Optimizing your HttpClient usage - Nico Vermeir - NDC London 2026

A conference talk transcript covering .NET HttpClient best practices and common pitfalls. Topics include why you should not create new HttpClient instances in using blocks (socket exhaustion), how to use IHttpClientFactory with named and typed clients, delegating handlers for cross-cutting concerns like logging and auth token injection, OpenTelemetry HTTP instrumentation, and resiliency patterns using Polly including retry with exponential backoff, jitter to prevent thundering herd, and the circuit breaker pattern. Live demos illustrate socket exhaustion, DI-based client registration, handler chaining, and Polly retry/circuit breaker configuration.