ASP.NET Core API Developer Interview Questions & Answers
40 questions for ASP.NET Core API Developer interviews — 33 medium, 7 hard.
About the ASP.NET Core API Developer role
An API developer focuses on designing and building secure, fast REST services that web apps, mobile apps and partner systems consume. The role covers middleware, dependency injection, validation, error handling, caching, versioning, rate limiting and documentation with OpenAPI. Strong async programming and database performance skills are expected, along with integration of queues and third-party services. Many such roles also involve Azure deployment and monitoring.
REST API design Async and await Caching and Redis OpenAPI documentation Performance tuning
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01
Implement global exception handling that returns ProblemDetails.
A static class cannot be instantiated, cannot implement interfaces and is initialised by the runtime; it suits stateless helpers like Math. A singleton is a normal class with exactly one instance, so it can implement interfaces, be passed as a parameter and be mocked in tests. In ASP.NET Core, you rarely write a singleton by hand; you register the class with AddSingleton and let the DI container manage its lifetime.
03
How do you use CancellationToken in an ASP.NET Core API?
[HttpGet("report")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Report(CancellationToken ct)
{
var rows = await _db.Sales
.Where(s => s.Year == 2026)
.ToListAsync(ct);
await _http.PostAsJsonAsync("/audit", rows.Count, ct);
return Ok(rows);
}
ASP.NET Core binds the token to HttpContext.RequestAborted, so if the user closes the browser the token is cancelled and EF Core and HttpClient stop work, saving database and CPU time.
04
Show a class using a primary constructor with dependency injection.
public class OrderService(IOrderRepository repo, ILogger<OrderService> logger)
{
public async Task<Order?> GetAsync(int id)
{
logger.LogInformation("Fetching order {Id}", id);
return await repo.FindAsync(id);
}
}
Primary constructors on classes arrived in C# 12. Parameters are captured and usable in all members, removing boilerplate fields. They are not readonly, so assign to a readonly field if immutability matters.
05
Write custom middleware that logs how long each request takes.
public class TimingMiddleware(RequestDelegate next, ILogger<TimingMiddleware> logger)
{
public async Task InvokeAsync(HttpContext context)
{
var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
await next(context);
sw.Stop();
logger.LogInformation("{Method} {Path} -> {Status} in {Ms} ms",
context.Request.Method, context.Request.Path,
context.Response.StatusCode, sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
}
}
// Program.cs
app.UseMiddleware<TimingMiddleware>();
Code before next runs on the request, code after it runs on the response.
lock ensures that only one thread at a time executes a block of code for a given lock object, preventing race conditions on shared data. It compiles to Monitor.Enter and Monitor.Exit inside try-finally. Lock on a private readonly object, never on this or a string. Since .NET 9 there is a dedicated System.Threading.Lock type that is faster. You cannot await inside a lock; use SemaphoreSlim for async code.
08
Your product API must handle a festive sale with 10 times normal traffic. How do you prepare it?
Make the API stateless so you can scale it horizontally behind a load balancer or Kubernetes autoscaler. Cache read-heavy data such as product details in Redis or HybridCache. Ensure all I/O is async and database queries are indexed, projected and paged. Move slow work like emails to queues. Add rate limiting, timeouts and circuit breakers to dependencies, then load test with k6 or JMeter and watch metrics.
09
Demonstrate a race condition on a counter and fix it.
int count = 0;
Parallel.For(0, 100_000, _ => count++);
Console.WriteLine(count); // often less than 100000
int safe = 0;
Parallel.For(0, 100_000, _ => Interlocked.Increment(ref safe));
Console.WriteLine(safe); // always 100000
count++ is a read, add and write, so two threads can read the same value and lose an update. Interlocked performs the increment atomically without a full lock.
Authorization filters run first and can block a request. Resource filters run before model binding, useful for caching. Action filters run before and after an action, for logging or validation. Exception filters handle errors thrown by actions. Result filters run around the result execution, for example to add headers. Filters apply globally, per controller or per action. Unlike middleware, they can access MVC details like action arguments.
11
What is the difference between controllers and Minimal APIs?
Controllers group actions into classes with attributes for routing, filters and model binding, which suits large APIs with many conventions. Minimal APIs map endpoints directly with app.MapGet and lambdas, with less ceremony and slightly better performance, ideal for microservices and small APIs. Since .NET 7 they support filters, route groups and OpenAPI, and .NET 10 adds built-in validation, so both are production-ready choices.
12
A legacy ASP.NET MVC app on .NET Framework hangs when a controller calls GetDataAsync().Result. Why, and how do you fix it?
