Clean Architecture Toolkit for .NET
Clean Architecture Toolkit is a clean, modular architecture foundation for .NET applications. It embraces SOLID principles and focuses on maintainability, testability, and scalability through clear boundaries and pluggable design.
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Cat.EFCore

Set up Entity Framework Core entities the same way every time.
Inherit from a base class, call one extension method in OnModelCreating, and get a Guid key, an identity sequence column, and optional temporal tables.

Table of contents

• NuGet packages
• Namespaces
• Dependencies
• Usage

NuGet packages

Package	Role	Install	Downloads
Cat.EFCore.Entities	Entity base classes	dotnet add package gmarginet.Cat.EFCore.Entities
Cat.EFCore.Extensions	Model builder extensions	dotnet add package gmarginet.Cat.EFCore.Extensions

Namespaces

Dependencies

Cat.EFCore has no dependencies on other CAT modules.

Usage

Inherit your entities from the Cat base classes.

public class Todo : CatEntityBase
{
    public string Title { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public Guid TodoOwnerId { get; set; }
    public TodoOwner? TodoOwner { get; set; }
}

public class TodoHistoryItem : CatTemporalEntityBase
{
    public string Title { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}

// The table belongs to another service that shares the database.
public class TodoOwner : CatReferenceEntityBase
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}

Configure them in OnModelCreating.

protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.ConfigureCatEntity<Todo>("Todo", "todo");
    modelBuilder.ConfigureCatTemporalEntity<TodoHistoryItem>("TodoHistoryItem", "todo");
    modelBuilder.ConfigureCatReferenceEntity<TodoOwner>("TodoOwner", "identity");

    modelBuilder.Entity<Todo>()
        .HasOne(t => t.TodoOwner)
        .WithMany()
        .HasForeignKey(t => t.TodoOwnerId);
}

What you get:

• CatEntityBase: a non-clustered Guid primary key on Id and a unique clustered index on the identity column SequenceId.
• CatTemporalEntityBase: the same as above, in a temporal table with a history table in the History schema.
• CatReferenceEntityBase: a non-clustered primary key, and the table is excluded from migrations.

When to use CatReferenceEntityBase

Use it for a table that someone else owns, so you can point a foreign key at it.

• Several services share one database. Each service owns some of the tables.
• Your service needs a foreign key or navigation to a table of another service.
• You map that table in your own DbContext with CatReferenceEntityBase. Migrations never touch it, so the owner keeps control of the schema.
• Treat the entity as read-only. Only the owner changes the data.

Do not use it for your own tables. Use CatEntityBase for those, even when the data is a short list of fixed values.