PFX_FILE"] = ctx.PfxPath;

        // Include password if needed
        if (ctx.Password is not null)
        {
            ctx.EnvironmentVariables["TLS_KEY_PASSWORD"] = ctx.Password;
        }

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    });

builder.Build().Run();

The callback receives an HttpsCertificateConfigurationCallbackAnnotationContext that provides:

CertificatePath: Path to the certificate file in PEM format
KeyPath: Path to the private key file in PEM format
PfxPath: Path to the certificate in PFX/PKCS#12 format
Password: The password for the private key, if configured
Arguments: Command line arguments list to modify
EnvironmentVariables: Environment variables dictionary to modify
ExecutionContext: The current execution context
Resource: The resource being configured

Certificate trust configuration

Certificate trust configuration determines which certificates a resource trusts when making outbound HTTPS connections. This is client-side certificate configuration.

When to use certificate trust

Certificate trust customization is valuable when:

Resources need to trust the ASP.NET Core development certificate for local HTTPS communication
Containerized services must communicate with the dashboard over HTTPS
Python or Node.js applications need to trust custom certificate authorities
You’re working with services that have specific certificate trust requirements
Resources need to establish secure telemetry connections to the Aspire dashboard

Development certificate trust

By default, Aspire attempts to add trust for the ASP.NET Core development certificate to resources that wouldn’t otherwise trust it. This enables resources to communicate with the dashboard OTLP collector endpoint over HTTPS and any other HTTPS endpoints secured by the development certificate.

You can control this behavior per resource using the WithDeveloperCertificateTrust API or through AppHost configuration settings.

Configure development certificate trust per resource

To explicitly enable or disable development certificate trust for a specific resource:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Explicitly enable development certificate trust
var nodeApp = builder.AddNpmApp("frontend", "../frontend")
    .WithDeveloperCertificateTrust(trust: true);

// Disable development certificate trust
var pythonApp = builder.AddPythonApp("api", "../api", "main.py")
    .WithDeveloperCertificateTrust(trust: false);

builder.Build().Run();

Certificate authority collections

Certificate authority collections allow you to bundle custom certificates and make them available to resources. You create a collection using the AddCertificateAuthorityCollection method and then reference it from resources that need to trust those certificates.

Create and use a certificate authority collection

using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Load your custom certificates
var certificates = new X509Certificate2Collection();
certificates.ImportFromPemFile("path/to/certificate.pem");

// Create a certificate authority collection
var certBundle = builder.AddCertificateAuthorityCollection("my-bundle")
    .WithCertificates(certificates);

// Apply the certificate bundle to resources
builder.AddNpmApp("my-project", "../myapp")
    .WithCertificateAuthorityCollection(certBundle);

builder.Build().Run();

In the preceding example, the certificate bundle is created with custom certificates and then applied to a Node.js application, enabling it to trust those certificates.

Certificate trust scopes

Certificate trust scopes control how custom certificates interact with a resource’s default trusted certificates. Different scopes provide flexibility in managing certificate trust based on your application’s requirements.

The WithCertificateTrustScope API accepts a CertificateTrustScope value to specify the trust behavior.

Available trust scopes

Aspire supports the following certificate trust scopes:

Append: Appends custom certificates to the default trusted certificates
Override: Replaces the default trusted certificates with only the configured certificates
System: Combines custom certificates with system root certificates and uses them to override the defaults
None: Disables all custom certificate trust configuration

Append mode

Attempts to append the configured certificates to the default trusted certificates for a given resource. This mode is useful when you want to add trust for additional certificates while maintaining trust for the system’s default certificates.

This is the default scope for most resources. For Python resources, only OTEL trust configuration will be applied in this mode.

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddNodeApp("api", "../api")
    .WithCertificateTrustScope(CertificateTrustScope.Append);

builder.Build().Run();

Override mode

Attempts to override a resource to only trust the configured certificates, replacing the default trusted certificates entirely. This mode is useful when you need strict control over which certificates are trusted.

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var certBundle = builder.AddCertificateAuthorityCollection("custom-certs")
    .WithCertificates(myCertificates);

builder.AddPythonModule("api", "./api", "uvicorn")
    .WithCertificateAuthorityCollection(certBundle)
    .WithCertificateTrustScope(CertificateTrustScope.Override);

builder.Build().Run();

System mode

Attempts to combine the configured certificates with the default system root certificates and use them to override the default trusted certificates for a resource. This mode is intended to support Python or other languages that don’t work well with Append mode.

This is the default scope for Python projects because Python only has mechanisms to fully override certificate trust.

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddPythonApp("worker", "../worker", "main.py")
    .WithCertificateTrustScope(CertificateTrustScope.System);

builder.Build().Run();

None mode

Disables all custom certificate trust for the resource, causing it to rely solely on its default certificate trust behavior.

This is the default scope for .NET projects on Windows, as there’s no way to automatically change the default system store source.

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddContainer("service", "myimage")
    .WithCertificateTrustScope(CertificateTrustScope.None);

builder.Build().Run();

Custom certificate trust configuration

For advanced scenarios, you can specify custom certificate trust behavior using a callback API. This callback allows you to customize the command line arguments and environment variables required to configure certificate trust for different resource types.

