GenDI

Generator-based Dependency Injection for .NET — elegant, fast, AOT-ready

GenDI is a dependency injection library built on top of C# source generators, providing full compatibility with NativeAOT and trimming. It works as an additional module to Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection, allowing you to register services automatically at compile time — no reflection required.

Say goodbye to constructor bloat

Real-world services accumulate dependencies. With traditional constructor injection this tends to look like this:

// ❌ The "constructor tax" — grows every time a new dependency is added
public class OrderProcessor
{
    private readonly IOrderRepository _orderRepository;
    private readonly IPaymentGateway _paymentGateway;
    private readonly IEmailService _emailService;
    private readonly IInventoryService _inventoryService;
    private readonly ILogger<OrderProcessor> _logger;

    public OrderProcessor(
        IOrderRepository orderRepository,
        IPaymentGateway paymentGateway,
        IEmailService emailService,
        IInventoryService inventoryService,
        ILogger<OrderProcessor> logger)
    {
        _orderRepository = orderRepository;
        _paymentGateway = paymentGateway;
        _emailService = emailService;
        _inventoryService = inventoryService;
        _logger = logger;
    }
}

With GenDI's property injection, the same class becomes clean and self-documenting:

// ✅ Declare what you need — GenDI wires everything at compile time
[Injectable<IOrderProcessor>(ServiceLifetime.Scoped)]
public class OrderProcessor : IOrderProcessor
{
    [Inject] public required IOrderRepository OrderRepository { get; init; }
    [Inject] public required IPaymentGateway PaymentGateway { get; init; }
    [Inject] public required IEmailService EmailService { get; init; }
    [Inject] public required IInventoryService InventoryService { get; init; }
    [Inject] public required ILogger<OrderProcessor> Logger { get; init; }
}

No private fields. No constructor ceremony. No manual wiring. Just declare your dependencies and move on.

Key features and developer benefits

• Property injection as first-class citizen: use [Inject] on required init-only properties — dependencies read like documentation, not plumbing.
• Zero boilerplate registration: a single [Injectable] attribute replaces AddScoped<TImpl>() calls scattered across startup files.
• Readable generated flow: activation is emitted as explicit new + GetRequiredService<T>(), making the wiring transparent and debuggable.
• Compile-time safety: the C# compiler enforces every required [Inject] property is assigned — you cannot accidentally skip a dependency. Container registration errors (unregistered services) remain runtime exceptions, just like standard DI.
• Deterministic registration order: Group + Order give you predictable, testable pipeline composition.
• Attribute-first contract mapping: combine [Injectable], [Injectable<TService>], and [ServiceInjection] with clear intent.
• Keyed services support: works with both native [FromKeyedServices] and GenDI [Inject(Key = ...)].
• No runtime scanning cost: compile-time generation eliminates startup overhead from reflection-based scanning.
• AOT/trimming friendly by design: safe path for teams that need NativeAOT, without forcing this concern for every project.

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Installation

dotnet add package GenDI

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Usage

Using InjectableAttribute

[ServiceInjection]
public interface IMyService
{
    void Execute();
}

[Injectable(ServiceLifetime.Singleton, Group = 10, Order = 1)]
public class MyService : IMyService
{
    public void Execute() => Console.WriteLine("Service injected!");
}

InjectableAttribute supports:

• Lifetime (constructor argument, default Transient)
• Group (optional, default int.MaxValue)
• Order (optional, default int.MaxValue)
• ServiceType:
  • [Injectable] -> null (no explicit contract)
  • [Injectable<TService>] -> typeof(TService) as explicit contract (additive with [ServiceInjection])
• Key (optional, default null) for keyed service registration generation

Service registration emission order is:

1. Group
2. Order
3. Service type name (ordinal)

Registering Services

using YourProject.DependencyInjection; // generated by GenDI in the consumer project namespace

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddGenDIServices();
var app = builder.Build();
app.Run();

Property Injection with [Inject]

