README.md

StrEnum.EntityFrameworkCore

Lets you use StrEnum string enums with Entity Framework Core.

Supports EF Core 3.1 – 10.

Installation

Install StrEnum.EntityFrameworkCore via the .NET CLI:

dotnet add package StrEnum.EntityFrameworkCore

Usage

Defining a string enum and an entity

public class Sport: StringEnum<Sport>
{
    public static readonly Sport RoadCycling = Define("ROAD_CYCLING");
    public static readonly Sport MountainBiking = Define("MTB");
    public static readonly Sport TrailRunning = Define("TRAIL_RUNNING");
}

public class Race
{
    public Guid Id { get; private set; }
    public string Name { get; private set; }
    public Sport Sport { get; private set; }

    private Race()
    {
    }

    public Race(string name, Sport sport)
    {
        Id = Guid.NewGuid();
        Name = name;
        Sport = sport;
    }
}

Wiring it up

Call UseStringEnums() when configuring your DB context:

public class RaceContext: DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Race> Races { get; set; }

    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
    {
        optionsBuilder
            .UseSqlServer(@"Server=.;Database=BestRaces;user id=*;pwd=*;")
            .UseStringEnums();
    }
}

That's it — EF Core can now read and write string enums.

Migrations

EF Core stores string enums in non-nullable string columns (NVARCHAR(MAX) in SQL Server, TEXT in Postgres).

If you'd like to store string enums as native Postgres enum types instead of TEXT, see StrEnum.Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.

Running dotnet ef migrations add Init produces:

migrationBuilder.CreateTable(
        name: "Races",
        columns: table => new
        {
            Id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uniqueidentifier", nullable: false),
            Name = table.Column<string>(type: "nvarchar(max)", nullable: false),
            Sport = table.Column<string>(type: "nvarchar(max)", nullable: false)
        },
        constraints: table =>
        {
            table.PrimaryKey("PK_Races", x => x.Id);
        });

To allow a nullable string enum, mark the property as non-required when configuring the entity:

var race = builder.Entity<Race>();

race.Property(p => p.Sport).IsRequired(false);

Querying

EF Core translates LINQ operations on string enums into SQL.

Add some races first:

var context = new RaceContext();

await context.Database.EnsureDeletedAsync();
await context.Database.EnsureCreatedAsync();

var races = new[]
{
    new Race("Chornohora Sky Marathon", Sport.TrailRunning),
    new Race("Cape Town Cycle Tour", Sport.RoadCycling),
    new Race("Cape Epic", Sport.MountainBiking)
};

await context.Races.AddRangeAsync(races);

await context.SaveChangesAsync();

Filter by a single Sport:

var trailRuns = await context.Races.Where(r => r.Sport == Sport.TrailRunning).ToArrayAsync();

This produces:

SELECT [r].[Id], [r].[Name], [r].[Sport]
FROM [Races] AS [r]
WHERE [r].[Sport] = N'TRAIL_RUNNING'

Or by multiple Sport values:

var cyclingSports = new[] { Sport.MountainBiking, Sport.RoadCycling };

var cyclingRaces = await context.Races.Where(r => cyclingSports.Contains(r.Sport)).ToArrayAsync();

Which translates to:

SELECT [r].[Id], [r].[Name], [r].[Sport]
FROM [Races] AS [r]
WHERE [r].[Sport] IN (N'MTB', N'ROAD_CYCLING')

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Andrew Lock for his research on using a custom ValueConverterSelector.

License

Copyright © 2026 Dmytro Khmara.

StrEnum is licensed under the MIT license.