This is the classic sync-over-async deadlock. .Result blocks the request thread, which holds the ASP.NET synchronization context. When the awaited task completes, its continuation tries to resume on that same context, which is blocked, so neither can proceed. The real fix is async all the way: make the action async and await the call. Where that is impossible, ConfigureAwait(false) inside the library avoids capturing the context.
13
Profiling shows a hot cache-lookup method returning Task<T> allocates millions of Task objects. Would ValueTask help?
ValueTask<T> is a struct that avoids allocating a Task when a method usually completes synchronously, for example when a value is served from an in-memory cache most of the time. In very hot paths this reduces GC pressure. The rules are stricter: await a ValueTask only once, do not await it concurrently, and do not call .Result before it completes. For normal application code, Task is simpler and recommended.
14
How do you use an explicit transaction in EF Core across multiple SaveChanges calls?
await using var tx = await db.Database.BeginTransactionAsync();
try
{
db.Orders.Add(order);
await db.SaveChangesAsync();
var stock = await db.Stocks.SingleAsync(s => s.ProductId == order.ProductId);
stock.Quantity -= order.Quantity;
await db.SaveChangesAsync();
await tx.CommitAsync();
}
catch
{
await tx.RollbackAsync();
throw;
}
A single SaveChanges is already transactional; explicit transactions are needed when you combine several saves or raw SQL into one unit.
15
An API creates a new HttpClient inside a using block for every outgoing call, and under load you see socket exhaustion errors. How do you fix it?
Disposing HttpClient does not immediately free the underlying socket; connections stay in TIME_WAIT, so thousands of short-lived clients exhaust ports. A single static client fixes that but misses DNS changes. The recommended fix is IHttpClientFactory: register builder.Services.AddHttpClient<PaymentClient>() and inject the typed client. The factory pools and rotates handlers, and you can add resilience with Microsoft.Extensions.Http.Resilience for retries and timeouts.
An async void method cannot be awaited, so the caller does not know when it finishes. Exceptions thrown inside it cannot be caught by the caller; they go to the synchronization context and can crash the process. It is also hard to unit test. Use async Task instead. The only accepted use of async void is for event handlers, such as button click handlers in desktop apps, where the signature is fixed.
17
Write a stored procedure that transfers money between accounts with TRY-CATCH and a transaction.
CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE usp_Transfer @From INT, @To INT, @Amt DECIMAL(18,2)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SET XACT_ABORT ON;
BEGIN TRY
BEGIN TRAN;
UPDATE Accounts SET Balance = Balance - @Amt
WHERE Id = @From AND Balance >= @Amt;
IF @@ROWCOUNT = 0 THROW 50001, 'Insufficient balance', 1;
UPDATE Accounts SET Balance = Balance + @Amt WHERE Id = @To;
COMMIT;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0 ROLLBACK;
THROW;
END CATCH
END
18
Users trigger a large Excel report that takes 3 minutes, and the HTTP request times out. How would you redesign it?
Make it asynchronous at the workflow level. The API validates the request, saves a job record and returns 202 Accepted with a job ID. A background worker, using a queue such as a Channel, Hangfire or a message broker, generates the file and stores it in blob storage. The UI polls a status endpoint or receives a SignalR notification, then downloads the file. This avoids timeouts and survives retries.
19
How are exceptions handled in async code, and what is AggregateException?
When you await a faulted task, the original exception is rethrown, so normal try-catch works. If you block with .Wait() or .Result, the exception is wrapped in AggregateException. With Task.WhenAll, await throws only the first exception, but the returned task's Exception property holds all of them in an AggregateException. Unobserved exceptions from fire-and-forget tasks are silently lost, so always await or log them.
20
Your team debates wrapping EF Core in a generic repository. What is your view?
DbContext already implements Repository and Unit of Work, so a thin generic repository with GetAll and Add often adds code while hiding useful features like Include, projections and AsNoTracking. I prefer either using DbContext directly in services, or specific repositories with meaningful methods like GetOverdueInvoicesAsync that encapsulate queries. For tests, use the SQLite in-memory provider or Testcontainers rather than mocking DbSet.
public async IAsyncEnumerable<Order> GetOrdersAsync(
[EnumeratorCancellation] CancellationToken ct = default)
{
await foreach (var o in _db.Orders.AsNoTracking().AsAsyncEnumerable().WithCancellation(ct))
yield return o;
}
// consumer
await foreach (var order in service.GetOrdersAsync())
Console.WriteLine(order.Id);
Items are produced and consumed one at a time asynchronously. ASP.NET Core can stream an IAsyncEnumerable result as JSON without buffering the whole list.
