HttpClient Factory

Core Principles

1. Never new HttpClient() per request — Raw HttpClient creation causes socket exhaustion under load and ignores DNS changes. Use IHttpClientFactory to manage handler lifetimes.
2. Keyed clients over typed clients — Keyed DI (.AddAsKeyed()) is the recommended pattern in .NET 10. Typed clients captured in singletons silently break handler rotation.
3. Resilience is not optional — Every external HTTP call needs retry, circuit breaker, and timeout. AddStandardResilienceHandler() provides sensible defaults in one line.
4. DelegatingHandlers for cross-cutting concerns — Auth tokens, correlation IDs, and logging belong in the handler pipeline, not scattered across service methods.

Patterns

Named Client with Resilience

builder.Services.AddHttpClient("github", client =>
{
    client.BaseAddress = new Uri("https://api.github.com/");
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.UserAgent.ParseAdd("MyApp/1.0");
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
        new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
})
.AddStandardResilienceHandler();

// Usage via factory
public sealed class GitHubService(IHttpClientFactory factory)
{
    public async Task<Repo?> GetRepoAsync(string owner, string name, CancellationToken ct)
    {
        var client = factory.CreateClient("github");
        return await client.GetFromJsonAsync<Repo>($"repos/{owner}/{name}", ct);
    }
}

Keyed Client (Recommended in .NET 10)

Combines named client configurability with direct injection. No string lookups.

builder.Services.AddHttpClient("payments", client =>
{
    client.BaseAddress = new Uri("https://api.payments.example.com/");
})
.AddStandardResilienceHandler()
.AddAsKeyed();  // Register as keyed scoped service

// Inject directly — no IHttpClientFactory needed
app.MapPost("/charge", async (
    [FromKeyedServices("payments")] HttpClient httpClient,
    ChargeRequest request,
    CancellationToken ct) =>
{
    var response = await httpClient.PostAsJsonAsync("charges", request, ct);
    return response.IsSuccessStatusCode
        ? TypedResults.Ok()
        : TypedResults.Problem("Payment failed");
});

Global opt-in: builder.Services.ConfigureHttpClientDefaults(b => b.AddAsKeyed());

Standard Resilience Handler

AddStandardResilienceHandler() chains 5 strategies:

builder.Services.AddHttpClient("api")
    .AddStandardResilienceHandler(options =>
    {
        options.Retry.MaxRetryAttempts = 5;
        options.Retry.Delay = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1);
        options.TotalRequestTimeout.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60);
        options.AttemptTimeout.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(15);

        // Disable retries for non-idempotent methods
        options.Retry.DisableForUnsafeHttpMethods();
    });

DelegatingHandler for Auth Token Injection

public sealed class AuthenticationHandler(ITokenService tokenService)
    : DelegatingHandler
{
    protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(
        HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        var token = await tokenService.GetAccessTokenAsync(cancellationToken);
        request.Headers.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", token);
        return await base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken);
    }
}

// Registration
builder.Services.AddTransient<AuthenticationHandler>();
builder.Services.AddHttpClient("api")
    .AddHttpMessageHandler<AuthenticationHandler>()
    .AddStandardResilienceHandler();

DelegatingHandler for Correlation ID Propagation

public sealed class CorrelationIdHandler(IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor)
    : DelegatingHandler
{
    protected override Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(
        HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        if (httpContextAccessor.HttpContext?.Request.Headers
                .TryGetValue("X-Correlation-Id", out var correlationId) is true)
        {
            request.Headers.Add("X-Correlation-Id", correlationId.ToString());
        }
        return base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken);
    }
}

SocketsHttpHandler Configuration

builder.Services.AddHttpClient("advanced")
    .UseSocketsHttpHandler((handler, _) =>
    {
        handler.PooledConnectionLifetime = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2);
        handler.PooledConnectionIdleTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1);
        handler.MaxConnectionsPerServer = 100;
        handler.AutomaticDecompression =
            DecompressionMethods.GZip | DecompressionMethods.Brotli;
    });

Testing with Mock Handler

public sealed class MockHttpHandler(
    HttpStatusCode statusCode,
    string content) : HttpMessageHandler
{
    protected override Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(
        HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        return Task.FromResult(new HttpResponseMessage(statusCode)
        {
            Content = new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json")
        });
    }
}

// In test
var handler = new MockHttpHandler(HttpStatusCode.OK, """{"id":1}""");
var client = new HttpClient(handler) { BaseAddress = new Uri("https://api.test/") };
var service = new MyService(client);

Anti-patterns

Don't Create HttpClient Per Request

// BAD — socket exhaustion under load, ignores DNS changes
public async Task<string> GetDataAsync()
{
    using var client = new HttpClient();
    return await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.example.com/data");
}

// GOOD — factory-managed
public async Task<string> GetDataAsync(CancellationToken ct)
{
    var client = factory.CreateClient("api");
    return await client.GetStringAsync("https://api.example.com/data", ct);
}

Don't Capture Typed Clients in Singletons

// BAD — transient HttpClient captured by singleton defeats handler rotation
services.AddSingleton<MySingletonService>();
services.AddHttpClient<MySingletonService>();

// GOOD — use keyed client or IHttpClientFactory in singletons
services.AddSingleton<MySingletonService>();
services.AddHttpClient("myservice").AddAsKeyed(ServiceLifetime.Singleton);

Don't Mutate DefaultRequestHeaders on Shared Clients

// BAD — not thread-safe
httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", token);

// GOOD — use DelegatingHandler or per-request HttpRequestMessage
using var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, "/api/data");
request.Headers.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", token);
await httpClient.SendAsync(request, ct);

Don't Forget CancellationToken

// BAD — no cancellation support
var result = await httpClient.GetFromJsonAsync<Order>("/orders/1");

// GOOD — always pass CancellationToken
var result = await httpClient.GetFromJsonAsync<Order>("/orders/1", cancellationToken);

Don't Stack Multiple Resilience Handlers

// BAD — conflicting resilience strategies
builder.AddStandardResilienceHandler();
builder.AddStandardHedgingHandler();

// GOOD — one standard handler, or a custom pipeline
builder.AddStandardResilienceHandler();

Decision Guide