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Templates Overview

This document provides an overview of the ConnectSoft templates available for generating code, infrastructure, and documentation using the AI Software Factory. Templates are the foundation for generating consistent, high-quality, production-ready solutions that follow ConnectSoft's architectural principles and best practices.

Documentation split: Under Templates & Libraries → Backend Templates, each core template has (AI agents) pages—checklists, blueprint hints, and “do / do not” rules for automation. ConnectSoft.Documentation remains the full technical specification for humans and deep dives; link from agent pages when in doubt.

What Are Templates?

Templates are pre-configured, reusable solution structures that the AI Software Factory uses to generate code, infrastructure, and documentation. Each template embodies:

  • Architectural Patterns - Clean Architecture, DDD, Event-Driven, Cloud-Native
  • Best Practices - Security-first, observability-driven, modular design
  • Technology Stack - .NET Core, Azure, modern frameworks and tools
  • Cross-Cutting Concerns - Logging, metrics, tracing, health checks, resilience

Template Categories

Backend Templates

Base Template

  • Foundation template for all specialized microservice templates
  • Domain-agnostic microservice structure
  • Clean Architecture layout
  • Base bootstrapping and infrastructure
  • See: Base Template overview, topic hub

Specialized microservice templates (Microservice, Identity, Authorization Server, API Gateway, Bot Framework, Health Checks Aggregator, Worker, and similar) include ConnectSoft.BaseTemplate as the base-template/ Git submodule and target .NET 10. Web-hosted templates compose DI in three layers (ApplicationModelRegistrationBase → MicroserviceRegistrationBase → template-specific); the Worker Template uses a simpler worker host without that web-oriented stack. Details: Template Architecture.

Microservice Template

Worker Template

  • Background jobs, message consumers, scheduled work — not the primary HTTP API surface
  • Extends Base with worker host patterns (HangFire / messaging / optional Orleans per scaffold)
  • See: Worker — hub, agent handbook

Identity Backend Template

  • Identity and user management microservice
  • User authentication and authorization
  • Profile management
  • Multi-tenant identity support
  • See: Identity Backend overview, topic hub

Authorization Server Template

API Gateway Template

  • Custom .NET Core reverse proxy gateway
  • Request routing and aggregation
  • Authentication and authorization
  • Rate limiting and throttling
  • Backend for Frontend (BFF) pattern
  • Comprehensive observability
  • See: API Gateway overview, topic hub

Health Checks Aggregator Template

  • Centralized polling and aggregation of downstream HTTP health endpoints
  • Health Checks UI dashboard and historical storage (SQL Server or InMemory)
  • Readiness gate strategies for Kubernetes and load balancers
  • Webhook notifications (Slack, Teams, custom)
  • REST API under /api/health/* plus standard /health, /alive, /startup
  • See: Overview · Features · Configuration · Runbook

Library Templates

Library Template

API Library Template

Platform Templates

Platform Template

  • Multi-service SaaS platform
  • Shared infrastructure
  • Platform capabilities
  • Tenant management
  • Infrastructure as Code using Pulumi (C#) for Azure and AWS
  • See: Platform Template

Frontend Templates

Frontend Templates

Mobile App Templates

  • ConnectSoft.MauiBaseTemplate — MAUI cross-platform kernel; dotnet new short name connectsoft-maui-base (see repo template.json). Not the same as ConnectSoft.BaseTemplate (backend microservice kernel). Agent hub: MAUI Base Template, topics under maui-base-template/overview.md. Narrative spec: ConnectSoft.Documentation — MAUI Base.
  • Flutter / React Native — mentioned in multi-platform agent specs; no ConnectSoft dotnet new template documented here yet.

See also: Mobile App Templates.

