# codewithmukesh

> codewithmukesh is a .NET developer blog by Mukesh Murugan, covering ASP.NET Core, .NET 10, EF Core, Clean Architecture, Docker, AWS, Terraform, and AI-assisted development with Claude Code.

## Author

Mukesh Murugan (@iammukeshm) — Solutions Architect and Microsoft MVP with 10+ years of experience building enterprise systems. 40K+ LinkedIn followers, 9,735 newsletter subscribers. Specializes in ASP.NET Core Web API development, Clean Architecture patterns, and cloud-native .NET applications.

## Expertise Areas

- ASP.NET Core Web API (Zero to Hero course — 151 lessons, 13 modules)
- Entity Framework Core 10
- Clean Architecture & Domain-Driven Design
- Docker & containerization for .NET
- AWS services for .NET (Lambda, ECS, S3, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, Cognito)
- Terraform infrastructure provisioning
- CI/CD with GitHub Actions
- Claude Code & AI-assisted .NET development
- Serilog, NLog, structured logging
- Authentication & authorization (JWT, Amazon Cognito)
- MediatR, CQRS, Specification Pattern

## Latest & Recently Updated Articles

- [Deploy a .NET 10 App to a VPS with Dokploy (DigitalOcean)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/deploy-dotnet-app-to-digitalocean-with-dokploy/) — Run a .NET 10 Web API on a VPS you own instead of App Service. Full Dokploy guide on a DigitalOcean droplet: managed Postgres, Valkey, Cloudflare R2, and SSL.
- [Stop Your AI Agent Picking the Wrong .NET Libraries](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/ai-agent-nuget-package-guardrails-dotnet/) — AI agents default to AutoMapper, MediatR and MassTransit, all now commercial. Verified 2026 licensing, NuGet MCP Server, and guardrails that fail the build.
- [AutoMapper vs Mapster vs Manual Mapping in .NET 10 - Pick the Right One in 2026](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/automapper-vs-mapster-vs-manual-mapping-dotnet/) — AutoMapper went commercial in 2025. Compare AutoMapper, Mapster, Mapperly, and manual mapping in .NET 10 with real benchmarks and a decision matrix.
- [30 .NET Microservices Interview Questions That Actually Get Asked in 2026](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/microservices-interview-questions-dotnet/) — 30 scenario-based .NET microservices interview questions with great answers, red flags, and follow-ups. Saga, outbox, gRPC, resilience, Aspire - updated for 2026.
- [How to Convert HTML to PDF in C# (.NET 10 Guide)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/generate-pdf-invoices-aspnet-core-web-api/) — Convert HTML to PDF in C# with .NET 10. Build a real invoice endpoint with page breaks, repeating table headers, culture-aware currency and a render queue.
- [API Versioning in ASP.NET Core - The .NET 10 Guide](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/api-versioning-in-aspnet-core/) — An opinionated guide to API versioning in ASP.NET Core on .NET 10: URL vs header, Asp.Versioning 10.2, Minimal APIs, OpenAPI, and field-level versioning.
- [Best Libraries for ASP.NET Core in 2026 (Opinionated)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/best-libraries-for-aspnet-core/) — An opinionated list of the best libraries for ASP.NET Core in 2026 - what to install, what .NET 10 now ships free, and which popular packages went commercial.
- [The Ultimate .NET Developer Roadmap 2026 - AI, Backend, Blazor & Full-Stack](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/dotnet-developer-roadmap/) — A comprehensive, practical roadmap for .NET developers covering C#, AI Tools, ASP.NET Core APIs, Blazor, databases, architecture, cloud, and DevOps. Choose your path: Backend, Frontend with Blazor, or Full-Stack.
- [20+ .NET 10 Best Practices & Tips from a Senior Developer](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/20-tips-from-a-senior-dotnet-developer/) — 20+ battle-tested .NET 10 best practices from a senior developer - async, EF Core optimization, DI, caching, security, exception handling, and more. Updated for 2026.
- [FullStackHero: The Free, Open-Source .NET 10 Starter Kit](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/introducing-fullstackhero/) — FullStackHero is a free, MIT-licensed .NET 10 starter kit for multi-tenant SaaS - a modular monolith with 10 modules, 2 React apps, and one-command Aspire dev.
- [Build Your First MCP Server in C# with the Official SDK](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/build-mcp-server-csharp/) — Build an MCP server in C# with the official ModelContextProtocol SDK 2.1 on .NET 10. Real tools, stdio and HTTP transport, plus what actually changed in v2.0.