Configure certificate trust with a callback

Use WithCertificateTrustConfiguration to customize how certificate trust is configured for a resource:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddContainer("api", "myimage")
    .WithCertificateTrustConfiguration(ctx =>
    {
        // Add a command line argument
        ctx.Arguments.Add("--use-system-ca");

        // Set environment variables with certificate paths
        // CertificateBundlePath resolves to the path of the custom certificate bundle file
        ctx.EnvironmentVariables["MY_CUSTOM_CERT_VAR"] = ctx.CertificateBundlePath;

        // CertificateDirectoriesPath resolves to paths containing individual certificates
        ctx.EnvironmentVariables["CERTS_DIR"] = ctx.CertificateDirectoriesPath;

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    });

builder.Build().Run();

The callback receives a CertificateTrustConfigurationCallbackAnnotationContext that provides:

Scope: The CertificateTrustScope for the resource.
Arguments: Command line arguments for the resource. Values can be strings or path providers like CertificateBundlePath or CertificateDirectoriesPath.
EnvironmentVariables: Environment variables for configuring certificate trust. The dictionary key is the environment variable name; values can be strings or path providers. By default, includes SSL_CERT_DIR and may include SSL_CERT_FILE if Override or System scope is configured.
CertificateBundlePath: A value provider that resolves to the path of a custom certificate bundle file.
CertificateDirectoriesPath: A value provider that resolves to paths containing individual certificates.

Default implementations are provided for Node.js, Python, and container resources. Container resources rely on standard OpenSSL configuration options, with default values that support the majority of common Linux distributions.

Configure container certificate paths

For container resources, you can customize where certificates are stored and accessed using WithContainerCertificatePaths:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddContainer("api", "myimage")
    .WithContainerCertificatePaths(
        customCertificatesDestination: "/custom/certs/path",
        defaultCertificateBundlePaths: ["/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"],
        defaultCertificateDirectoryPaths: ["/etc/ssl/certs"]);

builder.Build().Run();

The WithContainerCertificatePaths API accepts three optional parameters:

customCertificatesDestination: Overrides the base path in the container where custom certificate files are placed. If not set or set to null, the default path of /usr/lib/ssl/aspire is used.
defaultCertificateBundlePaths: Overrides the path(s) in the container where a default certificate authority bundle file is located. When the CertificateTrustScope is Override or System, the custom certificate bundle is additionally written to these paths. If not set or set to null, a set of default certificate paths for common Linux distributions is used.
defaultCertificateDirectoryPaths: Overrides the path(s) in the container where individual trusted certificate files are found. When the CertificateTrustScope is Append, these paths are concatenated with the path to the uploaded certificate artifacts. If not set or set to null, a set of default certificate paths for common Linux distributions is used.

Common scenarios

This section demonstrates common patterns for configuring HTTPS endpoints and certificate trust together.

Configure a service with HTTPS and enable dashboard telemetry

A typical scenario is configuring a Node.js service to serve HTTPS traffic while also enabling it to send telemetry to the dashboard:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Configure the service to use developer certificate for HTTPS endpoints
// and trust the developer certificate for outbound connections (like dashboard telemetry)
var frontend = builder.AddNpmApp("frontend", "../frontend")
    .WithHttpsDeveloperCertificate()      // Server cert for HTTPS endpoints
    .WithDeveloperCertificateTrust(true); // Client trust for dashboard

builder.Build().Run();

Enable HTTPS with custom certificates

When working with corporate or custom CA certificates, you can configure both server and client certificates:

using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Load custom certificates
var serverCert = new X509Certificate2("server-cert.pfx", "password");
var customCA = new X509Certificate2Collection();
customCA.Import("corporate-ca.pem");

var caBundle = builder.AddCertificateAuthorityCollection("corporate-certs")
    .WithCertificates(customCA);

// Configure service with custom server cert and CA trust
builder.AddContainer("api", "my-api:latest")
    .WithHttpsCertificate(serverCert)           // Server cert for HTTPS
    .WithCertificateAuthorityCollection(caBundle); // Trust corporate CA

builder.Build().Run();

Configure Redis with TLS

Redis resources can be configured to use HTTPS (TLS) for secure connections:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Configure Redis to use the developer certificate for TLS
var redis = builder.AddRedis("cache")
    .WithHttpsDeveloperCertificate();

// Or disable TLS entirely
var redisNoTls = builder.AddRedis("cache-notls")
    .WithoutHttpsCertificate();

builder.Build().Run();

Disable certificate configuration for specific resources

To disable both HTTPS endpoint configuration and certificate trust for a resource that manages its own certificates:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Disable all automatic certificate configuration
builder.AddPythonModule("api", "./api", "uvicorn")
    .WithoutHttpsCertificate()                    // No server cert config
    .WithCertificateTrustScope(CertificateTrustScope.None); // No client trust config

builder.Build().Run();

Limitations

Certificate configuration has the following limitations:

Currently supported only in run mode, not in publish mode
Not all languages and runtimes support all trust scope modes
Python applications don’t natively support Append mode for certificate trust
Custom certificate configuration requires appropriate runtime support within the resource
HTTPS endpoint APIs are marked as experimental (ASPIRECERTIFICATES001)

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