senior.NET Core
What is middleware in .NET Core?
Updated Feb 20, 2026
Short answer
Middleware are components that handle HTTP requests and responses in a pipeline.
Deep explanation
Each middleware can:
- Process request
- Call next middleware
- Modify response
Execution order is critical and defined in Program.cs.
Real-world example
Authentication → Logging → Authorization → Controller
Common mistakes
- - Wrong middleware order
- - Not calling next()
Follow-up questions
- How would you scale this?
- What are trade-offs?
- How would you debug production issues?
- How does this compare to alternatives?