How to Build a Production-Ready ASP.NET Core Web API with JWT, CQRS, and Clean Architecture

A developer guide published on DEV Community walks through configuring a production-grade ASP.NET Core Web API using a range of modern tools and patterns. The setup covers database integration via Entity Framework Core with SQL Server, ASP.NET Identity, and JWT-based authentication and authorization. CQRS is implemented using MediatR to cleanly separate commands and queries from controller logic, while FluentValidation handles input validation. A global exception handler is used to standardize error responses across the API, replacing repetitive try-catch blocks in individual controllers. The article also addresses CORS configuration, Swagger setup, and Clean Architecture principles to keep the codebase maintainable and scalable.