Declare dependencies as required init-only properties and mark them with [Inject]. GenDI generates the activation code — no constructor needed:

[Injectable<IOrderProcessor>(ServiceLifetime.Scoped)]
public class OrderProcessor : IOrderProcessor
{
    [Inject] public required IOrderRepository Repository { get; init; }
    [Inject] public required IPaymentGateway Payment { get; init; }
    [Inject] public required ILogger<OrderProcessor> Logger { get; init; }

    public async Task ProcessAsync(Order order)
    {
        Logger.LogInformation("Processing order {Id}", order.Id);
        await Repository.SaveAsync(order);
        await Payment.ChargeAsync(order);
    }
}

[Inject] also supports optional Key for keyed dependency resolution:

[Inject(Key = "primary")]
public required IMyService Service { get; init; }

Constructor injection is also supported and can use the native DI attribute:

public MyConsumer([FromKeyedServices("primary")] IMyService service) { }

Service Contract Discovery

• GenDI discovers services from [ServiceInjection] in implemented interfaces and base types.
• Injectable<TService> is also added to the generated registration list when provided.
• If no [ServiceInjection] is found in the inheritance/implementation chain, the concrete class is registered as its own service.

Generated Coverage Configuration

By default, generated extensions are included in coverage (no [ExcludeFromCodeCoverage]). You can control this per assembly:

[assembly: GenDI.GenDICoveration(false)] // add [ExcludeFromCodeCoverage] to generated extension

NativeAOT and Trimming (Phase 3)

GenDI includes linker descriptors and validation projects for trimming and NativeAOT scenarios.

Publish with trimming

dotnet publish tests/GenDI.Phase3.TrimValidation.App/GenDI.Phase3.TrimValidation.App.csproj -c Release

Publish with NativeAOT

dotnet publish tests/GenDI.Phase3.NativeAotValidation.App/GenDI.Phase3.NativeAotValidation.App.csproj -c Release -r linux-x64

ILLink descriptor sample

<linker>
  <assembly fullname="YourAssemblyName">
    <type fullname="YourAssemblyName.DependencyInjection.GenDIServiceCollectionExtensions" preserve="all" />
  </assembly>
</linker>

Documentation Website (Phase 4)

GenDI now ships an English-first Docusaurus documentation website under website/, with a theme aligned to net-mediate.

Local docs development

cd website
npm ci
npm run start

Production docs build

cd website
npm run build

GitHub Pages deployment is handled by .github/workflows/deploy-docs.yml.

Benchmarks (Phase 4)

GenDI now includes a dedicated BenchmarkDotNet project:

• tests/GenDI.Benchmarks

Primary benchmark focus is startup registration cost:

• generated registration (AddGenDIServices)
• reflection-based runtime scanning

Latest published benchmark report:

• docs/BENCHMARKS.md

Packaging and CI/CD Baseline (Phase 4 / early Phase 5)

The repository includes:

• versions.props for centralized dynamic versioning
• pack.props for package metadata and packing defaults
• .github/workflows/ci-cd.yml and .github/workflows/auto-publish.yml prepared for Sonar/NuGet flows

Local Tooling and Git Hooks

The repository uses local tools and Husky hooks:

• dotnet-tools.json includes csharpier and husky
• pre-commit runs:
  • dotnet csharpier format .
  • dotnet test

For fresh clones, src/GenDI/GenDI.csproj runs a pre-restore target that executes dotnet tool restore and dotnet husky install.

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Compatibility

Platform / Framework	Supported
.NET 8+	YES
NativeAOT	YES
Trimming	YES
Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection	YES

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Roadmap

Phase	Description	Status
1	InjectableAttribute - attribute-based registration	Implemented
2	Attribute model + contract discovery + ordering	Implemented
3	Advanced NativeAOT support (ILLink.xml, trimming, AOT)	Implemented
4	Benchmarks, website/docs, and CI hardening	Implemented
5	Official NuGet publication	In Progress

See the full plan in ROADMAP.md.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE.md for details.