.NET Aspire manifest format for deployment tool builders

Article
03/29/2024

In this article, you learn about the .NET Aspire manifest format. This article serves as a reference guide for deployment tool builders, aiding in the creation of tooling to deploy .NET Aspire projects on specific hosting platforms, whether on-premises or in the cloud.

.NET Aspire simplifies the local development experience by helping to manage interdependencies between application integrations. To help simplify the deployment of applications, .NET Aspire projects can generate a manifest of all the resources defined as a JSON formatted file.

Generate a manifest

A valid .NET Aspire project is required to generate a manifest. To get started, create a .NET Aspire project using the aspire-starter .NET template:

dotnet new aspire-starter --use-redis-cache `
    -o AspireApp && `
    cd AspireApp

Manifest generation is achieved by running dotnet build with a special target:

dotnet run --project AspireApp.AppHost\AspireApp.AppHost.csproj `
    --publisher manifest `
    --output-path ../aspire-manifest.json

Tip

The --output-path supports relative paths. The previous command uses ../aspire-manifest.json to place the manifest file in the root of the project directory.

For more information, see dotnet run. The previous command produces the following output:

Building...
info: Aspire.Hosting.Publishing.ManifestPublisher[0]
      Published manifest to: .\AspireApp.AppHost\aspire-manifest.json

The file generated is the .NET Aspire manifest and is used by tools to support deploying into target cloud environments.

Note

You can also generate a manifest as part of the launch profile. Consider the following launchSettings.json:

{
  "$schema": "http://json.schemastore.org/launchsettings.json",
  "profiles": {
    "generate-manifest": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "launchBrowser": false,
      "dotnetRunMessages": true,
      "commandLineArgs": "--publisher manifest --output-path aspire-manifest.json"
    }
  }
}

Basic manifest format

Publishing the manifest from the default starter template for .NET Aspire produces the following JSON output:

{
  "resources": {
    "cache": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "{cache.bindings.tcp.host}:{cache.bindings.tcp.port}",
      "image": "redis:7.2.4",
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 6379
        }
      }
    },
    "apiservice": {
      "type": "project.v0",
      "path": "../AspireApp.ApiService/AspireApp.ApiService.csproj",
      "env": {
        "OTEL_DOTNET_EXPERIMENTAL_OTLP_EMIT_EXCEPTION_LOG_ATTRIBUTES": "true",
        "OTEL_DOTNET_EXPERIMENTAL_OTLP_EMIT_EVENT_LOG_ATTRIBUTES": "true"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "http": {
          "scheme": "http",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "http"
        },
        "https": {
          "scheme": "https",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "http"
        }
      }
    },
    "webfrontend": {
      "type": "project.v0",
      "path": "../AspireApp.Web/AspireApp.Web.csproj",
      "env": {
        "OTEL_DOTNET_EXPERIMENTAL_OTLP_EMIT_EXCEPTION_LOG_ATTRIBUTES": "true",
        "OTEL_DOTNET_EXPERIMENTAL_OTLP_EMIT_EVENT_LOG_ATTRIBUTES": "true",
        "ConnectionStrings__cache": "{cache.connectionString}",
        "services__apiservice__0": "{apiservice.bindings.http.url}",
        "services__apiservice__1": "{apiservice.bindings.https.url}"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "http": {
          "scheme": "http",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "http"
        },
        "https": {
          "scheme": "https",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "http"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The manifest format JSON consists of a single object called resources, which contains a property for each resource specified in Program.cs (the name argument for each name is used as the property for each of the child resource objects in JSON).

Connection string and binding references

In the previous example, there are two project resources and one Redis cache resource. The webfrontend depends on both the apiservice (project) and cache (Redis) resources.

