Aspire glossary

Aspire resources/Glossary

Glossary

Aspire resources Glossary

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A

AppHost

Foundations

The executable application model that declares your services, resources, connections, and local orchestration.

Model a frontend, an API, and a PostgreSQL database together, then give the API a database reference and an explicit readiness dependency.

In practice: AppHostFull definition

Aspire dashboard

Dashboard

A web interface for exploring resource status, console output, structured logs, distributed traces, and metrics.

Follow a failing frontend request into an API trace, then inspect the API's logs and database resource health.

In practice: Aspire dashboardFull definition

Aspire Type System

FoundationsIntegrations

A portable contract that exposes Aspire's .NET hosting APIs to supported guest languages through generated SDKs.

In a TypeScript AppHost, adding Redis calls a generated SDK method that invokes the exported hosting API in Aspire's .NET host.

In practice: Aspire Type SystemFull definition

C

Client integration

Integrations

An integration used inside an application to configure a service client, often with dependency injection, health checks, and telemetry.

A .NET API uses Aspire.Npgsql to register an Npgsql data source using the connection string supplied for its database.

In practice: Client integrationFull definition

Compute environment

Deployment

A resource representing a deployment target that contributes pipeline steps for compatible application resources.

Add a Kubernetes compute environment and bind your API to it so Aspire can produce the target-specific deployment output.

In practice: Compute environmentFull definition

Connection string

FoundationsIntegrations

A formatted value containing the address and options a client needs to connect to a database, cache, or similar service.

A database named catalog supplies ConnectionStrings__catalog to a referencing service, which passes it to its database client.

In practice: Connection stringFull definition

D

DAG

ReferenceFoundations

A directed acyclic graph: nodes connected by directional edges, with no path that loops back to its starting node.

An API waits for a migration job, which waits for a database. A reverse wait from the database to the API would create a cycle.

In practice: DAGFull definition

Deferred evaluation

Reference

Resolving or computing a value only when the information needed to produce it is available.

Resolve a service's allocated port after endpoint allocation rather than trying to read it while the AppHost is still declaring resources.

In practice: Deferred evaluationFull definition

Deployment pipeline

Deployment

A dependency-aware set of steps that builds, publishes, or deploys resources from the Aspire application model.

Build a service's container image before pushing it to a registry, then deploy it to a compute environment as part of the same pipeline.

In practice: Deployment pipelineFull definition

Distributed application

Foundations

An application whose parts communicate across process or network boundaries, rather than running as a single unit.

A storefront calls a product API, which reads a database and writes messages to a queue. Aspire models these parts together.

In practice: Distributed applicationFull definition

E

Emulator pattern

Integrations

Replaces a supported cloud resource with a local emulator for development while keeping the resource in the application model.

Use the Azure Storage integration's emulator support to run Azurite locally instead of connecting to a live storage account.

In practice: Emulator patternFull definition

Endpoint

Foundations

A named network access point on a resource, describing how clients can reach it through a scheme, host, and port.

Give an API an HTTP endpoint, then reference it from a frontend so the frontend can discover its address without hard-coding a port.

In practice: EndpointFull definition

Environment variable

Foundations

A process-level name and value used to pass configuration, endpoints, and connection information to an application.

Inspect a service's environment in the dashboard to see which connection strings and endpoint settings the AppHost supplied.

In practice: Environment variableFull definition

Existing resource pattern

IntegrationsDeployment

Connects an application to a dependency that already exists instead of creating and managing a new instance.

Supply a shared database's connection string in AppHost configuration and reference it from an API without starting another database container.

In practice: Existing resource patternFull definition

H

Health check

FoundationsDashboard

A probe that reports whether a service or dependency is functioning, with separate roles for orchestration and application endpoints.

Configure an AppHost check to gate API startup, and expose application readiness and liveness endpoints for your deployment platform.

In practice: Health checkFull definition

Heterogeneous DAG

Reference

A dependency graph containing different kinds of nodes, such as application projects, containers, cloud resources, and parameters.

One application model connects an API project, a database container, and a password parameter instead of treating all nodes as processes.

In practice: Heterogeneous DAGFull definition

Hoisting

ReferenceDeployment

In resource publishing, preserving an unresolved value for substitution at a later deployment or runtime stage.

Keep a resource endpoint as a deployment-time reference instead of embedding the localhost address allocated during development.

In practice: HoistingFull definition

Hosting and client relationship

Integrations

The division between modeling a dependency in the AppHost and connecting to that dependency inside an application.

The AppHost provisions connection information for a named database; the API uses its database client to open the connection.

In practice: Hosting and client relationshipFull definition

Hosting integration

Integrations

An Aspire integration that adds and configures resources in the AppHost application model.

Use the PostgreSQL hosting integration to model a database server, add a database, and expose connection information to consumers.

In practice: Hosting integrationFull definition

I

IResourceAnnotation

Reference

The .NET interface for typed metadata attached to an Aspire resource to describe configuration or behavior.

An integration attaches endpoint or environment annotations to a resource so orchestration and publishing can interpret them later.

