Giraffe

Giraffe is a functional, community-driven F# web framework built on top of ASP.NET Core. It provides a lightweight and idiomatic F# API for building robust web applications and APIs, leveraging F#'s functional programming strengths while integrating seamlessly with the broader .NET ecosystem.

Key facts

First appeared: 2016
Category: web_framework
Problem solved: Giraffe was created to offer an elegant, idiomatic functional web development experience in F# that fully integrates with the performance and ecosystem of ASP.NET Core. Before Giraffe, F# developers either had to use more imperative frameworks like ASP.NET Core with C# or rely on standalone F# frameworks like Suave, which had its own HTTP server stack and less direct integration with the .NET Core infrastructure.
Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS

Related technologies

Entity Framework Core
SQL (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server)
Fable (for frontend)
SAFE Stack
ASP.NET Core
F#
FsUnit (for testing)
.NET Core
TypeProvider for database access

Notable users

Companies using F# for backend services
Startups and smaller teams prioritizing functional programming and performance