C# Academy · Lesson

Strongly Typed Options with IOptions

Bind configuration sections to POCO classes using IOptions , IOptionsSnapshot , and IOptionsMonitor .

Why Strongly Typed Options?

Reading config with IConfiguration["Key"] gives untyped strings. The Options pattern maps configuration sections to C# classes, giving compile-time safety, IntelliSense, and validation support.

Defining an Options Class

Create a plain POCO class whose property names match your JSON keys. By convention, add a static SectionName constant to identify the config section.

// Configuration class
public class JwtOptions
{
    public const string SectionName = "Jwt";

    public string SecretKey { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Issuer    { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Audience  { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public int    ExpiryMinutes { get; set; } = 60;
}

// appsettings.json:
{
  "Jwt": {
    "SecretKey": "my-very-secret-key",
    "Issuer": "https://myapp.com",
    "Audience": "https://myapp.com/api",
    "ExpiryMinutes": 120
  }
}

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