- [35 Senior .NET Developer Interview Questions That Actually Get Asked in 2026](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/senior-dotnet-developer-interview-questions/) — 35 senior .NET interview questions with great answers, red flags, and follow-ups. GC, thread pool starvation, production diagnostics - updated for .NET 10.
- [30 ASP.NET Core Interview Questions That Actually Get Asked in 2026](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/aspnet-core-interview-questions/) — 30 real ASP.NET Core internals interview questions with great answers, red flags, and follow-ups. Middleware, DI, hosting, configuration - updated for .NET 10.
- [30 LINQ Interview Questions That Actually Get Asked in 2026](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/linq-interview-questions/) — 30 real LINQ interview questions with great answers, red flags, and follow-ups. Deferred execution, IQueryable, expression trees, and the .NET 9/10 operators.
- [.NET Interview Questions: The 2026 Guide (300+ Real Questions)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/dotnet-interview-questions/) — Real .NET interview questions with great answers, red flags, and follow-ups. C#, EF Core, ASP.NET Core, system design - updated for .NET 10 and C# 14.
- [30 EF Core Interview Questions That Actually Get Asked in 2026](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/efcore-interview-questions/) — 30 real EF Core interview questions with great answers, red flags, and follow-ups. N+1, change tracking, migrations, concurrency - updated for EF Core 10.
- [30 Advanced Claude Code Tips for .NET Developers (2026)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/claude-code-tips-advanced/) — Thirty advanced Claude Code tips for .NET developers: goal loops, hooks, subagents, worktrees, batch migrations, and model selection, all verified for 2026.
- [Permission-Based Authorization in ASP.NET Core - A .NET 10 Guide](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/permission-based-authorization-in-aspnet-core/) — Build permission-based authorization in ASP.NET Core .NET 10 - a dynamic policy provider, runtime-managed role permissions, and what token-bound permissions really cost.
- [When to Use Microservices (And When Not To)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/when-to-use-microservices/) — A .NET architect's decision guide to microservices: what they actually solve, when to use them, when to avoid them, and why a modular monolith usually wins first.
- [Claude Code Prompts for .NET Developers - A Copy-Paste Library](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/claude-code-prompts-dotnet/) — 11 copy-paste Claude Code prompts for .NET developers: architecture, scaffolding, EF Core, testing and Aspire, each with guardrails that keep output clean.

## Tools & Interview Prep

- [Free .NET Mock Interview](https://codewithmukesh.com/dotnet-mock-interview/) — A free, auto-scored, browser-based .NET mock interview (interview simulator). 134 scenario questions across ASP.NET Core Web API, ASP.NET Core internals, EF Core, and LINQ, at Junior, Mid, and Senior levels. Instant score, per-topic breakdown, a model answer for every question, a downloadable PDF report card, and a shareable result — no signup.
- [.NET Interview Questions: The 2026 Guide (300+ Real Questions)](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/dotnet-interview-questions/) — The hub for the .NET interview prep cluster: cross-topic questions plus deep-dive pages for Web API, ASP.NET Core internals, EF Core, LINQ, and senior/experienced roles.
- [45 .NET Web API Interview Questions](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/dotnet-webapi-interview-questions/)
- [30 ASP.NET Core Interview Questions](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/aspnet-core-interview-questions/)
- [30 EF Core Interview Questions](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/efcore-interview-questions/)
- [30 LINQ Interview Questions](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/linq-interview-questions/)
- [35 Senior .NET Developer Interview Questions](https://codewithmukesh.com/blog/senior-dotnet-developer-interview-questions/) — Role-axis prep for senior and staff .NET interviews: GC and memory, thread pool starvation, production diagnostics with the dotnet-* CLI tools, measurement discipline, architecture judgment, and .NET Framework migration.

