Native AOT, Trimming & Single-File (.NET 10)

Core Principles

1. Decide early — AOT constrains library choice (no runtime reflection or code generation). Adding it to a mature reflection-heavy app is a rewrite. Adding it on day one costs almost nothing.
2. A trim/AOT warning is a future runtime crash — IL2xxx (trimming) and IL3xxx (AOT/single-file) warnings mark code that may throw MissingMethodException or silently misbehave in the published binary. Treat them as errors and keep the count at zero.
3. Source generators replace reflection — JSON, regex, logging, configuration binding, options validation, and MVVM all have generators. They keep the AOT path fast and analyzable.
4. Test the published artifact, not dotnet run — dotnet run uses the JIT and full metadata, so it hides every trimming bug. Smoke-test the binary that dotnet publish produces, in CI.
5. AOT is a trade, not a free upgrade — You get fast startup, small memory, and no runtime install. You lose dynamic loading, Reflection.Emit, and some steady-state throughput from Dynamic PGO. Pick it where those trade-offs pay.

Patterns

Project Setup

<!-- App (executable) project -->
<PropertyGroup>
  <TargetFramework>net10.0</TargetFramework>
  <PublishAot>true</PublishAot>                    <!-- also turns on AOT analyzers during build -->
  <InvariantGlobalization>true</InvariantGlobalization> <!-- drop ICU if you don't need cultures -->
  <OptimizationPreference>Size</OptimizationPreference> <!-- or Speed -->
  <TreatWarningsAsErrors>true</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
</PropertyGroup>

<!-- Every class library the app references -->
<PropertyGroup>
  <IsAotCompatible>true</IsAotCompatible> <!-- implies IsTrimmable + trim/AOT/single-file analyzers -->
</PropertyGroup>

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64   # one RID per publish

Why: putting PublishAot in the project file (not only on the command line) runs the analyzers on every build, so warnings appear while you code. IsAotCompatible on libraries surfaces problems at the source instead of in the app. Native AOT needs the platform toolchain (VS "Desktop development with C++" on Windows, clang + zlib dev packages on Linux, Xcode CLI tools on macOS). Build each OS on that OS in a CI matrix. A Linux binary runs only on the same or newer distro version it was built on.

Source-Generated JSON

public sealed record OrderDto(Guid Id, string Customer, decimal Total, DateTimeOffset CreatedAt);

[JsonSourceGenerationOptions(PropertyNamingPolicy = JsonKnownNamingPolicy.CamelCase)]
[JsonSerializable(typeof(OrderDto))]
[JsonSerializable(typeof(List<OrderDto>))]
internal sealed partial class AppJsonContext : JsonSerializerContext;

// Usage — pass the generated JsonTypeInfo, never a bare Type
var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(order, AppJsonContext.Default.OrderDto);
var orders = await JsonSerializer.DeserializeAsync(stream, AppJsonContext.Default.ListOrderDto, ct);

// ASP.NET Core minimal APIs: register the context once
var builder = WebApplication.CreateSlimBuilder(args);
builder.Services.ConfigureHttpJsonOptions(o =>
    o.SerializerOptions.TypeInfoResolverChain.Insert(0, AppJsonContext.Default));

Why: reflection-based System.Text.Json is disabled in trimmed/AOT apps. The generated metadata is also faster on the JIT. Register every type that crosses the wire, including collection shapes (List<OrderDto>). CreateSlimBuilder leaves out non-AOT-friendly defaults. The minimal API Request Delegate Generator turns on automatically with PublishAot.

Generated Regex, Logging, Config Binding, Options Validation

internal static partial class Patterns
{
    [GeneratedRegex(@"^ORD-\d{6}$", RegexOptions.CultureInvariant)]
    internal static partial Regex OrderNumber { get; }
}

internal static partial class Log
{
    [LoggerMessage(Level = LogLevel.Information, Message = "Imported {Count} orders in {ElapsedMs} ms")]
    internal static partial void Imported(ILogger logger, int count, long elapsedMs);
}

[OptionsValidator]
internal sealed partial class ImportOptionsValidator : IValidateOptions<ImportOptions>;

public sealed class ImportOptions
{
    [Range(1, 10_000)] public int BatchSize { get; set; } = 500;
}

<EnableConfigurationBindingGenerator>true</EnableConfigurationBindingGenerator>

Why: [GeneratedRegex] emits matching code at compile time (no RegexOptions.Compiled, which needs runtime IL emit). [LoggerMessage] avoids boxing and parsing the template on every call. The configuration binding generator replaces the reflection inside Bind/Get<T>/Configure<T>. [OptionsValidator] replaces reflection-based data-annotation validation.

