AppointMe vs Clean Architecture template

CA is

A single-app solution template, not SaaS

Multi-tenancy

None; you’d build it yourself

Shared ground

.NET 10, EF Core 10, Aspire, React

Pick CA if

One app, one customer base

At a glance

The Clean Architecture template (CA) gives you a well-structured single application; AppointMe gives you a multi-tenant SaaS foundation with more parts already wired.

	AppointMe	Clean Architecture template
Architecture	Modular monolith: 4 modules by bounded context, each with its own DbContext, schema and .Contracts project. Vertical slices inside each module.	Four projects by layer: Domain, Application, Infrastructure, Web. Use cases are MediatR commands and queries grouped by feature, with a Todo sample.
Multi-tenancy	One shared database with a CompanyId on every row, enforced in EF Core, Dapper and messages.	None.
Auth	OIDC with Keycloak locally and Entra External ID on Azure. JWT Bearer for the API, cookies for browser flows.	ASP.NET Core Identity in the app’s database, with MapIdentityApi. Cookies with an SPA, bearer tokens for API only.
Permissions	Permission fields auto-discovered from code, 4 built-in roles, per-company role overrides.	[Authorize(Roles = …, Policy = …)] on a request, checked by a MediatR AuthorizationBehaviour.
Data access	EF Core 10 for writes, Dapper for reads. SQL Server.	EF Core 10 in the Application layer, with AutoMapper projections. SQLite (default), PostgreSQL or SQL Server.
Messaging	Wolverine 6: domain events and handlers on durable local queues in SQL Server. Azure Service Bus by config.	Domain events published in-process through MediatR from an EF Core SaveChanges interceptor. No outbox or broker.
Frontend	One React 19 SPA: TypeScript 6, Vite+, Tailwind 4, shadcn/ui, TanStack Query, with hooks generated by orval.	Angular (default), a minimal React 19 starter in JSX, or API only. A TypeScript client generated by NSwag.
Local dev	Aspire runs SQL Server, Keycloak, Mailpit, the API and the SPA, then migrates and seeds demo data.	Aspire runs the database, the API and the SPA. SQLite needs no Docker.
Deploy	Bicep for Azure App Service, Azure SQL and Key Vault. GitHub Actions with OIDC on a v* tag.	azd up provisions and deploys from the Aspire model to an Azure Container Apps environment. azd pipeline config sets up CI.
Tests	221 xUnit unit tests, with no database or HTTP host.	NUnit, Shouldly, Moq and Respawn: about 34 unit and functional tests (functional ones through an Aspire test host) and 6 Playwright scenarios with Reqnroll.
Docs	This site, about 50 pages.	About 20 pages at cleanarchitecture.jasontaylor.dev, plus ADRs in the repo.
License	MIT. A PRO add-on is planned.	MIT for the template. Its MediatR and AutoMapper versions are dual-licensed (see the Gotcha below).
Maintainers and community	One main maintainer (BravoDev). About 50 GitHub stars. Public since June 2026.	Jason Taylor, with more than 80 contributors. About 20.7k stars. Public since 2019.
Live demo	One click, no sign-up.	None linked. You generate it with dotnet new ca-sln.

AppointMe facts are from commit 2ccbe87. CA facts are from its main branch and docs (see Sources).

Gotcha

The template is MIT, but Directory.Packages.props pins MediatR 14.2.0 and AutoMapper 16.2.0. From MediatR 13 and AutoMapper 15 on, both are dual-licensed (RPL-1.5 or commercial), with a free Community license only for organizations that meet its eligibility rules. Check mediatr.io before you ship. AppointMe uses Wolverine (MIT) instead, and has no mapper.

Where AppointMe is stronger

To reach AppointMe’s baseline on CA, you’d build tenancy, permissions, durable messaging and an identity-provider integration yourself.

You’d build	What it involves on CA	What AppointMe ships
Tenancy	A tenant entity and membership, per-request resolution, a filter on every tenant-scoped entity, and the tenant in raw SQL, jobs and messages	CompanyId, ICurrentCompany, named EF filters and InvokeForCompany. See Multi-tenancy.
Permissions	A permission catalog, role grants, per-tenant overrides and a resolver per request	Auto-discovered Permission fields, IDefaultGrantPolicy and per-company role overrides. See Permissions.
Durable messaging	An outbox, retries, an error queue and the tenant on each message. CA’s events run in-process inside SaveChanges.	Wolverine with durable local queues in SQL Server. See Domain events & messaging.
External identity	OIDC sign-in, app-managed sign-up and invitations, and a local identity provider for dev	Keycloak locally and Entra External ID on Azure, behind IIdentityProvider. See Entra External ID.
Module boundaries	Splitting the single ApplicationDbContext into one per bounded context, with schemas and contracts	4 modules with their own DbContext, schema and .Contracts project. See Modular monolith.
Local stack	Keycloak with a realm import, a mail catcher and demo seeding in the AppHost	Aspire runs SQL Server, Keycloak and Mailpit, migrates and seeds. See Quick start.
Read side	A separate query path for lists and dashboards	Dapper repositories with an explicit CompanyId predicate. See CQRS.

