ASP.NET Core initialize singleton after configuring DI

Lately I've been creating it as an IHostedService if it needs initialization, because to me it seems more logical to let the initialization be handled by the service itself rather than outside of it.

You can even use a BackgroundService instead of IHostedService as it's pretty similar and it only needs the implementation of ExecuteAsync

Here's the documentation for them
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/host/hosted-services

An example of how to add the service so you can inject it directly:

services
    .AddHostedService<MyService>()
    .AddSingleton<MyService>(x => x
        .GetServices<IHostedService>()
        .OfType<MyService>()
        .First());

Example of a simple service:

public class MyService : IHostedService
{
    // This function will be called automatically when the host `starts`
    public async Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        // Do initialization logic
    }

    // This function will be called automatically when the host `stops`
    public Task StopAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        // Do cleanup if needed

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Some extension methods I created later on because i needed to use the same pattern again

public static class HostedServiceExtensions
{
    public static IServiceCollection AddHostedServiceAsService<T>(this IServiceCollection services) where T : class, IHostedService
        => services.AddHostedService<T>().AddSingleton(x => x.GetServices<IHostedService>().OfType<T>().First());

    public static IServiceCollection AddHostedServiceAsService<T>(this IServiceCollection services, Func<IServiceProvider, T> factory) where T : class, IHostedService
        => services.AddHostedService(factory).AddSingleton(x => x.GetServices<IHostedService>().OfType<T>().First());
}

Used like

services.AddHostedServiceAsService<MyService>();

// Or like this if you need a factory
services.AddHostedServiceAsService<MyService>(x => new MyService());

This is an old discussion. But in 2024 I think this is the way to go :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.extensions.dependencyinjection.autoactivationextensions?view=net-8.0

official nuget : https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.AutoActivation

you can activate your service like this :

builder.Services.AddSingleton<x>();
builder.Services.ActivateSingleton<x>();

Adding detail to Jérôme FLAMEN's answer, as it provided the key I required to calling an async Initialization task to a singleton:

Create a class that implements IHostedService:

public class PostStartup : IHostedService
{
   private readonly YourSingleton yourSingleton;

   public PostStartup(YourSingleton _yourSingleton)
   {
       yourSingleton = _yourSingleton;
   }

   // you may wish to make use of the cancellationToken
   public async Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   {
      await yourSingleton.Initialize();
   }

   // implement as you see fit
   public Task StopAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
}

Then, in your ConfigureServices, add a HostedService reference:

services.AddHostedService<PostStartup>();

From link.

I got the same problem and I find Andrew Lock blog: https://andrewlock.net/running-async-tasks-on-app-startup-in-asp-net-core-3/

He explains how to do this with asp .net core 3, but he also refers to his pages on how to to this with previous version.

I made some manager and I need to subscribe to events of the other services. I didn't like doing this in the

webBuilder.Configure (applicationBuilder => ...

I think it should be in the section

webBuilder.ConfigureServices ((context, services) => ...

So, here is my answer (test on net.core 3):

public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder (string [] args) =>
    Host.CreateDefaultBuilder (args)
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults (webBuilder =>
        {

        ...

        services.AddSingleton<ISomeSingletonService,SomeSingletonService>();

        var buildServiceProvider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
        var someSingletonService = buildServiceProvider.GetRequiredService <ISomeSingletonService>();

        ...
        });