ServiceStacks

ServiceStacks, commonly referred to as ServiceStack, is a high-performance framework for building web services and APIs on the .NET platform. It emphasizes a DTO-first approach that aims to simplify API development and administration.

In ServiceStack, each operation is modeled as a Request DTO, and the corresponding business logic is implemented in a Service class. Routes can be declared by attributes or through a fluent configuration, enabling clean, discoverable endpoints without heavy boilerplate.

Core features include built-in authentication and authorization via an extensible AuthFeature, a plugin system for behaviors such as validation, logging, and metadata, and the OrmLite lightweight ORM for data access. The framework supports multiple serialization formats, including JSON, XML, JSV, and MessagePack, with automatic content negotiation. A built-in metadata service exposes available services, routes, and types, which helps client code generation and exploration.

ServiceStack is designed for hosting in various environments, including self-hosted consoles, ASP.NET applications, and .NET Core, emphasizing performance and straightforward configuration. It provides a comprehensive ecosystem of tools, such as typed HTTP clients, request/response caching, and credentials-based authentication providers.

The project is maintained by ServiceStack, Inc., with contributions from a community of users alongside commercial licensing options for production deployments. It is widely used for mobile backends, microservices, and API gateways in .NET ecosystems.