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How to handle Exception globally in .NET Core?

Anubhav Sharma 543 16 Mar 2026

How to handle Exception globally in .NET Core?

Anubhav Sharma

Student

The Anubhav portal was launched in March 2015 at the behest of the Hon'ble Prime Minister for retiring government officials to leave a record of their experiences while in Govt service .

1 Answers

Ravi Vishwakarma 22 Mar 2026

Global Exception Handling in .NET Core is used to catch all unhandled errors in one place instead of writing try-catch in every controller or service.

In ASP.NET Core, we can handle exceptions globally using:

Middleware (Best way)
UseExceptionHandler()
Custom Exception Middleware
Filters (MVC)

This article explains best practice for production.

1. Why Global Exception Handling?

Without global handling:

try
{
}
catch
{
}

in every method → bad practice.

Problems:

Duplicate code
Hard to maintain
Hard to log errors
Not production safe

Global handling solves this.

Centralized
Clean code
Logging friendly
Production ready

2. Method 1 — UseExceptionHandler (Simple Way)

In Program.cs

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var app = builder.Build();

app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");

app.Run();

Controller:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Error()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

This catches all unhandled exceptions.

Good for UI apps.

3. Method 2 — Global Exception Middleware (Best Practice)

Best for API / large system.

Step 1 — Create Middleware

public class ExceptionMiddleware
{
    private readonly RequestDelegate _next;

    public ExceptionMiddleware(RequestDelegate next)
    {
        _next = next;
    }

    public async Task Invoke(HttpContext context)
    {
        try
        {
            await _next(context);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            await HandleException(context, ex);
        }
    }

    private Task HandleException(HttpContext context, Exception ex)
    {
        context.Response.StatusCode = 500;
        context.Response.ContentType = "application/json";

        var result = new
        {
            Message = ex.Message
        };

        return context.Response.WriteAsJsonAsync(result);
    }
}

Step 2 — Extension Method

public static class ExceptionMiddlewareExtension
{
    public static IApplicationBuilder UseGlobalException(
        this IApplicationBuilder app)
    {
        return app.UseMiddleware<ExceptionMiddleware>();
    }
}

Step 3 — Register in Program.cs

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseGlobalException();

app.Run();

Now all exceptions handled globally.

4. Method 3 — With Logging (Recommended)

Production apps must log error.

private readonly ILogger<ExceptionMiddleware> _logger;

public ExceptionMiddleware(
    RequestDelegate next,
    ILogger<ExceptionMiddleware> logger)
{
    _next = next;
    _logger = logger;
}

_logger.LogError(ex, ex.Message);

Best practice.

5. Return Proper Status Code

if (ex is KeyNotFoundException)
    status = 404;
else
    status = 500;

Good API design.

6. Method 4 — Using Filter (MVC Only)

public class GlobalExceptionFilter : IExceptionFilter
{
    public void OnException(ExceptionContext context)
    {
        context.Result = new ObjectResult("Error")
        {
            StatusCode = 500
        };
    }
}

Register:

builder.Services.AddControllers(options =>
{
    options.Filters.Add<GlobalExceptionFilter>();
});

7. Best Practice (Interview Answer)

Use:

Middleware
Logging
Custom response
Status code handling
No try-catch everywhere

Best for large system.

8. Conclusion

Global exception handling in .NET Core should be done using:

Custom Middleware
Logging
Proper status codes
Clean response

This is production-level approach.

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