ZLink Framework .NET — User Guide¶

A .NET application framework for building server systems where real-time messaging matters out of several cooperating processes. It goes straight into ASP.NET Core, so there is no separate runtime to move to.

// Both sides must name the mesh identically, or they never see each other
// as peers. The routing id names this node; without it the Framework assigns
// a generated one, which a caller cannot type into a URL.
var mesh = options
    .AddRouteMesh("game")
    .Listen("tcp://127.0.0.1:7201")
    .SetRoutingId(RoutingId.From("game-server-1"));

Register one handler and the framework takes care of message decoding, routing and encoding.

Systems It Is Built For¶

It is designed for systems where several server processes divide the roles between them and state changes reach the client in real time.

Domain	Core scenario
Real-time games	Create a room -> player joins -> game state updates -> client push
Customer support chat	Open a conversation -> assign an agent -> relay messages -> push conversation state
Order workflow	Accept an order -> process each step -> change state -> notify the client
Delivery and dispatch	Request a dispatch -> assign and accept -> track state -> real-time push

The shape they share is that server processes for each role talk in typed messages, and the client receives state changes over a real-time connection.

↗ Open larger

Core Capabilities¶

Channel messaging — typed request-reply between servers¶

A channel is a name given to a path between servers. One side sends a request to the channel name and the other side handles it and replies. Serialization (JSON · MessagePack · Protobuf) is the framework's work.

The sending side.

app.MapGet(
    "/players/{playerId}/profile",
    async (string playerId, IZLinkRouteClient route, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
    {
        // The target is a channel name. Which node answers is decided at call time.
        var profile = await route
            .RequestToChannel("profile", new GetPlayerProfile(playerId))
            .Async<PlayerProfile>(cancellationToken);

        return Results.Ok(profile);
    }
);

The receiving side.

// Answers a request addressed to the "profile" channel. Any node that exposes
// this channel may receive it; the caller does not pick one.
public sealed class GetPlayerProfileHandler : IZLinkRequestHandler<GetPlayerProfile, PlayerProfile>
{
    public ValueTask<PlayerProfile> HandleAsync(
        GetPlayerProfile request,
        IZLinkMessageContext context,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken
    )
    {
        var profile = new PlayerProfile(request.PlayerId, "rookie", Level: 1);
        return ValueTask.FromResult(profile);
    }
}

Besides request-reply there are the fanout (pub/sub) and route mesh (address routing) patterns. Channel messaging →

Spot — a unit of state without locks¶

A Spot binds one region of state and its participants into an execution unit: a game room, a support conversation, a unit of order processing. Everything that happens inside one Spot — participant packets, timers, joins and leaves — is processed serially. State is reached without a lock, and two requests never overlap in the same Spot even when the handling is asynchronous.

// A room owns its own state and is addressed by a global SpotId. Messages sent
// to one room run one at a time, so the fields below need no synchronization.
public sealed class GameRoom(IZLinkSpotContext context) : IZLinkSpot
{
    private readonly List<string> _chat = [];

    private string _title = "untitled";

    public IZLinkSpotContext Context { get; } = context;

    public string Title => _title;

    public IReadOnlyList<string> Chat => _chat;

    // Runs before the room accepts any message. Rejecting here means the create
    // call fails and no room exists. Omit this method to accept every request.
    public ValueTask<ZLinkSpotCreateResponse> OnCreateAsync(
        ZLinkMessage request,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken
    )
    {
        var room = request.Decode<OpenRoom>();
        _title = room.Title;
        return ValueTask.FromResult(ZLinkSpotCreateResponse.Accept());
    }

    public void Append(string line) => _chat.Add(line);
}

It divides into an entry spot that assigns (one per node) and a room spot that holds the state (one per unit). Periodic work is registered as a timer. Spot →

STREAM and Actor — the client's real-time connection¶

A client's real-time two-way connection is a STREAM, and the server-side object standing for one connection is an Actor. When a client connects, a session creates the Actor, and the Actor joins a Spot to take part in handling its state.

