ardalis/Specification

This system is a .NET library that implements the Specification and Repository patterns to simplify and standardize data access logic. It provides a fluent API for constructing complex queries, including filtering, sorting, pagination, and projections, which are then translated into efficient Entity Framework Core and EF6 database operations. The architecture features a modular evaluator system that applies these specifications to queries, supporting both in-memory and database-backed repositories with full test coverage.

The library now includes new exception classes to provide clearer error messages when invalid specification configurations are detected. Specifically, it adds ConcurrentSelectorsException, DuplicateOrderChainException, DuplicateSkipException, DuplicateTakeException, InvalidSearchPatternException, and SelectorNotFoundException. These exceptions are thrown to enforce rules such as using only one selector transform, avoiding duplicate Skip/Take calls, and ensuring required selectors are defined.

src/Ardalis.Specification/Exceptions · high confidence

Added three sample applications (App1, App2, App3) that progressively demonstrate the library's features. App1 shows basic repository usage with built-in implementations. App2 introduces read repositories, custom specification evaluators, and direct DbContext usage. App3 adds pagination, filtering, and AutoMapper projection support with custom repository base classes. The domain models (Customer, Address) and specification classes are also included.

samples · high confidence

The repository now includes an .editorconfig file that enforces consistent coding styles, indentation, and naming conventions across C\# and VB files, alongside a new solution file that organizes the core library, Entity Framework Core and Entity Framework 6 integration projects, their respective test suites, and sample applications into a structured hierarchy. This change standardizes the development environment and project layout for all contributors.

(repo-wide) · high confidence

The library now provides dedicated evaluator classes (AsNoTracking, Include, Order, Search, and Specification) that process query specifications for both Entity Framework 6 and Entity Framework Core. These evaluators handle query transformations such as filtering, sorting, and including related data. Additionally, the update introduces \RepositoryBase\ implementations for both EF6 and EF Core, which utilize these evaluators to execute database operations like \AddAsync\, \UpdateAsync\, and \ListAsync\. For EF Core, a \ContextFactoryRepositoryBaseOfT\ is also added to support scoped repository creation via \IDbContextFactory\. This change restructures how specifications are applied to queries, moving the logic into specialized evaluator classes that are then used by the repository base classes.

src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFramework6 · high confidence

The library introduces a suite of new evaluators that allow users to configure EF Core query behaviors directly through specifications. These include AsNoTracking, AsNoTrackingWithIdentityResolution, AsSplitQuery, AsTracking, IgnoreAutoIncludes, IgnoreQueryFilters, Include, IncludeString, Order, Pagination, QueryTag, and Search. The SpecificationEvaluator now orchestrates these evaluators to apply the corresponding EF Core extension methods (e.g., .AsNoTracking(), .TagWith()) to the generated queries, giving users fine-grained control over tracking, splitting, and query tagging.

src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFrameworkCore/Evaluators · high confidence

The specification builder now supports setting cache keys via \EnableCache\ and \WithCacheKey\, allowing applications to control caching behavior. New methods \IgnoreQueryFilters\ and \IgnoreAutoIncludes\ provide conditional control over query filtering and auto-includes. Query construction is enhanced with \Include\ and \ThenInclude\ for navigation properties, \OrderBy\/\ThenBy\ for sorting, \Take\/\Skip\ for pagination, and \Search\ for pattern matching. Additional capabilities include \PostProcessingAction\ for in-memory result transformation, \Select\/\SelectMany\ for projection, and \TagWith\ for query tagging.

src/Ardalis.Specification/Builders · high confidence

The internal implementation of the specification library has been refactored to use a new \OneOrMany\<T\>\ struct, which efficiently manages collections that may contain a single item or multiple items, optimizing memory usage by avoiding unnecessary list allocations for single values. This change is accompanied by the addition of a \CollectionExtensions\ helper to optimize list conversions and a \SearchExpressionComparer\ to handle sorting of search expressions, supporting the consolidation of state management for where and search expressions.

src/Ardalis.Specification/Internals · medium confidence

The library now uses specific wrapper classes—IncludeExpressionInfo, OrderExpressionInfo, SearchExpressionInfo, and WhereExpressionInfo—each encapsulating the data required for their respective query operations (such as filtering, sorting, searching, and including related entities). This refactoring simplifies the internal representation of expression states, making the specification's handling of these components more explicit and organized.

src/Ardalis.Specification/Expressions · high confidence

The specification evaluation and validation logic has been restructured into a modular, interface-driven architecture. New interfaces (IEvaluator, IInMemoryEvaluator, ISpecificationEvaluator, IValidator, IInMemorySpecificationEvaluator) and their implementations (WhereEvaluator, SearchMemoryEvaluator, OrderEvaluator, PaginationEvaluator, SpecificationValidator, etc.) replace the previous monolithic evaluators. This change improves memory efficiency and allows for easier extension or replacement of specific evaluation/validator behaviors. A fallback mechanism is also introduced for custom user specifications to ensure compatibility.

