use-owin-to-self-host-web-api.md

uid	web-api/overview/hosting-aspnet-web-api/use-owin-to-self-host-web-api
title	Use OWIN to Self-Host ASP.NET Web API - ASP.NET 4.x
author	rick-anderson
description	Tutorial with code showing how to host ASP.NET Web API in a console application.
ms.author	tdykstra
ms.date	07/09/2013
ms.assetid	a90a04ce-9d07-43ad-8250-8a92fb2bd3d5
msc.legacyurl	/web-api/overview/hosting-aspnet-web-api/use-owin-to-self-host-web-api
msc.type	authoredcontent
ms.custom	sfi-image-nochange

Use OWIN to Self-Host ASP.NET Web API

This tutorial shows how to host ASP.NET Web API in a console application, using OWIN to self-host the Web API framework.

Open Web Interface for .NET (OWIN) defines an abstraction between .NET web servers and web applications. OWIN decouples the web application from the server, which makes OWIN ideal for self-hosting a web application in your own process, outside of IIS.

Software versions used in the tutorial

• Visual Studio 2017
• Web API 5.2.7

Note

You can find the complete source code for this tutorial at github.com/aspnet/samples.

Create a console application

On the File menu, New, then select Project. From Installed, under Visual C#, select Windows Desktop and then select Console App (.Net Framework). Name the project "OwinSelfhostSample" and select OK.

Add the Web API and OWIN packages

From the Tools menu, select NuGet Package Manager, then select Package Manager Console. In the Package Manager Console window, enter the following command:

Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.OwinSelfHost

This will install the WebAPI OWIN selfhost package and all the required OWIN packages.

Configure Web API for self-host

In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Add / Class to add a new class. Name the class Startup.

Replace all of the boilerplate code in this file with the following:

[!code-csharpMain]

Add a Web API controller

Next, add a Web API controller class. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Add / Class to add a new class. Name the class ValuesController.

Replace all of the boilerplate code in this file with the following:

[!code-csharpMain]

Start the OWIN Host and make a request with HttpClient

Replace all of the boilerplate code in the Program.cs file with the following:

[!code-csharpMain]

Run the application

To run the application, press F5 in Visual Studio. The output should look like the following:

[!code-consoleMain]

Additional resources

An Overview of Project Katana

Host ASP.NET Web API in an Azure Worker Role