Infrastructure Templates

DevOps Templates

  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Infrastructure as Code (Bicep, Terraform, Pulumi)
  • Deployment configurations
  • See: DevOps Templates

Observability Templates

Security and Compliance Templates

Documentation Templates

Documentation Template

Template Architecture

Templates follow a layered architecture that enables:

  • Composition - Templates can be composed together
  • Overlays - Domain-specific overlays extend base templates
  • Reusability - Common patterns shared across templates
  • Extensibility - Templates can be extended and customized

See: Template Architecture Implementation

Template Selection Guide

When to Use Base Template

  • Creating new specialized template overlays
  • Understanding microservice foundation structure
  • Building domain-agnostic microservice infrastructure
  • Extending base template functionality

When to Use Microservice Template

  • Building backend services
  • Creating domain-specific services
  • Implementing business logic
  • Building event-driven services

When to Use Identity Backend Template

  • Building identity and user management services
  • Implementing user authentication
  • Managing user profiles and accounts
  • Creating multi-tenant identity solutions

When to Use Authorization Server Template

  • Building OAuth2/OpenID Connect servers
  • Implementing token-based authentication
  • Creating authorization servers for API access
  • Building SSO (Single Sign-On) solutions

When to Use API Gateway Template

  • Aggregating multiple microservices
  • Implementing API versioning
  • Managing API authentication
  • Rate limiting and throttling

When to Use Health Checks Aggregator Template

  • Operating a platform-wide health hub (dashboard + API) for many services
  • Coordinating readiness with rules over multiple dependencies (critical-only, percentage, tag-based)
  • Alerting stakeholders when downstream health transitions (webhooks)
  • Not for primary business APIs or domain persistence — use Microservice Template for DDD services; this host polls others’ health endpoints rather than replacing them

When to Use Library Template

  • Creating reusable utilities
  • Building domain models
  • Developing business logic libraries
  • Publishing NuGet packages

When to Use API Library Template

  • Integrating with external APIs
  • Building SDKs for services
  • Creating service agent libraries
  • Multi-tenant API clients

When to Use Platform Template

  • Building multi-service platforms
  • Creating SaaS platforms
  • Implementing platform capabilities
  • Managing shared infrastructure

Template DI Alignment Status

All web-hosted extended templates have been aligned to the three-layer DI model. Each template provides a single registration coordinator class inheriting from MicroserviceRegistrationBase that overrides only the hooks where template-specific behavior is needed:

Template Registration Class Strategy
Identity IdentityMicroserviceRegistration Replace + Base+Add for Options/Endpoints
Auth Server AuthServerMicroserviceRegistration Replace + Base+Add for Options/Endpoints
Bot Framework BotFrameworkMicroserviceRegistration Replace + Base+Add for Options/Endpoints
API Gateway ApiGatewayMicroserviceRegistration Replace + Base+Add for Options/Endpoints
Health Checks Aggregator HealthChecksAggregatorRegistration Replace for HealthChecks-specific hooks
Microservice Template MicroserviceTemplateRegistration Replace + Base+Add for Options/Endpoints

Key alignment actions completed:

  • Duplicate extension removal: Infrastructure-only extension files that duplicated base template functionality were removed from all extended templates.
  • OpenTelemetryAttributeName consolidation: Sourced from ConnectSoft.Extensions.Observability NuGet instead of local copies.
  • Program.cs Serilog bootstrap: All templates use SerilogBootstrapExtensions.CreateBootstrapLogger() with #if Serilog guards and .UseSerilogBootstrap().
  • Azure App Configuration null-guard: Applied to all Program.cs and test BeforeAfterTestRunHooks.cs.
  • appsettings alignment: Typos and configuration inconsistencies fixed across all template variants.
  • Test infrastructure: HealthCheckPublisherOptions speed-up added to all TestStartup.ConfigureServices. Redundant acceptance tests (RequestTimeout, Compression) removed where covered by shared libraries.

Template Usage in AI Factory

Templates are used by the AI Software Factory in the following ways:

  1. Agent Generation - Agents use templates to generate code
  2. Blueprint Execution - Blueprints reference templates
  3. Project Bootstrap - Templates scaffold new projects
  4. Code Generation - Templates provide structure for generated code

Template Quality Standards

All ConnectSoft templates must meet:

  • Security Standards - Security-first design, secure defaults
  • Architecture Standards - Clean Architecture, DDD, event-driven
  • Quality Standards - Comprehensive testing, code quality
  • Observability Standards - Logging, metrics, tracing
  • Documentation Standards - Comprehensive documentation