Deployment

Bowire runs in three deployment modes. All three support every protocol plugin — the choice is about how Bowire reaches the target API, not about what it can talk to.

Mode	How it reaches the API	Use case
Embedded	Mounted at /bowire inside your ASP.NET app	Dev-time browser UI for your own service
Standalone	CLI / browser UI pointing at any remote URL	Testing third-party APIs, QA sessions, CI one-liners
Docker	Sidecar container next to a non-.NET service	Teams running Go / Rust / Python / Node services

Embedded

Add Bowire directly to an ASP.NET application. The discovery pipeline reuses the host's service provider and endpoint metadata, so every protocol plugin you have installed works automatically.

dotnet add package Kuestenlogik.Bowire

app.MapBowire();

Best when you own the service and want a zero-config UI available during development.

See Embedded mode for configuration options, custom authentication, and per-plugin settings.

Standalone

Install Bowire as a global .NET tool. The tool ships with every protocol plugin built in and points at any URL you pass:

dotnet tool install -g Kuestenlogik.Bowire.Tool
bowire --url https://your-server

Best when the target service isn't yours or you don't want to modify it. Also works offline against a schema file (.proto, OpenAPI, GraphQL SDL) if no server is reachable.

See Standalone tool for the CLI command set and how to restrict loaded plugins.

Docker

Ship Bowire as a sidecar container next to a non-.NET service. Planned — see the roadmap for status.

See Docker for the current integration sketch.

Requirements

• .NET 9 or later for embedded / standalone
• Any modern browser for the UI
• For gRPC targets: the server must expose Server Reflection, or you drop a .proto file into Bowire

Next

• User Guide — once Bowire is running, how to drive the UI
• Protocol Guides — per-protocol behaviour and setup
• Features — workflows (recording, flows, performance, environments, …)