This is the hands-on companion to Getting started. Where that guide teaches you the UI (components, state, routing), this tutorial takes you the rest of the way — from an empty folder to a deployed, database-backed product that one person runs on one server. That is the promise of the .NET One Person Framework, and this is the walk-through that proves it.
We build a small online shop — Shop — and grow it one chapter at a time. Every step is a real command
you type and real code the rask CLI writes for you. Nothing here is pseudo-code.
Want to try the ideas before installing anything? The playground's guided tutorial teaches components, state, forms and then EF Core CRUD — running real SQLite in your browser tab, with nothing to set up. It covers the code; this tutorial covers the product: the CLI, migrations, jobs, email, and shipping it.
By the last chapter, Shop has:
- a Products catalog with full create / read / update / delete pages, backed by SQLite through EF Core;
- an Orders feature;
- a login so only signed-in staff can edit the catalog;
- a background job that runs work off the request thread;
- transactional email (an order receipt) whose body is a Rask component;
- a cache in front of the catalog;
- domain events delivered through a durable outbox;
- production-grade SQLite — WAL, a busy-timeout, snapshots, and continuous off-box backup;
- push notifications sent from your own server on your own keys;
- an ops page that shows every background worker's state;
- and finally, a one-command deploy to a single server behind automatic HTTPS.
Every one of those is a first-party Rask pillar — a thin, opinionated package that rides on the app's own SQLite database. No Redis, no message broker, no managed queue, no second server. One box runs the whole product.
| # | Chapter | Pillar | You'll run |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scaffold the app | CLI · Auth | rask new Shop --all-batteries --auth --docker |
| 2 | Your first feature | Data · CQRS · SQLite | rask generate feature Product … · rask db |
| 3 | A second feature + locking it down | Auth | rask generate feature Order … |
| 4 | Background jobs | Jobs | rask generate job … |
| 5 | Transactional email | rask generate email … |
|
| 6 | Caching the catalog | Cache | rask generate cache … |
| 7 | Domain events + the outbox | Outbox | rask generate feature … --outbox |
| 8 | Production SQLite | SQLite | UseRaskSqlite() · snapshots · Litestream |
| 9 | Push notifications | Web Push · PWA | VapidKeys.Generate() · IWebPush |
| 10 | Watching it run | Observability | an /ops page over every pillar's table |
| 11 | Deploy to one box | Deploy | rask deploy --host … --domain … |
Read them in order — each chapter builds on the app the previous one left behind. Every chapter ends with a Verify section (how to confirm it works) and a Learn more link to that pillar's reference doc.
One command in Chapter 1 wires every pillar in; each chapter then teaches you what one of them is for and
how to use it. If you'd rather add them one at a time, every flag works on its own —
rask new Shop --data --jobs gives you a database and background work and nothing else.
Want to read ahead? samples/Rask.Example.Shop is the finished app,
committed and runnable — the output of this tutorial's commands, with browser tests that prove each pillar
actually runs.
You need the .NET 10 SDK and the rask CLI:
dotnet --version # must be ≥ 10.0
dotnet tool install -g Rask.Cli # installs the `rask` command (one-time)If dotnet --version prints an older version, install the .NET 10 SDK from
dotnet.microsoft.com first. To upgrade an already-installed CLI
later, run dotnet tool update -g Rask.Cli.
This tutorial assumes you're comfortable with C#. It does not assume you know EF Core, CQRS, or Rask — each idea is introduced where it first appears. If you've never built a Rask UI, skim Getting started first; we won't re-teach components here.
Ready? → Chapter 1: Scaffold the app