src/Ardalis.Specification/Evaluators · high confidence

The internal state of specifications has been refactored to reduce memory allocations and improve performance, utilizing a new \OneOrMany\ collection type for expressions. This change introduces \ISingleResultSpecification\ interfaces and \SingleResultSpecification\ classes to constrain methods that return a single result. Additionally, a \WithProjectionOf\ extension method is now available to apply a projection specification to an existing specification, creating a new specification with the combined select logic.

src/Ardalis.Specification · high confidence

Add Ardalis.Specification.Benchmarks project for performance regression tracking; Add unit tests for specification evaluators and validators; Added EF6 test fixture and integration test infrastructure; Added benchmark data models and context; Added integration tests for EF6 Repository operations; Added integration tests for EF6 specification evaluators; Added integration tests for Entity Framework Core specification extensions; Added integration tests for complex query and select operations; Added integration tests for repository operations; Added test infrastructure for EF6 provider; Added unit and integration tests for EF Core query evaluators; Added unit tests for Specification cloning, projection, and size; Added unit tests for expression info classes; Added unit tests for internal specification components; Added unit tests for specification builder methods.

The project has been upgraded to target .NET 9, with the core specification library and its Entity Framework Core plugin now supporting both .NET 8 and .NET 9. This update brings EF Core 9.0.8 for .NET 9 targets, while maintaining EF Core 8.0.19 for .NET 8. Additionally, the solution now uses central package version management via Directory.Packages.props, and sample applications have been added to demonstrate the updated stack.

(dependencies) · high confidence

Written by watchdog.canine.dev from the codebase's own history, inside the signed delivery this page is composed from.

• CAI 49 → 51 (+1.9)
• Rubric changed (rubric-2026.08.18 → rubric-2026.09.15) — scores are not directly comparable.

• Code Health 90 → 89 (-0.8)
• Architecture 99 → 99 (+0.0)
• Maturity 59 → 59 (+0.0)
• Readiness 31 → 32 (+1.2)
• Security 65 → 73 (+7.9)
• Domain Modelling 63 → 71 (+7.7)
• Performance 69 → 69 (-0.3)

• Bounded contexts not declared
• Duplicated block (28 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification/Evaluators/SearchMemoryEvaluator.cs)
• Duplicated block (6 lines × 3) (samples/Ardalis.Sample.App1/WebApplicationExtensions.cs)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• LLM evaluation failed
• LLM evaluation failed
• No exposed public API
• Off-boarding risk: anonymized user #1
• Test runner surfaced no tests

• CoverageExclusion (src/Ardalis.Specification/Evaluators/Iterator.cs)
• CoverageExclusion (src/Ardalis.Specification/Evaluators/Iterator.cs)
• CoverageExclusion (src/Ardalis.Specification/Evaluators/Iterator.cs)
• Documentation: no installation or build instructions (docs/getting-started/index.md)
• Duplicated block (10 lines × 4) (samples/Ardalis.Sample.App3/IReadRepository.cs)
• Duplicated block (12 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification/Builders/Builder_Include.cs)
• Duplicated block (16 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFrameworkCore/Evaluators/SearchExtension.cs)
• Duplicated block (29 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFramework6/Evaluators/OrderEvaluator.cs)
• Duplicated block (30 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification/Evaluators/SearchMemoryEvaluator.cs)
• Duplicated block (6 lines × 3) (samples/Ardalis.Sample.App1/WebApplicationExtensions.cs)
• Duplicated block (7 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFramework6/RepositoryBaseOfT.cs)
• Duplicated block (7 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFramework6/RepositoryBaseOfT.cs)
• Duplicated block (7 lines × 2) (src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFramework6/RepositoryBaseOfT.cs)
• Duplicated block (8 lines × 2) (samples/Ardalis.Sample.App2/Program.cs)
• Edited copy of a member (29 corresponding lines) (src/Ardalis.Specification.EntityFramework6/Evaluators/OrderEvaluator.cs)
• End-of-life runtime: .NET net9.0
• High CVE: SSH.NET 2024.2.0
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• High: security finding (details withheld)
• …and 20 more

• Unchanged — 7 HTTP endpoints

• Unchanged — 1 containers · 1 contexts · 0 edges

Written by watchdog.canine.dev from the codebase's own history, inside the signed delivery this page is composed from.

ardalis/Specification was measured the same way every project in this corpus was: the same rubric, at a pinned commit, with the result published in full. Point a surveyor at a repository you know and see whether you agree with it.