Generative AI for Beginners .NET - A Course

Practical lessons teaching you how to build Generative AI applications in .NET

Welcome to Generative AI for Beginners .NET, the hands-on course for .NET developers diving into the world of Generative AI!

This isn’t your typical “here’s some theory, good luck” course. This repository is all about real-world applications and live coding to empower .NET developers to take full advantage of Generative AI.

This is hands-on, practical, and designed to be fun!

Don't forget to star (🌟) this repo to find it easier later.

➡️Get your own copy by Forking this repo and find it next in your own repositories.

✨ What's New

We're constantly improving this course with the latest AI tools, models, and practical samples:

🚀 Microsoft Agent Framework Reaches Release Candidate!

Microsoft Agent Framework has reached Release Candidate (1.0.0-rc1) — a framework for building agents and multi-agent systems in .NET. Our samples are being migrated to the RC APIs. In the meantime, explore 25+ Agent Framework samples covering console apps, web chat, multi-agent workflows, and Foundry integration.

👉 Explore the Agent Framework Samples
🤖 Claude Models with Agent Framework

Integrate Claude models from Microsoft Foundry with Microsoft Agent Framework! Three comprehensive samples demonstrate:
- Basic console chat with Claude using ChatClientAgent
- Conversation persistence with thread serialization/deserialization
- Interactive Blazor web chat application with modern UI
- Custom ClaudeToOpenAIMessageHandler for seamless API bridging
- Support for Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus models
👉 Explore the Claude MAF Samples

Plus a foundational Claude integration sample:

👉 BasicChat with Claude via Microsoft Foundry

View all previous updates in our What's New archive

🚀 Introduction

Generative AI is transforming software development, and .NET is no exception. This course aims to simplify the journey by offering:

Short 5-10 minute videos for each lesson.
Fully functional .NET code samples you can run and explore.
Integration with tools, including GitHub Codespaces for seamless setup and fast time-to-code. You can use Azure OpenAI Services / Microsoft Foundry or Ollama for local model hosting.

You'll learn how to implement Generative AI into .NET projects, from basic text generation to building full-fledged solutions using Azure OpenAI Services and local models with Ollama.

📦 Each Lesson Includes

Short Video: A quick overview of the lesson (5-10 minutes).
Complete Code Samples: Fully functional and ready to run.
Step-by-Step Guidance: Simple instructions to help you learn and implement the concepts.
Deep Dive References: This course focuses on the practical implementation of GenAI, to get deeper into the theoretical we also provide links to explanations in Generative AI for Beginners - A Course when needed.

🗃️ Lessons

| # | Lesson Link | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | 01 | Introduction to Generative AI |

What generative AI is and how it differs from traditional programming
Why .NET is a first-class citizen for AI development
The Microsoft AI stack and where each piece fits
How to run samples in GitHub Codespaces or configure local development

| | 02 | Generative AI Techniques |

How to create chat conversations with context and memory
How text embeddings work and why they matter
How to process different content types including images and documents
How to call AI models using Microsoft.Extensions.AI abstractions

| | 03 | AI Patterns and Applications |

How to build semantic search that understands meaning
How to implement retrieval augmented generation (RAG)
How to create applications that process and understand documents
When to use each pattern and how to combine them

| | 04 | AI Agents with Microsoft Agent Framework |

What makes an agent different from a chatbot
How to build agents that use tools and take actions
How to orchestrate multiple agents working together
How to integrate with Model Context Protocol (MCP)

| | 05 | Responsible AI |

How to identify and mitigate bias in AI applications
How to implement content safety and guardrails
How to build transparency and explainability into your systems
Ethical considerations specific to agentic systems

🌐 Multi-Language Support

| Language | Code | Link to Translated README | Last Updated | |----------------------|------|---------------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Chinese (Simplified) | zh | Chinese Translation | 2025-06-24 | | Chinese (Traditional)| tw | Chinese Translation | 2025-06-24 | | French | fr | French Translation | 2025-06-24 | | Japanese | ja | Japanese Translation | 2025-06-24 | | Korean | ko | Korean Translation | 2025-06-24 | | Portuguese | pt | Portuguese Translation | 2025-06-24 | | Spanish | es | Spanish Translation | 2025-06-24 | | German | de | German Translation | 2025-06-24 |

Note: All translations were updated to match the original content on 2025-06-24. See PR #161 for details.

🛠️ What You Need

To get started, you'll need:

A GitHub account (free is fine!) to fork this entire repo to your own GitHub account.
GitHub Codespaces enabled for instant coding environments. You can enable GitHub Codespaces in your repository settings. Learn more about GitHub Codespaces here.
Create your copy by Forking this repo, or use the Fork button at the top of this page.
A basic understanding of .NET development. Learn more about .NET here.
Azure Developer CLI (azd) — Install here (required for automated Azure setup)
An Azure account — Create a free account here (a free account works!)

And that's it.

We've designed this course to be as low-friction as possible. We make use of the following to help you get started quickly:

Run in GitHub Codespaces: With one click, you'll get a pre-configured environment to test and explore the lessons.
Use Azure OpenAI / Microsoft Foundry: Access powerful AI models through Azure for production-ready scenarios.

Then when you're ready to expand we also have guides for:

Using Ollama to run models locally on your hardware for enhanced privacy and control.

🚀 Quick Start with Azure

Automated Setup (Recommended)

For first-time Azure users, we provide an automated setup script that deploys all necessary resources:

# Navigate to the repository root
cd Generative-AI-for-beginners-dotnet

# Run the setup script
./setup.ps1

This will:

✅ Deploy Azure OpenAI resources (gpt-5-mini, text-embedding-3-small)
✅ Create necessary storage and support services
✅ Configure .NET User Secrets automatically
✅ Display your Azure OpenAI endpoint and credentials

For detailed instructions, see Azure Resource Setup Guide.

Manual Setup for Existing Azure Accounts

If you already have an Azure OpenAI account and the models deployed, configure secrets directly:

# Set shared secrets (used by all samples)
dotnet user-secrets set --id genai-beginners-dotnet "AzureOpenAI:Endpoint" "https://<your-region>.openai.azure.com/"
dotnet user-secrets set --id genai-beginners-dotnet "AzureOpenAI:Deployment" "gpt-5-mini"
dotnet user-secrets set --id genai-beginners-dotnet "AzureOpenAI:EmbeddingDeployment" "text-embedding-3-small"

Then navigate to any sample and run:

cd samples/CoreSamples/BasicChat-01MEAI
dotnet run app.cs

Note: Azure OpenAI samples use az login for authentication. Run az login before running any Azure sample.

For detailed manual setup options, see Azure Resource Setup Guide.

🧹 Resource Cleanup

When you're done with the course, clean up Azure resources to avoid ongoing charges:

./cleanup.ps1

This will:

Delete all Azure resources
Clear local configuration
Remove User Secrets

Learn more in Azure Resource Setup Guide - Cleanup.

🤝 Want to Help?

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

Report issues or bugs in the repo.
Improve existing code samples or add new ones, fork this repo and propose some changes!
Suggest additional lessons or enhancements.
Do you have suggestions or found spelling or code errors?, create a pull request

Check the CONTRIBUTING.MD file for details on how to get involved.