Minimal APIs and when the full MVC pattern is still worth it
Minimal APIs let a route be defined in a few lines without a controller class, middleware pipeline configuration, or the other scaffolding that full ASP.NET Core MVC expects. For a small service, an internal API, or a microservice with a narrow scope, this is usually the better starting point: less code, faster startup, easier to reason about end to end.
The full MVC pattern with controllers earns its structure back once an application has many related endpoints, complex model binding, or a team large enough that consistent conventions matter more than minimal boilerplate. We typically start new, small services with Minimal APIs and move to the full MVC structure, or a modular monolith pattern, once the application's endpoint count and team size justify the added structure.











