AutoMapper

Overview

AutoMapper is a convention-based object-to-object mapper for .NET that eliminates repetitive property-by-property assignment code. It maps properties by name and type conventions, supports flattening (e.g., Customer.Name maps to CustomerName), and provides extension points for custom mappings via ForMember, value resolvers, and type converters. AutoMapper is configured through Profile classes and integrates with dependency injection through the AutoMapper.Extensions.Microsoft.DependencyInjection package.

AutoMapper uses runtime reflection to build mapping plans, which makes it flexible but slower than source-generated alternatives like Mapperly. It is best suited for applications where development speed and convention-based mapping outweigh the need for compile-time verification and zero-reflection performance.

Profile-Based Configuration

Organize mappings into Profile classes, one per bounded context or feature area.

csharp

using AutoMapper;

namespace MyApp.Mapping;

public class OrderMappingProfile : Profile
{
    public OrderMappingProfile()
    {
        CreateMap<Order, OrderDto>()
            .ForMember(
                dest => dest.CustomerName,
                opt => opt.MapFrom(src => src.Customer.FullName))
            .ForMember(
                dest => dest.TotalFormatted,
                opt => opt.MapFrom(src => src.Total.ToString("C")));

        CreateMap<OrderItem, OrderItemDto>();
        CreateMap<CreateOrderRequest, Order>()
            .ForMember(
                dest => dest.Id,
                opt => opt.Ignore())
            .ForMember(
                dest => dest.CreatedAt,
                opt => opt.MapFrom(_ => DateTime.UtcNow));
    }
}

public record Order(
    Guid Id, Customer Customer, decimal Total,
    DateTime CreatedAt, List<OrderItem> Items);
public record Customer(string FullName, string Email);
public record OrderItem(string ProductName, int Quantity, decimal Price);
public record OrderDto(
    Guid Id, string CustomerName, string TotalFormatted,
    List<OrderItemDto> Items);
public record OrderItemDto(string ProductName, int Quantity, decimal Price);
public record CreateOrderRequest(
    string CustomerName, decimal Total, List<OrderItemDto> Items);

DI Registration

csharp

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Scans the assembly containing OrderMappingProfile for all Profiles
builder.Services.AddAutoMapper(
    typeof(MyApp.Mapping.OrderMappingProfile).Assembly);

var app = builder.Build();
app.Run();

Basic Mapping Usage

Inject IMapper and use Map<TDestination>() to transform objects.

csharp

using AutoMapper;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace MyApp.Controllers;

[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class OrdersController : ControllerBase
{
    private readonly IMapper _mapper;
    private readonly IOrderRepository _repository;

    public OrdersController(IMapper mapper, IOrderRepository repository)
    {
        _mapper = mapper;
        _repository = repository;
    }

    [HttpGet("{id:guid}")]
    public async Task<ActionResult<OrderDto>> GetOrder(Guid id)
    {
        var order = await _repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
        if (order is null) return NotFound();

        var dto = _mapper.Map<OrderDto>(order);
        return Ok(dto);
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<ActionResult<OrderDto>> CreateOrder(
        CreateOrderRequest request)
    {
        var order = _mapper.Map<Order>(request);
        await _repository.AddAsync(order);

        var dto = _mapper.Map<OrderDto>(order);
        return CreatedAtAction(nameof(GetOrder),
            new { id = order.Id }, dto);
    }
}

ProjectTo for IQueryable (EF Core)

ProjectTo translates mapping expressions into SQL via EF Core, avoiding loading full entities into memory.

csharp

using AutoMapper;
using AutoMapper.QueryableExtensions;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

namespace MyApp.Services;

public class OrderQueryService
{
    private readonly AppDbContext _db;
    private readonly IConfigurationProvider _mapperConfig;

    public OrderQueryService(
        AppDbContext db, IMapper mapper)
    {
        _db = db;
        _mapperConfig = mapper.ConfigurationProvider;
    }

    public async Task<List<OrderDto>> GetRecentOrdersAsync(
        int count, CancellationToken ct)
    {
        // ProjectTo generates SELECT with only the DTO columns
        return await _db.Orders
            .OrderByDescending(o => o.CreatedAt)
            .Take(count)
            .ProjectTo<OrderDto>(_mapperConfig)
            .ToListAsync(ct);
    }
}

