Build an E-Commerce Product Catalog API (ASP.NET Core Web API)

Introduction

Capstone #2: ShopNest Catalog API — Clean Architecture, JWT, search/filter/pagination, Azure Blob images, Redis cache, Swagger, tests, Docker Compose.

After this article you will

• Layer Domain/Application/Infrastructure/API
• Product search API with Redis cache-aside
• JWT-secured write endpoints
• Blob storage for product images
• Docker Compose + xUnit tests

Prerequisites

• Article 65 — Complete Blog Website
• Articles 1–64 ShopNest foundations (MVC, EF Core, API, auth, deploy)

Architecture & design

Projects: ShopNest.Catalog.Domain, .Application, .Infrastructure, .Api. Use patterns from Articles 36, 40, 44, 48, 60.

[Authorize(Roles = "Admin")]
[HttpPost("products")]
public async Task<ActionResult<ProductDto>> Create(CreateProductCommand cmd)
    => Ok(await _mediator.Send(cmd));

Hands-on build guide — ShopNest Amazon-like Product API

1. Entities: Product, Category, Review.
2. GET /products?search=&category=&sort=price&page=1 with Redis.
3. POST image → Azure Blob; store URL on Product.
4. Integration tests with WebApplicationFactory.
5. docker-compose: api + sql + redis.

Common pitfalls

• Cache not invalidated on product update — stale listings.
• Returning EF entities — use DTOs only.

Interview & portfolio questions

Q: Why Redis on catalog?
A: Read-heavy product lists; cache-aside cuts DB load 10x+ on sales.

Summary

• Production-style API capstone for ShopNest mobile/partners
• Clean Architecture + CQRS optional via MediatR
• Docker + tests demonstrate DevOps maturity

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