// run three independent calls in parallel
var userTask = userApi.GetAsync(id);
var ordersTask = orderApi.GetAsync(id);
var walletTask = walletApi.GetAsync(id);
await Task.WhenAll(userTask, ordersTask, walletTask);
var dashboard = new Dashboard(userTask.Result, ordersTask.Result, walletTask.Result);
// timeout using WhenAny
var work = SlowCallAsync();
if (await Task.WhenAny(work, Task.Delay(2000)) != work)
throw new TimeoutException();
WhenAll completes when all finish; WhenAny returns the first task to finish.
23
Your product API runs on four instances behind a load balancer and needs caching. Which ASP.NET Core caching options would you consider?
IMemoryCache stores data in the server's memory, fast but not shared across instances. IDistributedCache uses Redis or SQL Server so all instances share the cache. HybridCache, added in .NET 9, combines an in-memory layer with a distributed one and prevents cache stampedes. Output caching stores whole HTTP responses on the server, while response caching sets HTTP headers for browsers and proxies. Always set expiry and invalidate when data changes.
24
You must resize 10,000 images and also call an external API for 10,000 records. Which approach do you use for each task?
Parallel.ForEach is for CPU-bound work, such as resizing thousands of images, where splitting work across cores speeds things up. async/await is for I/O-bound work, where you mostly wait on networks or disks. Using Parallel.ForEach for HTTP calls wastes threads while they wait. For many concurrent I/O operations with a limit, use Parallel.ForEachAsync with MaxDegreeOfParallelism, available since .NET 6.
25
Tell me about a time you improved the performance of slow code.
In my previous role (Situation) a daily reconciliation job took 40 minutes and sometimes missed its window. My task was to bring it under 10 minutes. I profiled it and found nested loops over two large lists and one database call per row. I replaced the inner loop with a Dictionary lookup and batched the database reads. Result: the job ran in about 4 minutes, and I documented the approach for the team.
26
Show the newer LINQ methods Chunk, DistinctBy and MaxBy.
// split 1,000 ids into batches of 100 for bulk API calls
foreach (int[] batch in ids.Chunk(100))
await SendBatchAsync(batch);
// unique customers by email
var unique = customers.DistinctBy(c => c.Email).ToList();
// highest-paid employee object, not just the salary
Employee? top = employees.MaxBy(e => e.Salary);
These were added in .NET 6 and remove the need for custom helpers or third-party libraries like MoreLINQ.
27
Add rate limiting to a login endpoint in ASP.NET Core.
Early in my job (Situation) I ran an UPDATE on a test copy that I believed was staging, but it was a shared QA database, and 2,000 test orders lost their status. My task was to fix it fast. I told my lead immediately, restored the rows from the nightly backup with the DBA, and verified counts. Result: QA lost only an hour. Since then I always wrap manual updates in a transaction and run a SELECT with the same WHERE first.
29
What is the difference between a Task and a Thread?
A Thread is an OS-level execution unit with its own stack, costly to create. A Task is a higher-level promise of work that may or may not use a thread; I/O tasks often use no thread while waiting, and CPU tasks run on pooled threads. Tasks support return values, continuations, cancellation, exceptions and composition with WhenAll. In modern .NET you almost always use Tasks rather than creating threads manually.
30
A developer runs two EF Core queries in parallel with Task.WhenAll on the same DbContext and gets an InvalidOperationException. Why?
DbContext is not thread-safe and supports only one active operation at a time, so starting a second query before the first finishes throws 'A second operation was started on this context instance'. Either await the queries one after another, or create a separate context for each parallel query using IDbContextFactory. Usually sequential queries are fine; parallelism only helps when the queries are slow and independent.
31
What are useMemo and useCallback used for in React?
useMemo caches the result of an expensive calculation and recalculates only when its dependencies change, such as filtering 10,000 rows. useCallback caches a function reference so that a child wrapped in React.memo does not re-render just because a new function was created. Both are optimisations and add complexity, so use them where profiling shows a problem. The React Compiler, stable since late 2025, can apply much of this memoisation automatically.
32
Show bulk update and delete with ExecuteUpdate and ExecuteDelete.
// mark all unpaid invoices older than 30 days as overdue
int updated = await db.Invoices
.Where(i => !i.IsPaid && i.DueDate < DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(-30))
.ExecuteUpdateAsync(s => s
.SetProperty(i => i.Status, "Overdue")
.SetProperty(i => i.UpdatedAt, DateTime.UtcNow));
// delete old logs
int deleted = await db.AuditLogs
.Where(l => l.CreatedAt < cutoff)
.ExecuteDeleteAsync();
These run a single SQL UPDATE or DELETE without loading entities, available since EF Core 7. They bypass the change tracker.
