A thin layer of extension methods over ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs for more explicit and enjoyable web development.
Carter is a lightweight framework that extends ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs with additional functionality and extension methods to simplify web API development. It solves common pain points like request validation, file upload handling, and content negotiation by providing elegant, built-in solutions that reduce boilerplate code.
ASP.NET Core developers building web APIs who want a more structured and enjoyable experience than raw Minimal APIs, without the overhead of a full MVC framework.
Developers choose Carter for its thin, non-intrusive layer that enhances ASP.NET Core with practical extensions, automatic DI registration, and modular routing—making API development faster and more maintainable while staying close to the platform's performance.
Carter is framework that is a thin layer of extension methods and functionality over ASP.NET Core allowing code to be more explicit and most importantly more enjoyable.
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Integrates FluentValidation to validate HTTP requests with Validate<T> extensions, returning 422 Problem Details responses—a feature missing from native ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs.
Provides BindFile and BindFilesAndSave extensions to easily bind and save uploaded files in route handlers, simplifying a common but tedious web API task.
Supports custom response formatting via IResponseNegotiator interfaces, allowing multiple resource representations based on Accept headers, with built-in JSON and Newtonsoft.Json options.
Automatically scans and registers Carter components like modules and validators into ASP.NET Core's dependency injection container, reducing manual setup boilerplate.
Adds a thin framework on top of Minimal APIs, which can obscure direct access to native ASP.NET Core features and introduce complexity for simple or performance-critical projects.
Requires adopting the ICarterModule pattern for routing, which may feel unnecessary for developers comfortable with inline Minimal API endpoints or those preferring convention-based MVC controllers.
Mandates use of FluentValidation for request validation, adding an external library dependency that teams not already using it might find intrusive or redundant.