Generative AI for Beginners .NET is a hands-on course repository designed to teach .NET developers how to build generative AI applications. Written in C#, the repository contains five structured lessons that progress from foundational concepts through advanced agent-based systems, each including short videos, fully functional code samples, and step-by-step guidance. The course emphasizes practical, real-world applications rather than theoretical instruction, with all samples ready to run immediately.

The five lessons cover distinct areas of generative AI development. Lesson 1 introduces generative AI concepts and the Microsoft AI stack, explaining why .NET is suitable for AI development and how to configure local or cloud-based development environments. Lesson 2 covers generative AI techniques including chat conversations with context and memory, text embeddings, multi-content processing, and calling AI models through Microsoft.Extensions.AI abstractions. Lesson 3 focuses on AI patterns and applications such as semantic search, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), and document processing. Lesson 4 teaches AI agents using the Microsoft Agent Framework, covering tool usage, multi-agent orchestration, and Model Context Protocol integration. Lesson 5 addresses responsible AI including bias mitigation, content safety, transparency, and ethical considerations for agentic systems.

The repository has evolved significantly with recent updates. As of July 2026, nine new samples demonstrate local AI execution using Microsoft Foundry Local, enabling offline model deployment with zero cloud costs. The Microsoft Agent Framework reached version 1.0 general availability in April 2026, with all 28 samples upgraded to stable packages and two new hosted agent scenarios added for Azure Foundry Agent Service deployment. The framework now supports multi-agent workflows, streaming, persistence, and MCP in production-ready form. Additionally, Claude model integration with the Agent Framework is available through three comprehensive samples demonstrating console chat, conversation persistence with thread serialization, and interactive Blazor web applications.

The repository supports multiple deployment and execution options. Developers can use GitHub Codespaces for instant pre-configured environments, Azure OpenAI Services or Microsoft Foundry for cloud-based models, or Ollama for local model hosting. An automated setup script deploys Azure OpenAI resources including gpt-5-mini and text-embedding-3-small models, creates necessary storage services, and configures .NET User Secrets automatically. Manual setup is also available for developers with existing Azure accounts.

The course provides extensive accessibility features. The repository includes translations in eight languages: Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and German, all updated to match the original content as of June 2026. Multi-language support extends the course's reach beyond English-speaking developers.

The repository is actively maintained and regularly updated with the latest AI tools and frameworks. The What's New section documents ongoing improvements, and the course is designed to be low-friction for beginners while remaining comprehensive enough for developers building production systems. The combination of video content, runnable samples, and detailed guidance makes the repository suitable for .NET developers at various skill levels seeking to integrate generative AI into their applications.