14 Apr 2025
What happens under the hood in .NET Core
What happens at Startup
- Project Building
- .net sdk reads the .csproj file
- It resolves and downloads (if not already present in the NuGet cache) all the NuGet packages specified as dependencies in the .csproj file.
- The C# compiler (csc.exe) compiles the .cs files (Program.cs, Startup.cs, etc.) into Intermediate Language (IL) code.
- The IL code, along with the project’s dependencies, is assembled into an assembly (typically a .dll file)
- Host Builder Initialization
- The execution starts in the Main method of the Program.cs file.
- The code in Program.cs typically sets up a host builder (WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args) or Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args) in newer versions). The host is responsible for managing the application’s lifecycle and providing essential services.