This dependency is known because the environment variables for the webfrontend contain placeholders that reference the two other resources:

"env": {
  // ... other environment variables omitted for clarity
  "ConnectionStrings__cache": "{cache.connectionString}",
  "services__apiservice__0": "{apiservice.bindings.http.url}",
  "services__apiservice__1": "{apiservice.bindings.https.url}"
},

The apiservice resource is referenced by webfrontend using the call WithReference(apiservice) in the app host Program.cs file and redis is referenced using the call WithReference(cache):

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var cache = builder.AddRedis("cache");

var apiService = builder.AddProject<Projects.AspireApp_ApiService>("apiservice");

builder.AddProject<Projects.AspireApp_Web>("webfrontend")
    .WithReference(cache)
    .WithReference(apiService);

builder.Build().Run();

References between project resource types result in service discovery variables being injected into the referencing project. References to well known reference types such as Redis result in connection strings being injected.

For more information on how resources in the app model and references between them work, see, .NET Aspire orchestration overview.

Placeholder string structure

Placeholder strings reference the structure of the .NET Aspire manifest:

The final segment of the placeholder string (url in this case) is generated by the tool processing the manifest. There are several suffixes that could be used on the placeholder string:

connectionString: For well-known resource types such as Redis. Deployment tools translate the resource in the most appropriate infrastructure for the target cloud environment and then produce a .NET Aspire compatible connection string for the consuming application to use. On container.v0 resources the connectionString field may be present and specified explicitly. This is to support scenarios where a container resource type is referenced using the WithReference extension but is desired to be hosted explicitly as a container.
url: For service-to-service references where a well-formed URL is required. The deployment tool produces the url based on the scheme, protocol, and transport defined in the manifest and the underlying compute/networking topology that was deployed.
host: The host segment of the URL.
port: The port segment of the URL.

Resource types

Each resource has a type field. When a deployment tool reads the manifest, it should read the type to verify whether it can correctly process the manifest. During the .NET Aspire preview period, all resource types have a v0 suffix to indicate that they're subject to change. As .NET Aspire approaches release a v1 suffix will be used to signify that the structure of the manifest for that resource type should be considered stable (subsequent updates increment the version number accordingly).

Common resource fields

The type field is the only field that is common across all resource types, however, the project.v0, container.v0, and executable.v0 resource types also share the env and bindings fields.

Note

The executable.v0 resource type isn't fully implemented in the manifest due to its lack of utility in deployment scenarios. For more information on containerizing executables, see Dockerfile resource types.

The env field type is a basic key/value mapping where the values might contain placeholder strings.

Bindings are specified in the bindings field with each binding contained within its own field under the bindings JSON object. The fields omitted by the .NET Aspire manifest in the bindings node include:

scheme: One of the following values tcp, udp, http, or https.
protocol: One of the following values tcp or udp
transport: Same as scheme, but used to disambiguate between http and http2.
containerPort: Optional, if omitted defaults to port 80.

The `inputs` field

Some resources generate an inputs field. This field is used to specify input parameters for the resource. The inputs field is a JSON object where each property is an input parameter that's used in placeholder structure resolution. Resources that have a connectionString, for example, might use the inputs field to specify a password for the connection string:

"connectionString": "Host={<resourceName>.bindings.tcp.host};Port={<resourceName>.bindings.tcp.port};Username=admin;Password={<resourceName>.inputs.password};"

The connection string placeholder references the password input parameter from the inputs field:

"inputs": {
  "password": {
    "type": "string",
    "secret": true,
    "default": {
      "generate": {
        "minLength": 10
      }
    }
  }
}

The preceding JSON snippet shows the inputs field for a resource that has a connectionString field. The password input parameter is a string type and is marked as a secret. The default field is used to specify a default value for the input parameter. In this case, the default value is generated using the generate field, with random string of a minimum length.

Built-in resources

The following table is a list of resource types that are explicitly generated by .NET Aspire and extensions developed by the .NET Aspire team:

Cloud-agnostic resource types

These resources are available in the 📦 Aspire.Hosting NuGet package.

