How ASI Backbone and .NET Core Application Template Fit Together

[cdcavell]

ASI Backbone and the .NET Core Application Template are intentionally separate projects, but they can complement one another.

.NET Core Application Template

The .NET Core Application Template focuses on the application foundation:

• ASP.NET Core hosting
• Authentication and authorization
• Structured logging
• Security headers
• Rate limiting
• EF Core
• Database integration
• Reverse proxy support
• Centralized error handling
• Secure application defaults

ASI Backbone

ASI Backbone focuses on governance around consequential operations:

• Policy evaluation
• Governance decisions
• Acknowledgment workflows
• Audit and provenance records
• Capability-based execution boundaries
• Structured decision results
• Policy-governed application behavior

One way to think about the relationship is:

Application infrastructure
        ↓
Authentication / identity
        ↓
ASI Backbone governance
        ↓
Policy decision
        ↓
Capability / authorization boundary
        ↓
Application operation
        ↓
Audit / telemetry

Neither project requires the other.

The template should remain useful without ASI Backbone, and ASI Backbone should remain usable by applications that were not created from the template.

Where the two intersect, however, there is an opportunity to provide a more complete reference architecture for secure, auditable, policy-governed .NET applications.

I'm interested in hearing how others would structure this boundary.

Where should application infrastructure end and governance begin?