33
Write a BackgroundService that cleans expired OTPs every 5 minutes.
public class OtpCleanupService(IServiceScopeFactory scopes) : BackgroundService
{
protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken ct)
{
using var timer = new PeriodicTimer(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5));
while (await timer.WaitForNextTickAsync(ct))
{
using var scope = scopes.CreateScope();
var db = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<AppDbContext>();
await db.Otps.Where(o => o.ExpiresAt < DateTime.UtcNow).ExecuteDeleteAsync(ct);
}
}
}
// builder.Services.AddHostedService<OtpCleanupService>();
A scope is created because DbContext is scoped while hosted services are singletons.
34
Describe an API you designed end to end and the decisions you made.
In my last project (Situation) we needed a leave-management API for 3,000 employees. My task was the full design. I modelled resources like /employees/{id}/leaves, used DTOs separate from EF entities, JWT with role policies for managers, FluentValidation, ProblemDetails errors and paging on every list. I documented it in OpenAPI and agreed the contract with the Angular team first. Result: front and back ends were built in parallel and launched on time.
35
Configure a one-to-many relationship between Customer and Order using the Fluent API.
public class Customer { public int Id { get; set; } public List<Order> Orders { get; set; } = []; }
public class Order { public int Id { get; set; } public int CustomerId { get; set; } public Customer Customer { get; set; } = null!; }
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder mb)
{
mb.Entity<Order>()
.HasOne(o => o.Customer)
.WithMany(c => c.Orders)
.HasForeignKey(o => o.CustomerId)
.OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Restrict);
mb.Entity<Order>().Property(o => o.Total).HasPrecision(18, 2);
}
Restrict prevents deleting a customer who still has orders.
36
Where should you store secrets like connection strings and API keys in an ASP.NET Core app?
Never commit them in appsettings.json. During development use the Secret Manager (dotnet user-secrets), which stores them outside the project folder. In production use environment variables or, better, a vault such as Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager, loaded through a configuration provider and accessed with managed identity so no credential sits in code. Rotate secrets regularly and restrict who can read them.
37
Configure JWT bearer authentication in an ASP.NET Core API.
ASP.NET Core has a built-in ILogger<T> abstraction injected into any class. You log with levels Trace, Debug, Information, Warning, Error and Critical, and configure minimum levels per category in appsettings.json. Use structured logging with message templates, like logger.LogInformation("Order {OrderId} placed", id), so values become searchable fields. Providers such as Serilog or OpenTelemetry send logs to files, Seq, Elasticsearch or Application Insights.
39
Tell me about a disagreement with the front-end team over an API contract and how you resolved it.
On a dashboard feature (Situation) the React team wanted one endpoint returning everything, while I worried about payload size. My task was to agree a design quickly. I set up a short call, we listed exact screen needs, and I proposed one aggregated endpoint with paging and optional fields. We wrote the OpenAPI spec together. Result: payload dropped by half, the UI got one call, and the spec became our template for later features.
40
A page listing 100 orders with customer names runs 101 SQL queries. What is the problem and how do you fix it?
This is the N+1 problem: one query loads the orders, then lazy loading fires a separate query for each order's Customer. Fix it by loading everything in one query, either with Include(o => o.Customer) or better with a projection: Select(o => new OrderListDto(o.Id, o.Total, o.Customer.Name)), which fetches only needed columns via a join. Turn on EF Core logging to spot such patterns early.
Frequently asked questions
What does a ASP.NET Core API Developer do?
An API developer focuses on designing and building secure, fast REST services that web apps, mobile apps and partner systems consume. The role covers middleware, dependency injection, validation, error handling, caching, versioning, rate limiting and documentation with OpenAPI. Strong async programming and database performance skills are expected, along with integration of queues and third-party services. Many such roles also involve Azure deployment and monitoring.
Which skills are tested in a ASP.NET Core API Developer interview?
Expect questions on REST API design, Async and await, Caching and Redis, OpenAPI documentation, Performance tuning. Most rounds also ask you to explain a project and solve one practical problem live.
How do I prepare for a ASP.NET Core API Developer interview?
Revise ASP.NET Core Web API, Async Programming and Multithreading, Entity Framework Core first using the topic sheets, practise the questions on this page aloud, then do one full mock interview to practise timing.