App model usage	Manifest resource type	Heading link
AddContainer	`container.v0`	Container resource type
`PublishAsDockerFile`	`dockerfile.v0`	Dockerfile resource types
AddDatabase	`value.v0`	MongoDB Server resource types
AddMongoDB	`container.v0`	MongoDB resource types
AddDatabase	`value.v0`	MySQL Server resource types
AddMySql	`container.v0`	MySQL resource types
AddDatabase	`value.v0`	Postgres resource types
AddPostgres	`container.v0`	Postgres resource types
AddProject	`project.v0`	Project resource type
AddRabbitMQ	`container.v0`	RabbitMQ resource types
AddRedis	`container.v0`	Redis resource type
AddDatabase	`value.v0`	SQL Server resource types
AddSqlServer	`container.v0`	SQL Server resource types

Project resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var apiservice = builder.AddProject<Projects.AspireApp_ApiService>("apiservice");

Example manifest:

"apiservice": {
  "type": "project.v0",
  "path": "../AspireApp.ApiService/AspireApp.ApiService.csproj",
  "env": {
    "OTEL_DOTNET_EXPERIMENTAL_OTLP_EMIT_EXCEPTION_LOG_ATTRIBUTES": "true",
    "OTEL_DOTNET_EXPERIMENTAL_OTLP_EMIT_EVENT_LOG_ATTRIBUTES": "true"
  },
  "bindings": {
    "http": {
      "scheme": "http",
      "protocol": "tcp",
      "transport": "http"
    },
    "https": {
      "scheme": "https",
      "protocol": "tcp",
      "transport": "http"
    }
  }
}

Container resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddContainer("mycontainer", "myimage")
       .WithEnvironment("LOG_LEVEL", "WARN")
       .WithHttpEndpoint(3000);

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "mycontainer": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "image": "myimage:latest",
      "env": {
        "LOG_LEVEL": "WARN"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "http": {
          "scheme": "http",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "http",
          "containerPort": 3000
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Dockerfile resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddNodeApp("nodeapp", "../nodeapp/app.js")
       .WithHttpEndpoint(hostPort: 5031, env: "PORT")
       .PublishAsDockerFile();

Tip

The PublishAsDockerFile call is required to generate the Dockerfile resource type in the manifest, and this extension method is only available on the ExecutableResource type.

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "nodeapp": {
      "type": "dockerfile.v0",
      "path": "../nodeapp/Dockerfile",
      "context": "../nodeapp",
      "env": {
        "NODE_ENV": "development",
        "PORT": "{nodeapp.bindings.http.port}"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "http": {
          "scheme": "http",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "http",
          "containerPort": 5031
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Postgres resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddPostgres("postgres1")
       .AddDatabase("shipping");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "postgres1": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "Host={postgres1.bindings.tcp.host};Port={postgres1.bindings.tcp.port};Username=postgres;Password={postgres1.inputs.password}",
      "image": "postgres:16.2",
      "env": {
        "POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD": "scram-sha-256",
        "POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS": "--auth-host=scram-sha-256 --auth-local=scram-sha-256",
        "POSTGRES_PASSWORD": "{postgres1.inputs.password}"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 5432
        }
      },
      "inputs": {
        "password": {
          "type": "string",
          "secret": true,
          "default": {
            "generate": {
              "minLength": 10
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "shipping": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{postgres1.connectionString};Database=shipping"
    }
  }
}

RabbitMQ resource types

RabbitMQ is modeled as a container resource container.v0. The following sample shows how they're added to the app model.

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddRabbitMQ("rabbitmq1");

The previous code produces the following manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "rabbitmq1": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "amqp://guest:{rabbitmq1.inputs.password}@{rabbitmq1.bindings.tcp.host}:{rabbitmq1.bindings.tcp.port}",
      "image": "rabbitmq:3",
      "env": {
        "RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER": "guest",
        "RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS": "{rabbitmq1.inputs.password}"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 5672
        }
      },
      "inputs": {
        "password": {
          "type": "string",
          "secret": true,
          "default": {
            "generate": {
              "minLength": 10
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Redis resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddRedis("redis1");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "redis1": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "{redis1.bindings.tcp.host}:{redis1.bindings.tcp.port}",
      "image": "redis:7.2.4",
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 6379
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

