If you’re a .NET developer, you’re probably familiar with HttpClient, a powerful class used to make HTTP requests. But there’s a catch: using HttpClient incorrectly can lead to major headaches such as socket exhaustion, unpredictable behavior, and painfully slow apps. The truth is, mastering HTTP calls in .NET is less about just sending requests and more about managing your clients properly.
That’s where IHttpClientFactory changes the game. It’s not just a fancy factory; it’s the smarter, cleaner, and safer way to create and manage HttpClient instances that scales with your app’s complexity.
Why HttpClient Usage Is Tricky
The HttpClient class has been around since .NET Framework 4.5 and is the go-to for web requests. But it wraps an underlying HttpMessageHandler which holds connections to servers. If you create a new HttpClient or dispose of it improperly, you might unknowingly open hundreds of TCP connections without closing them—a recipe for socket exhaustion.
On the flip side, keeping one static HttpClient for the whole app can cause stale DNS and connection issues because the underlying handlers don’t refresh automatically. So neither over-creating nor over-reusing clients is ideal.
Enter IHttpClientFactory — The Better Approach
Introduced in .NET Core 2.1, IHttpClientFactory is an abstraction that lets you:
Create short-lived HttpClient instances safely: Each time you ask the factory for a client, it gives you a fresh instance, but under the hood, reuses the underlying handlers intelligently to avoid connection leaks.
Register named clients: Easily configure multiple logical clients with custom settings like base URLs, headers, or authentication — all centrally managed.
Use typed clients: Wrap your HTTP calls in typed classes that encapsulate logic, improving organization, testability, and dependency injection integration.
Add resilience policies: Integrate retry, circuit breaker, and timeout policies effortlessly, often using Polly integration — making your HTTP calls more reliable under failure.
How Does It Work?
Think of IHttpClientFactory as a sophisticated manager of HttpClient lifetimes and configurations. Instead of you juggling client creation and disposal, the factory ensures:
The underlying HttpMessageHandler instances are pooled and reused while HttpClient instances are transient. This way, you get fresh HttpClient objects that don’t cause connection exhaustion.
Handlers get renewed after a configurable lifetime (defaulting to 2 minutes), which solves DNS refresh problems.
This design lets your applications scale in making HTTP requests without leaking resources or fighting weird runtime errors.
Typed Clients: Organized, Testable, and Powerful
Typed clients take IHttpClientFactory a step further. Instead of scattering raw HttpClient calls around:
[csharp]
var client = _httpClientFactory.CreateClient();
var response = await client.GetAsync("https://api.example.com/data");
You create dedicated classes that wrap HttpClient and expose clear methods:
[csharp]
public class MyApiClient
{
private readonly HttpClient _client;
public MyApiClient(HttpClient client) => _client = client;
public async Task<Data> GetDataAsync()
{
var response = await _client.GetAsync("data");
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
return await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<Data>();
}
}
This encapsulates HTTP logic, improves maintainability, and makes unit testing easier by mocking HttpClient.
Resilience with Polly Policies
Most apps depend on external services that might fail or respond slowly. With IHttpClientFactory, you can plug in resilience policies like retries and circuit breakers declaratively:
[[csharp]
services.AddHttpClient<MyApiClient>()
.AddPolicyHandler(GetRetryPolicy())
.AddPolicyHandler(GetCircuitBreakerPolicy());
This reduces boilerplate and centralizes fault handling, improving stability.
Wrapping It Up: Use IHttpClientFactory for Real-World Benefits
Avoid socket exhaustion: Properly manage connection lifetimes without manual hacks.
Centralize config: Manage base addresses, headers, and credentials cleanly.
Improve maintainability: Typed clients provide structured HTTP logic and easy DI.
Add resilience: Effortlessly integrate retries, timeouts, and circuit breakers.
Boost testability: Mock clients cleanly in automated tests.
If you haven’t switched to IHttpClientFactory, now is the time. It turns HTTP from a potential resource nightmare into a scalable, clean, and robust part of your .NET apps.
Ready to level up your HTTP code? Experiment with IHttpClientFactory and typed clients in your next project. Your apps and your future self will thank you.