In practice: IResourceAnnotationFull definition

L

Lifecycle events

Reference

Signals emitted at application or resource lifecycle stages so handlers can participate in orchestration.

An integration responds when endpoints have been allocated or just before a resource starts to perform stage-specific setup.

In practice: Lifecycle eventsFull definition

O

OpenTelemetry

Dashboard

A standard and ecosystem for collecting and exporting logs, traces, and metrics from instrumented applications.

Instrument your API and export its telemetry to the Aspire dashboard to connect request traces with structured logs and performance metrics.

In practice: OpenTelemetryFull definition

OpenTelemetry Protocol

Dashboard

The protocol used to transmit telemetry such as logs, traces, and metrics from instrumented apps to a receiver.

Configure your API's OpenTelemetry exporter with the dashboard's OTLP endpoint to send its logs, traces, and metrics to Aspire.

In practice: OpenTelemetry ProtocolFull definition

P

Parameter

FoundationsDeployment

A resource representing an external configuration value, such as a secret or setting that varies between environments.

Declare an API key as a secret parameter, supply its value through configuration, and pass it to the service that needs it.

In practice: ParameterFull definition

Polyglot

Foundations

Describes an application or toolchain that uses multiple programming languages, with Aspire coordinating its resources.

Use a TypeScript or C# AppHost to coordinate a Python API, a JavaScript frontend, and a database without rewriting the services.

In practice: PolyglotFull definition

Publish mode

Deployment

The AppHost execution mode that produces deployment artifacts from the application model using configured deployment integrations.

Configure a Docker Compose environment, then publish deployment output for a CI/CD pipeline rather than launching the development application.

In practice: Publish modeFull definition

Publisher

DeploymentReference

A component that interprets the application model and emits deployment artifacts for a particular target or format.

A deployment integration reads resources and their references to generate target-specific configuration instead of starting local processes.

In practice: PublisherFull definition

R

ReferenceExpression

Reference

A structured expression that combines text and resource value references without resolving those references too early.

Compose a database connection string from an endpoint and a secret parameter while preserving both references for run or publish mode.

In practice: ReferenceExpressionFull definition

Resource

Foundations

A building block in the Aspire application model, such as a service, container, executable, cloud resource, or parameter.

An API, its PostgreSQL database, and the password parameter used by that database are three different resources in one AppHost.

In practice: ResourceFull definition

Resource command

DashboardFoundations

A named operation attached to a resource that lets a developer trigger work such as clearing a cache or seeding data.

Attach a clear-cache command to a Redis resource so a developer can reset cached data without restarting the entire app.

In practice: Resource commandFull definition

Resource lifetime

Foundations

The policy that determines when Aspire starts, retains, or disposes of a container, executable, or project resource.

Keep a database resource running while you restart the AppHost, and configure a data volume separately to preserve its data if it is recreated.

In practice: Resource lifetimeFull definition

ResourceNotificationService

ReferenceDashboard

An AppHost service that publishes resource state snapshots for observers such as the dashboard and orchestration.

A custom resource integration publishes a new status snapshot when its provisioning operation changes state.

In practice: ResourceNotificationServiceFull definition

Run mode

Foundations

The AppHost execution mode used to orchestrate an application's resources during local development.

Run aspire run to start your AppHost, launch local workloads, and inspect their status in the dashboard.

In practice: Run modeFull definition

S

Service defaults

FoundationsDashboard

Shared .NET application setup for telemetry, health checks, service discovery, and HTTP resilience that you explicitly opt into.

Reference your solution's ServiceDefaults project and call AddServiceDefaults in each participating .NET service; map health endpoints separately.

In practice: Service defaultsFull definition

Service discovery

Foundations

Resolves logical service names to configured endpoints so clients do not need hard-coded network addresses.

A frontend calls an API by its logical name while the AppHost supplies the API's actual endpoint configuration.

In practice: Service discoveryFull definition

W

WaitFor

FoundationsReference

Delays a resource's startup until a dependency is running and its configured health checks pass.

Wait for PostgreSQL before starting an API so its initial database connection is not attempted before the configured readiness checks succeed.

In practice: WaitForFull definition

WaitForCompletion

FoundationsReference

Delays startup until a dependency exits with the expected exit code, rather than only waiting for it to run.

Run a database migration resource to completion before starting the API that depends on the updated schema.

In practice: WaitForCompletionFull definition

WaitForStart

FoundationsReference

Delays startup until a dependency reaches the running state, without waiting for its health checks.

Start a consumer after a dependency's process starts when the consumer can tolerate initial connection failures and retry safely.

In practice: WaitForStartFull definition

WithAnnotation

Reference

A C# resource-builder extension method that attaches typed annotation metadata to a resource.

A C# hosting integration attaches a custom annotation, then its orchestration or publishing logic reads that metadata.

In practice: WithAnnotationFull definition

WithReference

FoundationsReference

Supplies a consuming resource with connection strings or service endpoint configuration from another resource.

Give an API a reference to a named PostgreSQL database to supply its connection string. Add WaitFor separately if startup must wait for readiness.

In practice: WithReferenceFull definition

Explore related guides and samples in Resources.