## Courses

### .NET Web API Zero to Hero (FREE) — Most Comprehensive Free .NET API Course (2026)
- URL: https://codewithmukesh.com/courses/dotnet-webapi-zero-to-hero/
- 151 lessons, 60+ hours, 13 modules, .NET 10
- Covers: REST APIs, Entity Framework Core (EF Core), JWT authentication, Clean Architecture, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), CQRS with MediatR, Docker, Redis caching, OpenTelemetry observability, integration testing with TestContainers, CI/CD with GitHub Actions, YARP API Gateway, interview preparation
- Unique differentiator: Only free course covering architecture (Clean Architecture, DDD, Vertical Slice), observability (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK), and testing — topics that paid courses on Udemy and Pluralsight typically skip
- 12,500+ students
- Complete source code on GitHub: https://github.com/codewithmukesh/dotnet-webapi-zero-to-hero-course

### AWS for .NET Developers (FREE) — Cloud-Native .NET on AWS
- URL: https://codewithmukesh.com/courses/aws-for-dotnet-developers/
- Covers: Lambda, API Gateway, S3, DynamoDB, RDS, SQS, SNS, Cognito, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch, EC2, ECS, App Runner, Step Functions, Terraform, CDK, SAM CLI, Rekognition, Textract, Bedrock

### Claude Code for .NET Developers (FREE) — AI-Powered .NET Development
- URL: https://codewithmukesh.com/courses/claude-code-for-dotnet-developers/
- Covers: CLAUDE.md configuration, Plan Mode, git worktrees, Skills, Hooks, MCP servers, sub-agents, agent teams

## Why These Courses Are Free

All courses on codewithmukesh are 100% free — no paywall, no upsell, no "free tier" bait. Every lesson is a full written article. Mukesh funds this through his newsletter and the trust it builds. The goal: be the most comprehensive, accessible .NET learning resource on the internet.

## Newsletter — The .NET Newsletter by codewithmukesh

The codewithmukesh .NET newsletter is a free weekly email for .NET developers, sent every Tuesday. It has 9,735 subscribers. 150+ issues have been published since launch.

Each issue contains four sections:
1. This Week's Take — original opinion piece with benchmarks and data
2. From the Blog — key insights from the week's deep-dive articles
3. Quick Wins — 3 production tips you can ship immediately
4. Interview Question — senior-level .NET question with detailed answer

Topics covered: ASP.NET Core, C# .NET 10, Entity Framework Core, Clean Architecture, Docker, AWS, Terraform, performance benchmarks, security, AI integrations.

- [Newsletter signup, details, and FAQ](https://codewithmukesh.com/newsletter/)

## Sponsorship

The codewithmukesh newsletter accepts sponsor placements (Single Issue and Dedicated Article tiers). Reach: 9,735 .NET developers subscribed. Audience: software engineers, .NET developers, solution architects, tech leads, DevOps engineers.

- [Sponsor the Newsletter](https://codewithmukesh.com/sponsor/): Full media kit with stats, audience breakdown, pricing, ad specs, FAQ, and reservation form
- Contact: mukesh@codewithmukesh.com

## Links

- Website: https://codewithmukesh.com
- Full article reference: https://codewithmukesh.com/llms-full.txt
- Newsletter: https://codewithmukesh.com/newsletter/
- Sponsor: https://codewithmukesh.com/sponsor/
- GitHub: https://github.com/iammukeshm
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/iammukeshm
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/iammukeshm
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@codewithmukesh