## Host MCP Server with ASP.NET Core: Worker Execution and Job State

### Summary
Deploy a mcp server built with ASP.NET Core as a public web service plus a dedicated worker process on Ample. `ample plan --write` discovers both services and their shared database and writes ample.toml; `ample up` reconciles the topology: a managed PostgreSQL 16 database, a public web microVM and a private worker microVM (kind worker, no public URL), both reading DATABASE_URL. Verified on ASP.NET Core: a separately deployed worker service (kind worker, no public URL) sharing a declared managed PostgreSQL database with the web service, consuming a jobs table with row locks and marking jobs done once (worker=done attempts=1).

### Prerequisites
- A repository with the web app and the worker as separate service directories (the fixture uses apps/web and apps/worker), each building and starting with the documented commands (dotnet publish -c Release -o out in the builder, then dotnet .dll on the dotnet-10 template with ASPNETCORE_URLS bound to PORT; the worker starts with dotnet of its own console project (plain Npgsql) and binds no port)
- Both services read DATABASE_URL at runtime and share one jobs table; the worker claims rows with SELECT ... FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED and marks them done once
- An Ample account token with servers:write and databases:write (ample up creates the database)

### Workflow Steps
1. **Plan the topology**  
   Run the planner once. It discovers the web and worker services, infers kind = "worker" for the process without a port, declares the database each service needs, and writes ample.toml. Exit 2 means it left questions in the manifest; answer them with --answer or by editing the file.  
   Command: `ample plan --write .`

2. **Share one database**  
   Keep a single [databases.main] with engine = "postgres", drop any per-service database the planner added, and set DATABASE_URL = { database = "main" } under both [services.web.env] and [services.worker.env].  
   Command: `ample plan --offline .`

3. **Apply**  
   Reconcile the whole manifest in dependency order: the database first, then both services. It is idempotent and never destructive; exit 0 means everything applied, 2 needs input, 1 a failed resource (independent siblings still proceed and re-running resumes).  
   Command: `ample up .`

4. **Verify**  
   Fetch the web service URL and its worker status route (/p/worker-queue/status in the example) and confirm the worker processed the enqueued job; on failure read the worker service's runtime logs.  
   Command: `ample logs --kind runtime`

### Success Checks
- **Web service responds on its public URL**  
  Command: `GET /`  
  Expect: `ample canary asp net core patterns`

- **Worker consumed the enqueued job**  
  Command: `GET /p/worker-queue/status`  
  Expect: `worker=done attempts=1 result=processed-by-worker`

### Limitations
- Verified on the dotnet-10 template at s-1vcpu-1gb for both services with the example fixture; other sizes, templates and ASP.NET Core major versions are not verified.
- The mcp server itself (your job payloads, retry policy and scheduling) is application code and was not separately tested; the worker-queue check is what was verified.
- The worker is a single long-running process supervised in its own microVM; there is no scheduler, cron or horizontal worker scaling in this recipe, and the check ran immediately after deploy so idle behavior of the worker VM is not verified.
- Managed PostgreSQL 16 only; extensions, connection limits and backup or restore procedures are not verified; apps and their databases are placed together.

### Cost Estimate
- Monthly Amount:  $15.00 (USD)  
- Components:  
  - Web server (size: s-1vcpu-1gb): $5.00  
  - Worker server (size: s-1vcpu-1gb): $5.00  
  - Managed PostgreSQL database (size: s-1vcpu-1gb): $5.00  
- Note: Always-on monthly price of the tested sizes for the web service, the worker service and the database; apps auto-pause when idle.