// A slotted packet uses its dispatch Actor. An unslotted packet can use
// the connection only while exactly one Actor is bound.
var actor =
    dispatch.Actor
    ?? (
        Context.Actors.Bound.Count switch
        {
            1 => Context.Actors.Bound.Single(),
            0 => throw new InvalidOperationException(
                "Authenticate an Actor before sending player packets."
            ),
            _ => throw new InvalidOperationException(
                "Select an Actor handle when more than one Actor is bound."
            ),
        }
    );

await actor.RelayAsync(payload);

The client side of the connection is a separate product, the stream connector. STREAM → · Binding a session to an Actor →

Location — endpoints stay out of the code¶

When several servers of the same role are up, the address of the one to connect to is not written in the code. A shared location store keeps the addresses, and each server looks up the node an id is on right now.

// Rooms and players are addressed by id, not by host, so their current
// location is kept here. Every node reads and writes the same store under
// the same prefix.
options.AddLocationStore(
    new ZLinkRedisLocationStore(redis =>
    {
        redis.ConnectionString = "127.0.0.1:6379";
        redis.KeyPrefix = "zlink-tutorial";
    })
);

Location →

What `ASP.NET Core` provides¶

The DI container, configuration, HTTP endpoints and logging are ASP.NET Core's own. ZLink Framework registers its handlers and meshes on top of them, so REST endpoints and real-time connections run in the same process.

Table Of Contents¶

Order	Document	Content
1	Overview	A quick map of the core surface, layers, and topology
2	Interactive Tour	Step through how each feature behaves, using a single MORPG
3	Quickstart	Install, a minimal project where two processes call each other, first-run checks
4	Core Concepts	What a channel, a Spot, an Actor and a session each are
5	Channel Messaging	The path that calls by name — registering and calling
6	Spot	Creating and calling a shared place by id
7	Actor	Creating and calling one entity by id
8	STREAM	A client outside the mesh attaching over one connection
9	Session and Actor	Binding one connection to one Actor
10	Location	Looking up the node something is on by id
11	Monitoring	A placeholder in the feature guide — no body yet
12	The Execution Model	Two queues, the serialization scope, the turn
13	Backpressure	When arrival outruns processing, and the options that affect it
14	Activation and Lifetime	Creation time per kind, lifecycle callbacks, injection lifetime
15	Actor Membership	Moving between Spots, reservations and limits
16	Timers and Workers	Periodic execution, running outside the line, giving the turn back
17	Relocation	What survives a move, the adapter, the unit
18	How Channels Work	Pattern differences, target selection, pub/sub, connection and discovery
19	Handlers and Message Processing	Registration variants, filters, codecs, handler kinds
20	How STREAM Works	Startup checks, error ownership, reply tokens, execution mode
21	How Session Binding Works	How many bindings, route refresh, disconnect, failures
22	Operations and Lifecycle	Runtime metrics, relocate, drain, readiness wiring
23	Options	The option list, the defaults and when to change them
24	Picking a Sample	Choosing which sample to read first and how to run it
25	Reading Along: Bingo	Authentication, matching, rooms, timers, multicast and cleanup in code order
26	Reading Along: TicTacToe	Manual connection and registration, an Actor join onto another node
27	Reading Along: SupportChat	Several Actors on one session, metadata relay, the idle timer
28	Reading Along: DeliveryDispatch	One-way sends, deadline records and reassignment, customer pushes
29	Reading Along: ShoppingMall	The owner Instance Spot, replay, next step and expected version
30	Reading Along: GameQuest	A per-player owner, best-effort pushes and reconciliation
31	Reading Along: ZoneWorld	Capacity placement, boundary joins and relocation, fanout and observation
32	E2E Testing	Verifying the whole system with the client library
33	Key Type Index	The contract interfaces indexed by their verification code
34	Monitoring	Awaiting rewrite — status snapshots and diagnostics

The file number identifies the same chapter regardless of language. This table owns the reading order.

Chapters 01, 11, 13, and 16 are written separately for .NET because the install steps and surface names differ per language.

How To Read The Diagrams¶

Every diagram in this guide uses the same visual language — the color is the concept.