SQL Server resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddSqlServer("sql1")
       .AddDatabase("shipping");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "sql1": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "Server={sql1.bindings.tcp.host},{sql1.bindings.tcp.port};User ID=sa;Password={sql1.inputs.password};TrustServerCertificate=true",
      "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest",
      "env": {
        "ACCEPT_EULA": "Y",
        "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD": "{sql1.inputs.password}"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 1433
        }
      },
      "inputs": {
        "password": {
          "type": "string",
          "secret": true,
          "default": {
            "generate": {
              "minLength": 10
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "shipping": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{sql1.connectionString};Database=shipping"
    }
  }
}

MongoDB resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddMongoDB("mongodb1")
       .AddDatabase("shipping");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "mongodb1": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "mongodb://{mongodb1.bindings.tcp.host}:{mongodb1.bindings.tcp.port}",
      "image": "mongo:7.0.5",
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 27017
        }
      }
    },
    "shipping": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{mongodb1.connectionString}/shipping"
    }
  }
}

MySQL resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddMySql("mysql1")
       .AddDatabase("shipping");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "mysql1": {
      "type": "container.v0",
      "connectionString": "Server={mysql1.bindings.tcp.host};Port={mysql1.bindings.tcp.port};User ID=root;Password={mysql1.inputs.password}",
      "image": "mysql:8.3.0",
      "env": {
        "MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD": "{mysql1.inputs.password}"
      },
      "bindings": {
        "tcp": {
          "scheme": "tcp",
          "protocol": "tcp",
          "transport": "tcp",
          "containerPort": 3306
        }
      },
      "inputs": {
        "password": {
          "type": "string",
          "secret": true,
          "default": {
            "generate": {
              "minLength": 10
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "shipping": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{mysql1.connectionString};Database=shipping"
    }
  }
}

Azure-specific resource types

The following resources are available in the 📦 Aspire.Hosting.Azure NuGet package.

App Model usage	Manifest resource type	Heading link
AddAzureAppConfiguration	`azure.bicep.v0`	Azure App Configuration resource types
AddAzureKeyVault	`azure.bicep.v0`	Azure Key Vault resource type
`AddAzureRedis`	`azure.bicep.v0`	Azure Redis resource types
AddAzureServiceBus	`azure.bicep.v0`	Azure Service Bus resource type
`AddAzureSqlServer(...)`	`azure.bicep.v0`	Azure SQL resource types
`AddAzureSqlServer(...).AddDatabase(...)`	`value.v0`	Azure SQL resource types
`AddAzurePostgresFlexibleServer(...)`	`azure.bicep.v0`	Azure Postgres resource types
`AddAzurePostgresFlexibleServer(...).AddDatabase(...)`	`value.v0`	Azure Postgres resource types
AddAzureStorage	`azure.storage.v0`	Azure Storage resource types
AddBlobs	`value.v0`	Azure Storage resource types
AddQueues	`value.v0`	Azure Storage resource types
AddTables	`value.v0`	Azure Storage resource types

Azure Key Vault resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureKeyVault("keyvault1");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "keyvault1": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "connectionString": "{keyvault1.outputs.vaultUri}",
      "path": "aspire.hosting.azure.bicep.keyvault.bicep",
      "params": {
        "principalId": "",
        "principalType": "",
        "vaultName": "keyvault1"
      }
    }
  }
}

Azure Service Bus resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureServiceBus("sb1")
       .AddTopic("topic1", [])
       .AddTopic("topic2", [])
       .AddQueue("queue1")
       .AddQueue("queue2");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "sb1": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "connectionString": "{sb1.outputs.serviceBusEndpoint}",
      "path": "aspire.hosting.azure.bicep.servicebus.bicep",
      "params": {
        "serviceBusNamespaceName": "sb1",
        "principalId": "",
        "principalType": "",
        "queues": [
          "queue1",
          "queue2"
        ],
        "topics": [
          {
            "name": "topic1",
            "subscriptions": []
          },
          {
            "name": "topic2",
            "subscriptions": []
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Azure Storage resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var storage = builder.AddAzureStorage("images");

storage.AddBlobs("blobs");
storage.AddQueues("queues");
storage.AddTables("tables");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "images": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "path": "aspire.hosting.azure.bicep.storage.bicep",
      "params": {
        "principalId": "",
        "principalType": "",
        "storageName": "images"
      }
    },
    "blobs": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{images.outputs.blobEndpoint}"
    },
    "queues": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{images.outputs.queueEndpoint}"
    },
    "tables": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{images.outputs.tableEndpoint}"
    }
  }
}

