Get started with the Garnet integrations

Garnet is an open-source, high-performance in-memory cache and key/value store from Microsoft Research that speaks the Redis serialization protocol (RESP). The Aspire Garnet integration lets you model a Garnet server as a first-class resource in your AppHost, then hand the connection information to any consuming app — regardless of language.

Why use Garnet with Aspire

Adding Garnet through Aspire — rather than wiring up containers and connection strings by hand — gives you:

• Zero-config local development. Aspire runs Garnet from the ghcr.io/microsoft/garnet container image with credentials generated automatically for you.
• Consistent connection info across languages. Once you reference the Garnet resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects connection properties as environment variables in a predictable format that works from C#, TypeScript, Python, Go, or any other language.
• Built-in health checks. The hosting integration automatically registers a health check so the dashboard and your orchestrator can tell when Garnet is ready.
• Dashboard observability. The Garnet resource shows up in the Aspire dashboard with logs, status, and telemetry alongside your other services.
• Reuse the C# Redis client integration. Because Garnet is RESP-compatible, C# apps can use the Aspire.StackExchange.Redis package for dependency injection, health checks, and OpenTelemetry — all wired up from the same resource name.

How the pieces fit together

The Garnet integration has two sides: a hosting integration that you use in your AppHost to model the Garnet resource, and a connection story for consuming apps that reference it.

architecture-beta

  group apphost(server)[AppHost]
  group consumer(server)[Consuming app]

  service hosting(server)[Hosting integration] in apphost
  service garnet(server)[Garnet server] in apphost

  service client(iconoir:server-connection)[Client integration] in consumer
  service app(server)[App] in consumer

  hosting:R --> L:garnet
  garnet:R --> L:client
  client:R --> L:app

The hosting integration lives in your AppHost project and models the Garnet server as a resource. The client integration lives in each consuming app and uses the connection information Aspire injects to talk to Garnet.

Getting there is a two-step process: model the Garnet resource in your AppHost, then connect to it from each app that needs it.

1. Model Garnet in your AppHost

   Add the Garnet hosting integration to your AppHost, then declare a Garnet resource and reference it from the apps that need to talk to the cache. The Garnet Hosting integration article walks through every capability — data volumes, data bind mounts, persistence snapshots, and custom parameters — with side-by-side C# and TypeScript examples.

   Set up Garnet in the AppHost

2. Connect from your consuming app

   When you reference a Garnet resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects its connection information as environment variables. See Connect to Garnet for the connection properties reference and per-language examples for C#, Go, Python, and TypeScript — including the full C# client integration that’s shared with Redis.

   Connect to Garnet

See also

• Valkey integration — Valkey shares the same client integration as Garnet and Redis.
• Redis integration — Garnet shares the same client integration as Redis.
• Redis distributed caching
• Redis output caching