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.NET Aspire hosting integrations provide extension methods for adding popular services and resources to your distributed application. These integrations handle container orchestration, configuration, and connection management automatically.

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What are Hosting Integrations?

Hosting integrations extend the IDistributedApplicationBuilder with methods that add resources to your application model. Each integration:
  • Manages container lifecycle for local development
  • Configures connection strings and environment variables
  • Provides health checks for dependent services
  • Supports cloud deployment scenarios

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Available Integrations

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Databases

.NET Aspire includes hosting integrations for popular databases:
  • PostgreSQL - Open-source relational database
  • SQL Server - Microsoft’s enterprise relational database
  • Redis - In-memory data store for caching
  • MongoDB - Document-oriented NoSQL database

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Messaging

Message queue and streaming integrations:

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Azure Services

.NET Aspire provides first-class support for Azure services:

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How to Use Hosting Integrations

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Installation

Install the hosting integration package for the service you want to use: 
dotnet add package Aspire.Hosting.PostgreSQL

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Add to AppHost

In your AppHost project, use the AddXxx extension methods: 
var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var postgres = builder.AddPostgres("postgres")
                      .AddDatabase("mydb");

var api = builder.AddProject<Projects.Api>("api")
                 .WithReference(postgres);

builder.Build().Run();

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Reference from Services

When you use WithReference, connection information is automatically passed to the dependent service: 
// In your service's Program.cs
builder.AddNpgsqlDbContext<MyDbContext>("mydb");

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Common Patterns

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Adding Resources with Configuration

Many integrations support configuration options: 
var redis = builder.AddRedis("cache", port: 6379);
var sqlserver = builder.AddSqlServer("sql", password: myPassword, port: 1433);

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Using Volumes for Persistence

Add volumes to persist data across container restarts: 
var postgres = builder.AddPostgres("postgres")
                      .WithDataVolume();

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Adding Multiple Databases

Create multiple databases on a single server resource: 
var postgres = builder.AddPostgres("postgres");
var db1 = postgres.AddDatabase("database1");
var db2 = postgres.AddDatabase("database2");

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Health Checks

Hosting integrations include built-in health checks. Use WaitFor to ensure dependencies are ready: 
var api = builder.AddProject<Projects.Api>("api")
                 .WithReference(postgres)
                 .WaitFor(postgres);

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Connection Properties

Each hosting integration exposes connection properties as environment variables. The naming convention is [RESOURCE]_[PROPERTY]. For example, a resource named db with a Uri property becomes the environment variable DB_URI. See individual integration pages for specific connection properties.

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Next Steps

PostgreSQL

Add PostgreSQL database to your application

Redis

Add Redis caching to your application

Azure Services

Integrate with Azure cloud services

RabbitMQ

Add message queuing with RabbitMQ

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