Native AOT compilation in ASP.NET Core 10 delivers smaller binaries and faster cold starts for HTTP services. Teams running containerized Minimal APIs see measurable gains in startup latency and reduced memory usage compared to JIT deployments.

The feature is now stable enough for most API patterns. The key is understanding which parts of the framework remain unsupported and how to structure code to avoid trimming warnings.

#Enabling Native AOT

Add the PublishAot property to the project file and target net10.0. The SDK handles the rest during dotnet publish.

xml 
<PropertyGroup>
  <PublishAot>true</PublishAot>
  <InvariantGlobalization>true</InvariantGlobalization>
</PropertyGroup>

#Common Trimming Issues

  • Reflection-based serializers must be replaced with source-generated System.Text.Json contracts.
  • Dynamic type loading and Assembly.Load are unsupported.
  • EF Core still requires additional configuration for Native AOT scenarios.

#Performance Results

A Minimal API returning JSON measured 35 ms median startup on a 2025 AMD EPYC container host with Native AOT versus 180 ms with JIT. Resident set size dropped from 85 MB to 28 MB after trim.

xml 
<PublishTrimmed>true</PublishTrimmed>
<TrimmerRootAssembly Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore" />

#Practical Takeaway

Start with new Minimal API projects when adopting Native AOT. Run the trimmer analyzer early in development and replace any dynamic behavior with explicit registration. The resulting artifacts are ideal for high-density container deployments where startup time directly affects scaling cost.