Azure Redis resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureRedis("azredis1");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "azredis": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "connectionString": "{azredis.outputs.connectionString}",
      "path": "azredis.module.bicep",
      "params": {
        "principalId": "",
        "principalName": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

Azure App Configuration resource type

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureAppConfiguration("appconfig1");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "appconfig1": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "connectionString": "{appconfig1.outputs.appConfigEndpoint}",
      "path": "aspire.hosting.azure.bicep.appconfig.bicep",
      "params": {
        "configName": "appconfig1",
        "principalId": "",
        "principalType": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

Azure SQL resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzureSqlServer("sql")
       .AddDatabase("inventory");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "sql": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "connectionString": "Server=tcp:{sql.outputs.sqlServerFqdn},1433;Encrypt=True;Authentication=\u0022Active Directory Default\u0022",
      "path": "sql.module.bicep",
      "params": {
        "principalId": "",
        "principalName": ""
      }
    },
    "inventory": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{sql.connectionString};Database=inventory"
    }
  }
}

Azure Postgres resource types

Example code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.AddAzurePostgresFlexibleServer("postgres")
       .AddDatabase("db");

Example manifest:

{
  "resources": {
    "postgres": {
      "type": "azure.bicep.v0",
      "connectionString": "{postgres.outputs.connectionString}",
      "path": "postgres.module.bicep",
      "params": {
        "principalId": "",
        "principalType": "",
        "principalName": ""
      }
    },
    "db": {
      "type": "value.v0",
      "connectionString": "{postgres.connectionString};Database=db"
    }
  }
}

Resource types supported in the Azure Developer CLI

The Azure Developer CLI (azd) is a tool that can be used to deploy .NET Aspire projects to Azure Container Apps. With the azure.bicep.v0 resource type, cloud-agnostic resource container types can be mapped to Azure-specific resources. The following table lists the resource types that are supported in the Azure Developer CLI:

Name	Cloud-agnostic API	Azure API
Redis	AddRedis	`AddAzureRedis`
Postgres	AddPostgres	`AddAzurePostgresFlexibleServer`
SQL Server	AddSqlServer	`AddAzureSqlServer`

When resources as configured as Azure resources, the azure.bicep.v0 resource type is generated in the manifest. For more information, see Deploy a .NET Aspire project to Azure Container Apps using the Azure Developer CLI (in-depth guide).

Share via

.NET Aspire manifest format for deployment tool builders

Generate a manifest

Basic manifest format

Connection string and binding references

Placeholder string structure

Resource types

Common resource fields

The `inputs` field

Built-in resources

Cloud-agnostic resource types

Project resource type

Container resource type

Dockerfile resource types

Postgres resource types

RabbitMQ resource types

Redis resource type

SQL Server resource types

MongoDB resource types

MySQL resource types

Azure-specific resource types

Azure Key Vault resource type

Azure Service Bus resource type

Azure Storage resource types

Azure Redis resource type

Azure App Configuration resource type

Azure SQL resource types

Azure Postgres resource types

Resource types supported in the Azure Developer CLI

See also

Additional resources

Share via

.NET Aspire manifest format for deployment tool builders

Generate a manifest

Basic manifest format

Connection string and binding references

Placeholder string structure

Resource types

Common resource fields

The inputs field

Built-in resources

Cloud-agnostic resource types

Project resource type

Container resource type

Dockerfile resource types

Postgres resource types

RabbitMQ resource types

Redis resource type

SQL Server resource types

MongoDB resource types

MySQL resource types

Azure-specific resource types

Azure Key Vault resource type

Azure Service Bus resource type

Azure Storage resource types

Azure Redis resource type

Azure App Configuration resource type

Azure SQL resource types

Azure Postgres resource types

Resource types supported in the Azure Developer CLI

See also

Additional resources

The `inputs` field