RedisCacheLab

A small ASP.NET Core Web API learning demo that shows how to use Redis caching (cache-aside pattern) with:

• Entity Framework Core + SQL Server for persistence
• Redis for caching API responses
• Simple cache invalidation on create/update/delete

What it demonstrates

• Cache-aside flow:
  • On GET: check Redis first → if miss, load from DB → store in Redis
  • On POST/PUT/DELETE: update DB → remove related cache keys
• Cache keys for:
  • A paginated list of books
  • A single book by ISBN
• X-Cache response header (HIT / MISS) so you can see when Redis is used

Tech stack

• ASP.NET Core Web API
• EF Core + SQL Server
• Redis
• IDistributedCache + StackExchange.Redis

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK (a recent version that supports minimal hosting)
• SQL Server (LocalDB or full SQL Server)
• Redis (local or Docker)

Configuration

Set connection strings (example below). You can use either:

• appsettings.Development.json, or
• .NET User Secrets (recommended for local dev)

Example appsettings.Development.json:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "conStr": "Server=localhost;Database=RedisCacheLabDb;Trusted_Connection=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;",
    "Redis": "localhost:6379"
  }
}

Database migrations

From the repo root (or the project folder), run:

dotnet ef database update

If EF tools aren’t installed:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef

Run the API

dotnet run --project RedisCacheLab

If Swagger / OpenAPI is enabled in Development, open the browser at the Swagger/OpenAPI endpoint printed in the console.

API endpoints

Base route: /api/book

1) Get paginated books (cached)

GET /api/book?page=1&pageSize=10

• On cache hit: returns header X-Cache: HIT
• On cache miss: returns header X-Cache: MISS

2) Get book by ISBN (cached)

GET /api/book/{isbn}

3) Create a book (invalidates cache)

POST /api/book

Example body:

{
  "id": 1,
  "title": "Clean Code",
  "author": "Robert C. Martin",
  "isbn": "9780132350884",
  "isAvailable": true
}

4) Update a book (invalidates cache)

PUT /api/book/{isbn}

5) Delete a book (invalidates cache)

DELETE /api/book/{isbn}

Notes

• This is intended as a learning lab, not a production-ready caching strategy.
• Pattern-based cache deletion is convenient for demos but can be expensive at scale.

License

Add a license if you plan to share/reuse this code.