Learning Paths

Five role-based paths through the Bowire Bootcamp. Or, complete all units in order for the full picture (~3 hours).

Every path lists its path-level prerequisites (the toolchain you need before starting any of its units). Individual lessons also list their own prerequisites — those are subsets of the path-level list.

First decision — pick your deployment shape. Unit 0 introduces the two:

  • CLI (two-process) — bowire --url <service> from a terminal. Bowire is its own process; your service is untouched.
  • Embedded (single-process) — AddBowire() + MapBowire() inside your ASP.NET host. Workbench mounts at /bowire on the host's own port.

Unit 1 splits into two parallel setup tracks — CLI or Embedded. Pick one based on the shape that matches your deployment.

From Unit 2 onwards the tracks merge — the workbench UI is identical regardless of how Bowire got mounted, so recording, mocking, AI integration, plugin authoring, and CI work are shared.

1. Workbench Fundamentals

For: All API developers picking up Bowire for the first time. Duration: ~45 min Units: 3

Prerequisites:

  • .NET 10 SDK — for the sample REST + gRPC backends.
  • A modern web browser — workbench UI runs in-browser, opens automatically.
  • Either the bowire CLI installed (CLI track) or an ASP.NET host you can dotnet add package Kuestenlogik.Bowire into (Embedded track).
# Unit Why it matters
1 Unit 0: Introduction What Bowire is, how it positions vs Postman/Insomnia/Bruno, install verification, pick your setup track
2 Unit 1 — CLI track or Embedded track First REST call + multi-protocol session (REST + gRPC), walked through your chosen setup track
3 Unit 2.1: Record & Replay Capture a session, save as .bwr, replay through bowire mock

2. Mock-as-Stand-In

For: Frontend developers, QA engineers, integration testers who need a self-contained mock backend. Duration: ~30 min Units: 2

Prerequisites:

  • .NET 10 SDK — the bootcamp's sample backend uses it; production frontend devs can swap in their own.
  • Bowire CLI: dotnet tool install --global Kuestenlogik.Bowire.Tool. (Mock-server is a CLI-only feature, so this path defaults to the CLI shape regardless of what your backend team uses.)
# Unit Why it matters
1 Unit 2.1: Record & Replay Capture once, replay forever — no live backend required
2 Unit 2.2: Schema Export + Mock-as-Stand-In The mock serves /openapi.json of the original contract, so peer Bowires discover the full surface, not just the replayed slice

3. AI & Automation

For: Agent builders, LLM integrators, prompt engineers wiring Bowire into Claude Desktop / Cursor / a custom MCP host. Duration: ~20 min Units: 2

Prerequisites:

  • .NET 10 SDK + Bowire CLI (or embedded host).
  • Claude Desktop or Cursor installed (any other MCP-aware host also works — the config snippet is portable).
# Unit Why it matters
1 Unit 1 — CLI track or Embedded track Understand Bowire's discovery + invoke surface first (the toolset the agent will drive)
2 Unit 3.1: AI-Agent Integration bowire mcp serve over stdio (CLI shape), or MapBowireMcpAdapter() HTTP MCP (embedded shape) — wire it into the agent's MCP config, drive REST + gRPC from a chat window

4. Plugin Author

For: Protocol-plugin authors — anyone shipping a new protocol on top of Bowire's host. Duration: ~50 min Units: 3

Prerequisites:

  • .NET 10 SDK + Bowire CLI (or embedded host).
  • Python 3.10+ + pip — only for the Unit 4.2 sidecar lesson. Unit 4.1 (.NET plugin) needs nothing beyond the SDK.
  • dotnet new bowire-plugin template installed: dotnet new install Kuestenlogik.Bowire.Templates.
# Unit Why it matters
1 Unit 1 — CLI track or Embedded track Understand how the host discovers and renders a protocol (REST + gRPC reference)
2 Unit 4.1: .NET Protocol Plugin Implement IBowireProtocol, dotnet pack, install via bowire plugin install (CLI) or PackageReference (Embedded)
3 Unit 4.2: Python Sidecar Plugin Same surface, polyglot — BowirePlugin subclass, JSON-RPC stdio, ship as a zip

5. Production / CI

For: DevOps, SREs, platform engineers folding Bowire into CI pipelines, sidecar deployments, &c. Duration: ~40 min Units: 2

Prerequisites:

  • .NET 10 SDK + Bowire CLI. (CI workflows always run the CLI shape — there's no in-process host to mount the workbench into at CI time.)
  • Docker (for the CI examples that run the mock as a service container — optional in local dev).
  • A GitHub repository you can push the sample workflow to (any other CI runner works analogously; the lesson examples are GitHub Actions).
# Unit Why it matters
1 Unit 2.1: Record & Replay Recordings as portable test fixtures
2 Unit 5.1: CI Integration bowire test in GitHub Actions, mock-server as a Job service for downstream integration tests

Or: the full bootcamp

Complete every unit in order — ~3 hours, ~9 lessons, plus the capstone.

Prerequisites (everything):

  • .NET 10 SDK
  • For the CLI track of Unit 1 and Unit 5 (always CLI): Bowire CLI — dotnet tool install --global Kuestenlogik.Bowire.Tool
  • For the Embedded track of Unit 1: ASP.NET host (own, or scaffold via dotnet new web) + dotnet add package Kuestenlogik.Bowire
  • dotnet new bowire-plugin template: dotnet new install Kuestenlogik.Bowire.Templates
  • Python 3.10+ (Unit 4.2 only)
  • Claude Desktop or Cursor (Unit 3.1 only)
  • Docker (Unit 5.1 only — optional in local dev)
  • A GitHub repository (Unit 5.1 only)

Unit 0 → Unit 1 (CLI or Embedded) → Unit 2 → Unit 3 → Unit 4 → Unit 5 → Capstone