Building Scalable APIs with Vertical Slice Architecture in .NET

In modern software development, creating scalable and maintainable APIs is paramount. Traditional layered architectures often lead to tightly coupled components, making the system rigid and challenging to evolve. Enter Vertical Slice Architecture (VSA) — a design approach that structures applications around features, promoting high cohesion and low coupling.

In this blog post, we will see the principles of VSA and explore how the Vertical-Slice-Architecture repository uses this approach.NET9

Source code: https://github.com/Amitpnk/Vertical-Slice-Architecture

What is Vertical Slice Architecture?

Vertical Slice Architecture organizes code by features rather than technical layers. Each “slice” encapsulates all aspects of a specific feature, including the UI, business logic, and data access. This contrasts with traditional architectures that segregate applications into horizontal layers like Controllers, Services, and Repositories.

Figure: Representation of Vertical Slice Architecture emphasizing feature-centric organization.

The image above illustrates the concept of Vertical Slice Architecture, where each feature, represented as a vertical slice, integrates all necessary components across the UI, Application, Domain, and Infrastructure layers. This ensures each feature is self-contained and simplifies scaling, testing, and maintaining code

Benefits of VSA

• Feature-Centric Organization: Code related to a specific feature is grouped together, enhancing readability and maintainability.
• High Cohesion: Each slice contains all necessary components, reducing dependencies across the system.
• Improved Scalability: New features can be added as new slices without impacting existing functionality.
• Simplified Testing: Isolated slices make unit and integration testing more straightforward.

Vertical-Slice-Architecture Repository

The Vertical-Slice-Architecture repository provides a clean and modular .NET 9 template that leverages VSA principles. Let’s see its key components:

1. Feature-Based Folder Structure: Instead of organizing code by technical concerns, the repository structures the src directory around features. Each feature folder contains all relevant files, such as commands, queries, handlers, and validators. This aligns with the VSA principle of encapsulating all aspects of a feature within a single slice.
2. CQRS (without MediatR): The repository implements the Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) pattern. Commands and queries are defined as separate request classes, each handled by its respective handler. This separation ensures clear delineation between operations that modify state and those that retrieve data.
3. Validation with FluentValidation: Input validation is handled using FluentValidation. Each command or query has an associated validator class, ensuring that incoming data meets the required criteria before processing. This promotes robustness and prevents invalid data from propagating through the system.
4. Data Access with EF Core: The repository demonstrates flexibility in data access by incorporating both Entity Framework Core and Dapper. This choice allows developers to select the most appropriate tool for each feature, balancing the richness of EF Core with the performance of Dapper.
5. Testing with xUnit and FakeItEasy: Comprehensive testing is facilitated using xUnit for unit tests and FakeItEasy for mocking dependencies. The test directory contains tests that validate the behavior of individual slices, ensuring reliability and facilitating regression testing.
6. Infrastructure and Deployment: The repository includes Docker configurations (docker-compose.yml) and Kubernetes manifests (k8s directory), enabling containerization and orchestration of the application. This setup supports scalable deployment strategies and aligns with modern DevOps practices (using Github Actions)

Implementing a New Feature: A Step-by-Step Guide

Adding a new feature in this VSA-based architecture involves creating a new slice that encapsulates all necessary components. Here’s a simplified guide,

1. Define the Request: Create a command or query class representing the operation.
2. Implement the Handler: Develop a handler class that processes the request.
3. Add Validation: Create a validator class using FluentValidation to enforce input rules.
4. Configure Routing: Set up the endpoint in the API to route requests to the handler.
5. Write Tests: Develop unit and integration tests to verify the feature’s behavior.

This approach ensures that each feature is self-contained, promoting maintainability and scalability.

Conclusion

The Vertical-Slice-Architecture repository serves as a practical example of applying Vertical Slice Architecture in .NET 9. By organizing code around features and leveraging patterns like CQRS and FluentValidation, it provides a robust foundation for building scalable and maintainable APIs.

Adopting VSA can lead to more organized codebases, simplified testing, and easier onboarding for new developers. As applications grow in complexity, this architecture offers a clear path to managing that complexity effectively.