Overview

The runtime routing system maps incoming HTTP requests or RPC calls to specific service entries (ServiceEntry) for execution. The process has two phases:

1. Startup: Static route table generation from application service interface definitions
2. Runtime: Matching requests against the route table and dispatching to the correct service entry

Route Template Generation

[ServiceRoute] and Route Templates

Every application service interface must be annotated with [ServiceRoute], which specifies the route prefix template for all service entries under that interface:

// Default template: api/{appservice}
[ServiceRoute]
public interface IOrderAppService { }
// Generated prefix: api/order

// Custom appservice name
[ServiceRoute("{appservice=orders}")]
public interface IOrderAppService { }
// Generated prefix: api/orders

// Fully custom prefix
[ServiceRoute("v2/orders")]
public interface IOrderAppServiceV2 { }
// Generated prefix: v2/orders

The {appservice} placeholder is automatically replaced with the interface name (strip I prefix and AppService suffix, convert to kebab-case).

Route Segment Types

Templates are split into segments:

HTTP Verb Inference from Method Name

When no explicit HTTP verb attribute is used, Silky infers the HTTP method from the method name prefix:

Example: GetByIdAsync(long id) → GET /api/order/{id}

Explicit HTTP Verb Attributes

Override inference with explicit attributes:

[HttpGet("detail/{id}")]       // full custom route
[HttpPost]                      // POST, method name as action
[HttpPut("{id}")]
[HttpDelete("{id}")]

Runtime Route Matching

Endpoint Registration

SilkyServiceEntryEndpointDataSource registers every ServiceEntry as an ASP.NET Core Endpoint at startup. Standard ASP.NET Core routing matches the HTTP method + URL path to the endpoint.

On a successful match, ServiceEntry and ServiceEntryDescriptor are written to HttpContext.Items for downstream handlers.

Local vs. Remote Dispatch

After route matching resolves a ServiceEntry:

RouteMatchResult (ServiceEntry found)
    │
    ▼
DefaultExecutor.Execute(serviceEntry, parameters)
    │
    ├── serviceEntry.IsLocal = true  → LocalExecutor → business method (this instance)
    └── serviceEntry.IsLocal = false → RemoteExecutor → DotNetty RPC → target microservice

IsLocal is determined at startup: if the current host has an implementation class for the interface, IsLocal = true; otherwise it's a proxy for another microservice.

Parameter Extraction

Parameters are extracted from multiple sources and bound by ParameterDescriptor.From: