Leverage Refit to Simplify ASP.NET Core API Consumption and Enhance Code Efficiency
Refit is an open-source library for .NET, .NET Core, and Xamarin that simplifies consuming REST APIs by allowing developers to define API endpoints as C# interfaces. This approach eliminates the need to manually create HTTP requests and parse responses, making the code cleaner, more efficient, and easier to maintain.
In this article, we will explore the Refit library in the context of .NET development and demonstrate how it can streamline the process of consuming APIs. To follow along with the code examples, you should have Visual Studio 2022 installed on your system. If you don’t have it yet, you can download Visual Studio 2022 from Microsoft’s official website.
We’ll build two applications: a Contact API and a client application that consumes this API. The Contact API will consist of the following components:
- Contact: The model class representing a contact.
- IContactRepository: The interface defining methods for managing contacts.
- ContactRepository: The repository class that implements the interface and provides contact data.
- ContactsController: The API controller that exposes endpoints for managing contacts.
The client application will use Refit to consume the Contact API and display the retrieved contacts in the console window.
What is Refit and Why is it Useful?
Refit is a type-safe, efficient REST library for .NET, .NET Core, and Xamarin that simplifies the consumption of RESTful APIs. By turning your REST API into an interface, Refit reduces the boilerplate code required for HTTP calls, making it easier to connect with APIs. Refit automatically transforms HTTP calls into C# interfaces using attributes to describe REST operations, allowing developers to interact with APIs using minimal code.
In this article, we’ll dive into Refit’s core features, illustrate how it simplifies API consumption, and discuss why it has become a go-to tool for developers working with RESTful web services in .NET environments.