efcore.md

EF Core in .NET 11 Preview 3 - Release Notes

.NET 11 Preview 3 includes new EF Core features and tooling improvements:

• ChangeTracker.GetEntriesForState() avoids extra change detection
• DbContext configuration can remove providers and add pooled factories
• Migrations get more control and clearer feedback
• SQL generation removes unnecessary joins and SQL Server adds JSON APIs
• Breaking changes
• Bug fixes
• Community contributors

EF Core updates in .NET 11:

• What's new in EF Core

ChangeTracker.GetEntriesForState() avoids extra change detection

A new GetEntriesForState() API on ChangeTracker returns tracked entities in selected states without forcing a DetectChanges() pass first (dotnet/efcore #37847). This avoids an extra DetectChanges() pass in long-lived contexts or high-volume change-tracking code where you already know which states you care about.

var modified = context.ChangeTracker.GetEntriesForState(
    added: false,
    modified: true,
    deleted: false,
    unchanged: false);

DbContext configuration can remove providers and add pooled factories

Preview 3 adds RemoveDbContext() / RemoveExtension() helpers for removing a previous provider configuration before registering a different one (dotnet/efcore #37891). This is especially useful in tests, where a production SQL Server configuration is replaced with an in-memory or SQLite provider.

AddPooledDbContextFactory<TContext>() also now has a parameterless overload, so configuration that already lives in ConfigureDbContext<TContext>() no longer needs the extra setup boilerplate (dotnet/efcore #37144).

services.RemoveDbContext<MyContext>();
services.AddPooledDbContextFactory<MyContext>();

Migrations get more control and clearer feedback

EF Core now lets you exclude a foreign-key constraint from migrations with ExcludeForeignKeyFromMigrations(true) (dotnet/efcore #37815). The model snapshot also records the latest migration ID so EF can detect diverged migration trees earlier in team workflows (dotnet/efcore #37689).

modelBuilder.Entity<Order>()
    .HasOne(o => o.Customer)
    .WithMany(c => c.Orders)
    .ExcludeForeignKeyFromMigrations(true);

SQL generation removes unnecessary joins and SQL Server adds JSON APIs

Query generation for to-one joins now removes unnecessary joins in common cases (dotnet/efcore #37819). SQL Server 2025 now supports EF.Functions.JsonContains(), and the earlier preview API has been renamed to JsonPathExists() for clarity (dotnet/efcore #37714, dotnet/efcore #37732).

Breaking changes

• RelationalEventId.MigrationsNotFound now throws by default instead of only logging an informational message (dotnet/efcore #37839).
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools and Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tasks no longer depend directly on Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design (dotnet/efcore #37837).
• The EFOptimizeContext MSBuild property has been removed. If you set it in your project or build pipeline, remove it and use the EFScaffoldModelStage and EFPrecompileQueriesStage properties instead (dotnet/efcore #37838).
• SqlVector properties are no longer loaded by default. Explicitly project or load vector values if your application needs them (dotnet/efcore #37829).
• Preview 3 updates Microsoft.Data.SqlClient to 7.0.0. Review the SqlClient release notes if you depend on provider-specific SQL Server behavior (dotnet/efcore #37949).

Bug fixes

• Improved error reporting when spatial or HierarchyId types are used without the expected provider configuration (dotnet/efcore #37733).
• Added a clearer exception when a property's backing field cannot be found (dotnet/efcore #36720).
• Fixed ExecuteUpdate over scalar projections and nullable-value-type SetProperty lambdas (dotnet/efcore #37791, dotnet/efcore #37975).
• Fixed several JSON and complex-property edge cases in query translation and migrations (dotnet/efcore #37823, dotnet/efcore #37855, dotnet/efcore #37965).

Community contributors

Thank you to the community contributors who made EF Core better in this preview:

• @aw0lid (Ahmed Waleed): Fixed a memory leak in LazyLoaderFactory where strong references to ILazyLoader instances prevented garbage collection during large-scale data streaming (dotnet/efcore #37977)
• @bkarakaya01 (Burak Karakaya): Added parameterless AddPooledDbContextFactory overloads for cleaner DI registration with ConfigureDbContext (dotnet/efcore #37144)
• @JoasE: Implemented Cosmos DB complex-properties query support and follow-up fixes (dotnet/efcore #37577, dotnet/efcore #37919, dotnet/efcore #37941, dotnet/efcore #37971)
• @kawasaniac (Arkadii): Added descriptive exceptions when a property's backing field cannot be found during compiled model code generation (dotnet/efcore #36720)
• @MarkMpn (Mark Carrington): Enabled foreign key support in Dataverse reverse engineering (dotnet/efcore #34689)
• @Pmyl (Giulio Caprino): Fixed persisting null optional complex properties with default values (dotnet/efcore #37944)
• @SimonCropp (Simon Cropp): Updated Microsoft.Data.SqlClient to 7.0.0 (dotnet/efcore #37949)
• @yykkibbb: Improved error reporting for spatial and HierarchyId types without provider configured and ensured HasPrecision is always scaffolded for decimal columns in SQL Server (dotnet/efcore #37733, dotnet/efcore #37730)