Integrate Apache Solr With .NET Aspire: A Guide

Aug 10, 2025 by Luna Greco 48 views

Integrating Apache Solr with .NET Aspire: A Comprehensive Guide

Hey guys! Today, we're diving into an exciting topic: integrating Apache Solr with .NET Aspire. If you're like me and you're using Solr as your go-to search service for web apps, you'll be thrilled to know we're exploring how to bring Solr integration into the Community Toolkit. This is all about making our lives easier and our applications more powerful, so let's get started!

Overview: What We Aim to Achieve

In this article, we're going to walk through the process of adding Apache Solr integration as a part of the Community Toolkit. Our goal is to create a seamless experience for developers who want to leverage Solr's powerful search capabilities within their .NET Aspire applications. This integration will be designed to simplify the setup and management of Solr instances, allowing you to focus on building awesome search experiences rather than wrestling with configurations. The integration should:

Start the official Solr Docker Image: We'll ensure that our integration can spin up a Solr instance using the official Docker image. This makes deployment and management a breeze, as Docker provides a consistent environment across different systems. Using Docker also means that you don't have to worry about conflicting dependencies or setting up Solr manually. Everything is neatly packaged in a container, ready to go.
Provide a way to change the port number: Flexibility is key, so we'll include a way to customize the port number on which Solr runs. This is crucial for avoiding conflicts with other services and for tailoring the setup to your specific environment. Imagine you're working on a project where port 8983 (the default Solr port) is already in use. With this feature, you can easily switch Solr to a different port, like 8984 or any other available port, without any hassle.
Provide a way to add a SolrCore: SolrCores are the heart of your search indexes, and our integration will make it simple to add and manage them. When you reference a SolrCore in your project, the integration will automatically provide the endpoint, so you can start querying right away. This feature streamlines the process of setting up and connecting to your Solr indexes. You won't have to manually configure connection strings or worry about finding the correct endpoint. The integration takes care of it all for you.
Include WithDataVolume, WithDataBindMount, and WithLifetime: We'll incorporate these options for managing data persistence and the lifecycle of your Solr container. WithDataVolume lets you persist data across container restarts, ensuring that your indexes are not lost. WithDataBindMount allows you to mount a directory from your host machine into the container, which can be useful for sharing configuration files or data. WithLifetime provides control over how long the Solr container runs, which is important for managing resources in your application. These features give you granular control over your Solr deployment, allowing you to tailor it to your specific needs.

By addressing these key areas, we're building an integration that is not only powerful but also user-friendly and adaptable to different scenarios. This means you can spend less time on infrastructure and more time on creating amazing search experiences for your users.

Usage Example: Getting Hands-On with Solr and .NET Aspire

Let’s walk through a practical example of how to integrate Solr as a hosted resource in a .NET Aspire application. This will give you a clear picture of how easy it is to get started with our integration.

Step 1: Install the Aspire.Hosting.Solr NuGet Package

First things first, you'll need to add the Aspire.Hosting.Solr NuGet package to your project. Open your terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

dotnet add package Aspire.Hosting.Solr

This command will fetch and install the necessary package, bringing all the Solr integration magic into your .NET Aspire application. The NuGet package contains all the components and extensions needed to seamlessly work with Solr within your Aspire environment. It handles the heavy lifting of setting up the connection, managing the Solr container, and providing the necessary configurations.

Step 2: Add the Solr Container Resource in the App Host Project

Next, we'll add the Solr container resource to your app host project. This involves modifying your Program.cs file to include the Solr integration. Open your Program.cs file and add the following code:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add Solr resource
var solr = builder.AddSolr("solr");

//Set Port Number
solr.WithHostPort(8984);

// Add a Solr Core
var solrCore = solr.AddSolrCore("solrcore");

// Reference the Solr Core in a project
var exampleProject = builder.AddProject<Projects.ExampleProject>()
    .WithReference(solrCore);

// Initialize and run the application
builder.Build().Run();

Let's break down this code snippet to understand what's happening:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);: This line creates a builder instance for your distributed application. It's the starting point for configuring your application and adding resources.
`var solr = builder.AddSolr(