Agent skill · software engineering · aaronontheweb
akka-net-best-practices
Critical Akka.NET best practices including EventStream vs DistributedPubSub, supervision strategies, error handling, Props vs DependencyResolver, work distribution patterns, and cluster/local mode abstractions for testability.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific patterns and strategies for designing Akka.NET actor systems that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 6k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-03. 1,095 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Akka.NET Best Practices When to Use This Skill Use this skill when: Designing actor communication patterns Deciding between EventStream and DistributedPubSub Implementing error handling in actors Understanding supervision strategies Choosing between Props patterns and DependencyResolver Designing work distribution across nodes Creating testable actor systems that can run with or without cluster infrastructure Abstracting over Cluster Sharding for local testing scenarios Reference Files work-distribution-patterns.md: Database queues, Akka.Streams throttling, outbox pattern cluster-local-abstractions.md: GenericChildPerEntityParent, IPubSubMediator, execution mode wiring async-cancellation-patterns.md: Actor-scoped CancellationToken, linked CTS, timeout handling --- 1. EventStream vs DistributedPubSub Critical: EventStream is LOCAL ONLY Context.System.EventStream is local to a single ActorSystem process. It does NOT work across cluster nodes. When EventStream is appropriate: Logging and diagnostics within a single process Local event bus for truly single-process applications Development/testing scenarios Use DistributedPubSub for Multi-Node For events that must reach actors across multiple cluster nodes, use Akka.Cluster.Tools.PublishSubscribe: Akka.Hosting Configuration for DistributedPubSub Topic Design Patterns Pattern Topic Format Use Case --------- -------------- ---------- Per-user timeline:{userId} Timeline updates, notifications Per-entity post:{postId} Post engagement updates Broadcast system:announcements System-wide notifications Role-based workers:rss-poller Work distribution --- 2. Supervision Strategies Key Clarification: Supervision is for CHILDREN A supervision strategy defined on an actor dictates how that actor supervises its children, NOT how the actor itself is supervised. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills aaronontheweb/akka-best-practices