AI Agents, EF Core, and WinUI
Practical reads cover agent tool security, hybrid RAG search, EF Core persistence, API retry tests, WinUI, MAUI, SignalR, and SQL Server migration.
Jasen's top three picks
- 1 Claude Code for .NET Developers: A Practical Agentic Workflow
Medium
A practical starting point for teams figuring out how coding agents fit into everyday .NET engineering work.
- 2 Microsoft's Reactor Brings C#-Only UI Development to WinUI
Visual Studio Magazine
Reactor is worth watching if you want native WinUI development without making XAML the center of the UI workflow.
- 3 Prompts are dead; long live loops!
YapCast – Jesse Liberty
The important question is not whether tools work, but how an agent is authorized, constrained, and audited when they do.
Editor's note
I pulled together a deliberately broad mix, from Microsoft Reactor’s C#-only approach to WinUI through practical EF Core persistence guidance. The hybrid RAG search piece stands out for putting BM25, vectors, reranking, and CI measurements behind a concrete retrieval problem.
Today's articles
Claude Code for .NET Developers: A Practical Agentic Workflow
Medium
This is Part 1 of the “Agentic Engineering for .NET Teams” series. Part 2 covers context engineering, Part 3 covers sharing state across…
Topics: C# GitHub Copilot
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Microsoft's Reactor Brings C#-Only UI Development to WinUI
Visual Studio Magazine
The experimental framework uses native WinUI controls with a Model-View-Update approach, while XAML remains supported.
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Prompts are dead; long live loops!
YapCast – Jesse Liberty
As you may have heard, loops are the hottest thing in AI. The buzz is that rather than you writing prompts, you let your agent do so. The problem is that while all the videos I’ve seen are great at … ...
Topics: GitHub Copilot
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Validating References in NoSQL Databases: A Reusable C# Approach Using MongoDB
Medium
I have encountered staff records still assigned to disabled departments.
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EF Core and Azure SQL Database: A Step-by-Step Guide
Medium
EF Core is the most popular way to work with a database in .NET.Continue reading on CodeX »
Topics: Azure EF Core SQL Server
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Securing AI Agent Tool Calls in .NET with an MCP Gateway
C# Corner
Teams building agents in .NET meet the tool problem early. A Semantic Kernel function or an MCP client can call a database, a repository, or an internal service, and the moment it works, the questions...
Topics: Authorization Security Semantic Kernel
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Hybrid Search for RAG in .NET 10: BM25 Finds ERR-4012, Vectors Don’t
Medium
Vectors buried exact error codes; BM25 missed 37% of paraphrases. RRF plus a reranker took MRR from 0.86 to 0.94, gated in CI, in C#.
Topics: C# .NET 10 Performance
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How to Add Soft Deletes in Entity Framework Core Without Losing Data
C# Corner
Implement soft deletes in Entity Framework Core with an IsDeleted flag, global query filters, and a SaveChanges override. Learn how to hide, restore, and retain deleted records.
Topics: EF Core
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How to Test API Retries Without Sending Duplicate Payments
C# Corner
Learn how to test payment API retries safely using idempotency keys, simulated network failures, and C# examples to prevent duplicate charges.
Topics: REST API Unit Testing
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Custom Validation Messages in .NET 11 With DataAnnotations
C# Corner
Learn to customize DataAnnotations validation messages, use placeholders and display names, and apply reusable validation rules in .NET and ASP.NET Core APIs.
Topics: ASP.NET Core Web API
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How to Save Enums and Custom Types with EF Core Value Converters
C# Corner
Learn how to use EF Core value converters to store enums as strings and map custom C# value objects to database columns.
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Microsoft Adds Agent Skill to Help .NET MAUI Apps Meet Xcode 27 Requirements
Visual Studio Magazine
The migration guidance covers UIKit scene configuration, compatible tooling and testing of existing app behavior.
Topics: .NET MAUI
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Keeping a Secret Role on the Server in a Real-Time SignalR Game
Medium
How I kept the spy’s identity out of every browser in Casus by sending each player their own view over SignalR, and tested it over real…
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Changing SQL Server to UTF-8 Collations Without Breaking Existing Data
C# Corner
Learn how to migrate SQL Server text columns to UTF-8 collations safely, including storage limits, comparison changes, unique indexes, and schema inventory.
Topics: SQL Server
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