Entity Framework Core (EF Core) is a modern object-database mapper that lets you build a clean, portable, and high-level data access layer with .NET (C#) across a variety of databases, including SQL Server (on-premises and Azure), SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and Azure Cosmos DB. It supports LINQ queries, change tracking, updates, and schema migrations.

Getting started

Prerequisites

Make sure to install the same version of all EF Core packages shipped by Microsoft. For example, if version 5.0.3 of Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer is installed, then all other Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.* packages must also be at 5.0.3.

Usage

To use Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore in your application, you will typically need to create a class that inherits from DbContext, which represents your database session. You can then define classes that represent your database entities, and use LINQ queries to interact with the database.

Here's an example of how you might define a database context and an entity:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

public class MyDbContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Customer> Customers { get; set; }
}

public class Customer
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

You can then use the MyDbContext class to interact with the database:

using var context = new MyDbContext();

// Add a new customer
context.Customers.Add(new Customer { Name = "John Doe" });
context.SaveChanges();

// Retrieve all customers
var customers = context.Customers.ToList();

Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore supports multiple database providers, including SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and others. You will need to install the provider package for your chosen database. For example, to use SQL Server, you would install the Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer package.

You would then configure your database context to use the SQL Server provider:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

public class MyDbContext : DbContext
{
    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder options)
        => options.UseSqlServer(@"Data Source=(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB;Initial Catalog=MyDatabase");

    public DbSet<Customer> Customers { get; set; }
}

public class Customer
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Additional documentation

Feedback

If you have a specific question about using these projects, we encourage you to ask it on Stack Overflow. If you encounter a bug or would like to request a feature, submit an Github issue. For more details, see getting support.

Product Compatible and additional computed target framework versions.
.NET net10.0 is compatible.  net10.0-android was computed.  net10.0-browser was computed.  net10.0-ios was computed.  net10.0-maccatalyst was computed.  net10.0-macos was computed.  net10.0-tvos was computed.  net10.0-windows was computed. 

NuGet packages (10.1K)

Showing the top 5 NuGet packages that depend on Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore:

Package Downloads
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational

Shared Entity Framework Core components for relational database providers.
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.InMemory

In-memory database provider for Entity Framework Core (to be used for testing purposes).
Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL/Npgsql provider for Entity Framework Core.
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGenerators.Mvc

Code Generators for ASP.NET Core MVC. Contains code generators for MVC Controllers and Views.
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Design

Code Generation tool for ASP.NET Core. Contains the dotnet-aspnet-codegenerator command used for generating controllers and views.

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Welcome to the home of the Hot Chocolate GraphQL server for .NET, the Strawberry Shake GraphQL client for .NET and Nitro the awesome Monaco based GraphQL IDE.

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Context-aware AI assistant for your desktop. Ready to respond intelligently, seamlessly integrating multiple LLMs and MCP tools.

jasontaylordev/NorthwindTraders

Northwind Traders is a sample application built using ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework Core.

immense/Remotely

A remote control and remote scripting solution, built with .NET 8, Blazor, and SignalR.

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