Value Resolvers and Type Converters

Use value resolvers for complex per-member logic and type converters for reusable type-level conversions.

csharp

using AutoMapper;

namespace MyApp.Mapping;

// Value resolver: resolves a single member
public class FullAddressResolver
    : IValueResolver<Customer, CustomerDto, string>
{
    public string Resolve(
        Customer source, CustomerDto destination,
        string destMember, ResolutionContext context)
    {
        return $"{source.Street}, {source.City}, "
            + $"{source.State} {source.ZipCode}";
    }
}

// Type converter: converts entire type
public class StringToDateConverter
    : ITypeConverter<string, DateOnly>
{
    public DateOnly Convert(
        string source, DateOnly destination,
        ResolutionContext context)
    {
        return DateOnly.Parse(source);
    }
}

public class CustomerProfile : Profile
{
    public CustomerProfile()
    {
        CreateMap<Customer, CustomerDto>()
            .ForMember(
                dest => dest.FullAddress,
                opt => opt.MapFrom<FullAddressResolver>());

        CreateMap<string, DateOnly>()
            .ConvertUsing<StringToDateConverter>();
    }
}

Configuration Validation

Validate all mapping configurations at startup to catch missing mappings before they cause runtime errors.

csharp

using AutoMapper;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;

var services = new ServiceCollection();
services.AddAutoMapper(typeof(OrderMappingProfile).Assembly);

var provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
var mapper = provider.GetRequiredService<IMapper>();

// Throws if any mapping is incomplete or misconfigured
mapper.ConfigurationProvider.AssertConfigurationIsValid();

AutoMapper vs Mapperly

Feature	AutoMapper	Mapperly
Mapping strategy	Runtime reflection	Compile-time source generation
Performance	Moderate (reflection + expression trees)	Near hand-written (no reflection)
Configuration	Profile classes with fluent API	Attributes on partial classes
DI integration	`AddAutoMapper()`	Manual or `new`
`ProjectTo` (IQueryable)	Built-in	Not supported
Custom resolvers	`IValueResolver`, `ITypeConverter`	Custom methods in mapper class
Compile-time errors	No (runtime validation)	Yes (compiler errors)
NuGet package	`AutoMapper`	`Riok.Mapperly`

Best Practices

•Organize mappings into Profile classes by feature area or bounded context (e.g., OrderMappingProfile, CustomerMappingProfile) rather than putting all mappings in a single profile.
•Call AssertConfigurationIsValid() during application startup or in an integration test to catch missing member mappings, typos, and configuration errors before they cause runtime exceptions.
•Use ProjectTo<T>() instead of Map<T>() when querying with EF Core to generate efficient SQL that selects only the mapped columns, avoiding N+1 queries and unnecessary data loading.
•Avoid placing business logic inside mapping profiles; mappings should be pure data transformations. Complex logic belongs in service classes that call the mapper.
•Use ForMember(..., opt => opt.Ignore()) explicitly for destination properties that should not be mapped (e.g., Id on creation DTOs) to prevent AssertConfigurationIsValid from flagging them as unmapped.
•Prefer IMapper injection over Mapper.Map static calls so mappings are testable with mock/stub implementations and do not rely on global state.
•Flatten nested objects by convention (AutoMapper automatically maps src.Customer.Name to dest.CustomerName) and only use ForMember when the convention does not apply.
•Register value resolvers and type converters in DI so they can access services like IHttpContextAccessor or ICurrentUser for context-dependent mapping.
•Keep DTOs simple and flat to take advantage of AutoMapper's convention-based mapping; deeply nested DTOs negate the benefit of the library.
•Consider migrating to Mapperly for new projects or hot-path mappings where the compile-time safety and zero-reflection performance of source generation outweigh AutoMapper's runtime flexibility.