Fixing Trim Warnings Honestly

// Propagate the requirement to callers instead of hiding it
[RequiresUnreferencedCode("Loads plugin types by name; not trim-safe.")]
[RequiresDynamicCode("Creates generic types at runtime.")]
public static object CreatePlugin(string typeName) => Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(typeName)!)!;

// Or tell the trimmer exactly what to keep
public static T Create<[DynamicallyAccessedMembers(DynamicallyAccessedMemberTypes.PublicParameterlessConstructor)] T>()
    where T : new() => new();

public static object CreateFrom(
    [DynamicallyAccessedMembers(DynamicallyAccessedMemberTypes.PublicParameterlessConstructor)] Type type) =>
    Activator.CreateInstance(type)!;

Why: [RequiresUnreferencedCode]/[RequiresDynamicCode] move the warning to the call site, where a caller can choose a safe path. [DynamicallyAccessedMembers] lets the trimmer keep exactly the members reflection needs. Use [UnconditionalSuppressMessage] only when you can explain in the justification why the code is provably safe.

Single-File Without AOT

<PropertyGroup>
  <PublishSingleFile>true</PublishSingleFile>
  <SelfContained>true</SelfContained>
  <IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract>true</IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract>
  <PublishTrimmed>true</PublishTrimmed> <!-- optional; requires the same trim discipline -->
</PropertyGroup>

// BAD in single-file: Assembly.Location is empty (IL3000)
var dir = Path.GetDirectoryName(typeof(Program).Assembly.Location);

// GOOD
var dir = AppContext.BaseDirectory;

Why: single-file gives one-exe distribution while keeping the JIT and full reflection. Use it when a dependency isn't AOT-compatible but you still want an easy download. File-path APIs are the usual breakage.

Verifying in CI

strategy:
  matrix:
    os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
steps:
  - run: dotnet publish src/Contoso.Cli -c Release -o out
  - run: ./out/contoso --version && ./out/contoso import --input samples/orders.csv --dry-run

Why: only the published binary proves trimming kept what you need. A smoke command on each OS catches missing metadata, native library, and globalization problems before release.

Anti-patterns

Suppressing Warnings to Get a Green Build

<!-- BAD — hides the crash until production -->
<NoWarn>$(NoWarn);IL2026;IL3050</NoWarn>
<TrimMode>partial</TrimMode>

// GOOD — fix the cause: generated serializer instead of reflection
JsonSerializer.Serialize(order, AppJsonContext.Default.OrderDto);

Reflection-Based Serialization Overloads

// BAD — IL2026/IL3050: needs runtime reflection over OrderDto
var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(order);
var dto = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<OrderDto>(ct);

// GOOD — JsonTypeInfo overloads
var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(order, AppJsonContext.Default.OrderDto);
var dto = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync(AppJsonContext.Default.OrderDto, ct);

Convention-Based Assembly Scanning

// BAD — trimmer removes "unused" types; GetTypes() finds nothing at runtime
foreach (var t in typeof(Program).Assembly.GetTypes().Where(t => t.IsAssignableTo(typeof(ICommandHandler))))
    services.AddTransient(typeof(ICommandHandler), t);

// GOOD — explicit registration (or a source generator that emits it)
services.AddTransient<ICommandHandler, ImportHandler>();
services.AddTransient<ICommandHandler, ExportHandler>();

RegexOptions.Compiled and Runtime Expression Compilation

// BAD — needs Reflection.Emit; under AOT it falls back to slower interpretation
private static readonly Regex Sku = new(@"^[A-Z]{3}-\d+$", RegexOptions.Compiled);

// GOOD
[GeneratedRegex(@"^[A-Z]{3}-\d+$")]
private static partial Regex Sku { get; }

Decision Guide