docs/guide/csharp/index.md

title: C# Serialization Guide sidebar_position: 0 id: serialization_index license: | Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

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Apache Fory™ C# is a high-performance, cross-language serialization runtime for .NET. It provides object graph serialization, schema evolution, generic object payload support, and a thread-safe wrapper for concurrent workloads.

Why Fory C#?

High performance binary serialization for .NET 8+
Cross-language compatibility with Fory implementations in Java, Python, C++, Go, Rust, and JavaScript
Source-generator-based serializers for [ForyObject] types
Optional reference tracking for shared and circular object graphs
Compatible mode for schema evolution
Thread-safe runtime (ThreadSafeFory) for multi-threaded services

Quick Start

Requirements

.NET SDK 8.0+
C# language version 12+

Install from NuGet

Reference the single Apache.Fory package. It includes the runtime and the source generator for [ForyObject] types.

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Apache.Fory" Version="0.16.0" />
</ItemGroup>

Basic Example

using Apache.Fory;

[ForyObject]
public sealed class User
{
    public long Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string? Email { get; set; }
}

Fory fory = Fory.Builder().Build();
fory.Register<User>(1);

User user = new()
{
    Id = 1,
    Name = "Alice",
    Email = "alice@example.com",
};

byte[] payload = fory.Serialize(user);
User decoded = fory.Deserialize<User>(payload);

Core API Surface

Serialize<T>(in T value) / Deserialize<T>(...)
Serialize<object?>(...) / Deserialize<object?>(...) for dynamic payloads
Register<T>(uint typeId) and namespace/name registration APIs
Register<T, TSerializer>(...) for custom serializers

Documentation

Topic	Description
Configuration	Builder options and runtime modes
Basic Serialization	Typed and dynamic serialization APIs
Type Registration	Registering user types and custom serializers
Custom Serializers	Implementing `Serializer<T>`
Field Configuration	`[Field]` attribute and integer encoding options
References	Shared/circular reference handling
Schema Evolution	Compatible mode behavior
Cross-Language	Interoperability guidance
Supported Types	Built-in and generated type support
Thread Safety	`Fory` vs `ThreadSafeFory` usage
Troubleshooting	Common errors and debugging steps