Editor's note
I kept this issue intentionally mixed, which is how I think the best daily reads work. The SQL MAESTRO security piece stood out for its practical defense-in-depth view of agentic AI, and the EF Core performance roundup is the kind of production-focused checklist many teams can use immediately. I also liked the partial failure article because it tackles the messy reality of multi-system workflows without pretending everything fits inside a transaction.
Agent security, EF Core, API hardening
Jasen Fici
May 20, 2026
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Today's Articles
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Jasen's take on today's picks
Microsoft SQL Security Across the MAESTRO Stack: Building Secure Agentic AI with Defense-in-Depth
A solid security-oriented look at agentic AI architecture with SQL in the middle; useful if you're sorting out boundaries, identity, and data protection together.
Getting the Client IP Address in ASP.NET Core
Short, practical, and exactly the sort of ASP.NET Core reminder people end up searching for when proxy headers and RemoteIpAddress get fuzzy.
Creating a Simple MCP Server in .NET
Nice hands-on introduction to standing up an MCP server in .NET without overcomplicating the first pass.
When Your Use Case Half-Succeeds: Designing for Partial Failure in .NET
This is a good design article because it treats partial failure as normal, not exceptional, and pushes you toward explicit recovery paths.
The Coding Harness Behind GitHub Copilot in VS Code
Interesting peek behind Copilot in VS Code; the harness details matter more than model hype when you're evaluating real developer tooling.
10 EF Core Performance Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) in .NET 10
A helpful list of EF Core mistakes that still show up everywhere: N+1s, tracking overhead, weak projections, and bulk operation blind spots.
On .NET Live: How Coding Standards Supercharge .NET Quality & Performance
More discussion than tutorial, but coding standards and consistency still pay real dividends in maintainability and performance.
Building a Agent with Microsoft Agent Framework and Multiple AI Service Providers
Useful if you're experimenting with Microsoft's agent tooling and want to see multi-provider orchestration in a simple scenario.
Securing Swagger, Scalar, and Health Endpoints in ASP.NET
A worthwhile reminder that API security often stops too early; docs and health endpoints deserve deliberate protection too.
Why I Like Azure Cosmos DB So Much
A personal perspective piece, but it still surfaces why Cosmos DB clicks for certain workloads and developer experience preferences.
I Spent 6 Months Treating My .NET API Like a React App. Here’s the Mess I Made
A cautionary architecture story that should resonate with anyone who has let frontend habits leak too far into API design.
“Frontend Filtering Works… Until Pagination Enters the Chat”
A familiar but important pagination lesson: filtering logic belongs where result sets are actually shaped and counted.