How to run .NET Core Console app using generic host builder

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EDIT: An update for .NET 6 is below ↓
Not much has changed with .NET 7.

I’d start off with the default worker template. It comes with necessary packages pre-installed. If you already have a project, install Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting package.

dotnet new worker -n MyCli

Then open up the Program.cs and build the host. Remove the Worker hosted service if you don’t want to go with the hosted service route.

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var host = CreateHostBuilder(args).Build();
    }

    public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
        Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
            .ConfigureServices((hostContext, services) =>
            {
                // remove the hosted service
                // services.AddHostedService<Worker>();

                // register your services here.
            });
}

Build your logic:

internal class MyService
{
    // you can also inject other services
    private ILogger<MyService> _logger;

    public MyService(ILogger<MyService> logger)
    {
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public void DoSomething()
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("Doing something");
    }
}

Then register the class inside .ConfigureServices method

Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
    .ConfigureServices((hostContext, services) =>
    {
        services.AddTransient<MyService>();
    });

Now you can resolve and call it inside the Main method:

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var host = CreateHostBuilder(args).Build();
    var myService = host.Services.GetRequiredService<MyService>();
    myService.DoSomething();
}

.NET 6 update

With .NET 6, boilerplate is reduced significantly. We can rewrite our Program.cs as:

using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting; // Requires NuGet package

var host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
    .ConfigureServices(services => { services.AddTransient<MyService>(); })
    .Build();

var my = host.Services.GetRequiredService<MyService>();
await my.ExecuteAsync();

class MyService
{
    private readonly ILogger<MyService> _logger;

    public MyService(ILogger<MyService> logger)
    {
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken = default)
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("Doing something");
    }
}

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