How .NET 8 Minimal APIs Helped PIT Solutions Replace Bloated Controllers - From Bloated Controllers to Lean Endpoints—Our .NET 8 Minimal API Journey

The Challenge: Controller Overhead in Microservices

At PIT Solutions, we constantly strive to streamline our microservice architecture. Over time, we observed a recurring inefficiency: many microservices were over-engineered. Even simple endpoints—like dropdowns, health checks, or country lists were scaffolded using the full controller-service-repository model. This caused:

• Unnecessary complexity for trivial APIs
• Longer development and deployment cycles
• Steep onboarding curves for junior developers
• Reduced flexibility in rapidly iterating internal tools

We needed a lightweight, efficient alternative that didn’t sacrifice testability or maintainability.

Our Solution: Minimal APIs in .NET 8

Introduced in .NET 6 and fully matured in .NET 8, Minimal APIs offer a streamlined programming model. They allow you to define HTTP endpoints directly within Program.cs, eliminating the need for controller classes.

Minimal APIs in .NET 8 were the perfect fit for our use cases:

• Internal utility services
• Microservice endpoints
• Lightweight, read-only APIs (e.g., dropdowns)
• Prototypes and MVPs

Use Case: Lightweight Lookup APIs

We maintained multiple lookup endpoints—for countries, departments, insurance providers, etc.—each with a near-identical controller setup. It was excessive. With .NET 8 Minimal APIs, these were reduced to a single, readable line:

Key Benefits of Minimal APIs

.NET 8 Minimal APIs significantly improved our efficiency:

Beyond these, we gained:

• Cleaner code and architecture
• Faster iterations and deployment
• Simplified service and route management

Best Practices for Minimal APIs

To ensure maintainability, we followed several best practices:

• Keep business logic in services, not endpoints.
• Use extension methods for organizing routes.
• Implement centralized exception handling.
• Integrate Swagger with XML documentation for better visibility.

Example: Secure Endpoint

API Versioning

When to Use Minimal APIs

Ideal For:
– Internal admin portals
– Utility or support services
– MVPs or PoCs
– Public read-only APIs

Avoid If:
– Complex REST APIs with multiple filters, inheritance, or conventions
– Applications relying on attributes, filters, or MVC routing.

Final Thoughts from PIT Solutions

.NET 8 Minimal APIs are a momentous change for building microservices in .NET. They offer:

• A powerful, readable, and clean syntax
• Full support for DI, validation, and authentication
• Real-world speed gains in both development and deployment

At PIT Solutions, our developer productivity improved by over 3× after adopting Minimal APIs. For anyone looking to simplify microservices, reduce overhead, and speed up delivery — we highly recommend exploring this approach.

🔗 Explore Microsoft’s Minimal API Documentation

📩 Need help implementing Minimal APIs or secure authentication flows? Contact us at PIT Solutions — we would love to support your transformation journey.