Each row is a known pattern. The work is in how they interact: the tenant has to reach EF Core, raw SQL, background jobs and messages, and permissions depend on the tenant.

Where the Clean Architecture template is stronger

CA is simpler, more flexible at generation time and has a broader test setup, and for a single application it’s the better start.

• Simpler to learn and explain. Four layer projects, one DbContext and a Todo sample, with Architecture Decision Records that explain the choices. It’s one of the most-starred .NET templates, so new hires may already know it.
• Choices when you generate. Angular, React or API only, and SQLite, PostgreSQL or SQL Server. AppointMe is React and SQL Server only.
• More kinds of tests. Functional tests run against a real database through an Aspire test host, reset with Respawn, and Playwright acceptance tests drive the UI through Reqnroll scenarios. AppointMe has more tests (221 against about 40) but only unit tests, with no database. See Testing.
• Scaffolding. dotnet new ca-usecase generates a command or query with its handler and validator. AppointMe has no item templates.
• Fewer moving parts for one app. ASP.NET Core Identity lives in the same database, so there’s no identity-provider container to run or Entra tenant to set up.
• A quick Azure sandbox. azd up packages, provisions and deploys from the Aspire model in one step. Its docs recommend a CI/CD pipeline for production.
• Track record. Maintained since 2019, with a branch for every .NET version from Core 3.1 to 9, about 20.7k stars and more than 80 contributors. AppointMe is months old with one main maintainer.

Why not start from Clean Architecture and add tenancy later?2 min · optional

You can, and plenty of teams do. The risk is in the retrofit: every entity, query, job and message needs the tenant, and one missed predicate leaks another customer’s data.

AppointMe starts with the tenant in every path, including Dapper reads and Wolverine envelopes, and ships the membership model (a user is an employee of each company) that tenancy depends on.

If you may never have tenants, that structure is a cost with no payoff, and CA is the leaner choice.

Choose Clean Architecture if… / choose AppointMe if…

CA fits a single application or a learning project; AppointMe fits multi-tenant SaaS you’d otherwise assemble yourself.

Choose Clean Architecture if…	Choose AppointMe if…
You’re building one app for one organization	You’re building SaaS where each customer is a tenant
You’re learning Clean Architecture or teaching it	You want tenancy, permissions and messaging already wired
You want Angular, or an API with no frontend	You want React and TypeScript
You want SQLite or PostgreSQL	SQL Server is fine
You want users and sign-in in your own database	You want Keycloak, Entra External ID or another OIDC provider
You want functional and browser tests set up from the first commit	You want a running multi-tenant app and live demo to start from
Fewer moving parts matters more than built-in features	You’d rather delete example modules than write a foundation

Migrating from Clean Architecture

Porting from CA means splitting the layers into modules and replacing MediatR with Wolverine, one use case at a time.

Clean Architecture	AppointMe	Notes
Domain entities on BaseEntity	Aggregates on AggregateRoot, inside a module	Add a CompanyId to tenant-scoped ones. See Multi-tenancy.
Application/<Feature>/Commands/<UseCase>	A slice folder with command, handler and endpoint	See Vertical slices.
IRequest<T> and IRequestHandler	A Wolverine handler with a HandleAsync method	CompanyId and IPrincipal are injected as parameters.
FluentValidation validator	Value-object factories such as Email.CreateOrNull	They throw ValidationException. See IDs & value objects.
[Authorize(Roles = …)] on the request	principal.Require(...) in the handler	See Add a permission.
IApplicationDbContext	One DbContext per module, with its own schema	See Database migrations.
AutoMapper ProjectTo queries	A Dapper repository returning DTOs	See CQRS.
Domain events dispatched in SaveChanges	IDomainEvent on the aggregate, handled by Wolverine on durable queues	See Cross-module events.
IEndpointGroup classes in Web/Endpoints	One IEndpoint per slice, discovered with Scrutor	See Add an endpoint.
NSwag client	orval-generated hooks and types	See Typed API client.
ASP.NET Core Identity users	Users in Keycloak or Entra External ID, plus a local User row	Plan how existing users set a new password.

Sources

Every Clean Architecture fact on this page comes from its repository, its docs and the MediatR site, accessed Nov 2026.

Source	Used for
github.com/jasontaylordev/CleanArchitecture	README (options, stack, versions), Directory.Packages.props, src/ and tests/ tree, stars and contributors
DependencyInjection.cs and DispatchDomainEventsInterceptor.cs	Identity setup and in-process domain events
AppHost/Program.cs	Aspire resources and the Azure Container Apps environment
Deployment	azd flow and its production advice
OpenAPI generated clients	NSwag client generation
Code scaffolding	ca-usecase
Automated tests and the docs sitemap	Test layers and the Aspire test host, docs page count
mediatr.io and MediatR license	MediatR and AutoMapper licensing

AppointMe facts are from bravodev-hub/appointme at commit 2ccbe87.

Next

CompareHow to choose a .NET SaaS template →ConceptMulti-tenancy →TutorialBuild your first feature →