Step 1: Create a New Replit Project

1. Go to https://replit.com

2. Sign in or create an account.

3. Click "Create"

4. In the "From Template" section, choose C# (.NET)

5. Give your project a name (e.g., dotnet-mvc-sqlite)

6. Click "Create Repl"

Delete:

• main.cs

• main.csproj

Step 2: Configure .replit File

Replace the contents of .replit with the following:

run = "dotnet watch run --urls=http://0.0.0.0:8080"

hidden = ["bin", "obj"]
modules = ["dotnet-7.0"]

[env]
DOTNET_NOLOGO = "1"
DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT = "1"
DOTNET_CLI_HOME = "$XDG_CACHE_HOME"

[gitHubImport]
requiredFiles = [".replit", "replit.nix"]

[nix]
channel = "stable-24_05"

[[ports]]
localPort = 8080
externalPort = 80

Step 3: Initialize an ASP.NET Core MVC Project at Root

In the Replit shell, run:

dotnet new mvc -o .

Step 4: Restore & Run the App

Run:

dotnet restore
dotnet watch run --urls=http://0.0.0.0:8080

Click the "Open in new tab" button or navigate to the provided URL.

You should see the default ASP.NET MVC home page.

Step 5: Add SQLite and EF Core Packages

Install required packages:

dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite --version 7.0.20
dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design --version 7.0.20

Step 6: Install dotnet-ef CLI Tool Locally

To avoid runtime issues:

dotnet new tool-manifest
dotnet tool install dotnet-ef --version 7.0.20

Step 7: Create AppDbContext

1. Create Required Folders

In your Replit shell, create Data and Models directories if they don’t exist:

mkdir Data Models

2. Create Model Class (BlogPost.cs)

Create file: Models/BlogPost.cs

namespace MyMvcApp.Models
{
    public class BlogPost
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Title { get; set; } = string.Empty;
        public string Content { get; set; } = string.Empty;
        public DateTime CreatedAt { get; set; } = DateTime.Now;
    }
}

3. Create AppDbContext.cs

Create file: Data/AppDbContext.cs

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using MyMvcApp.Models;

namespace MyMvcApp.Data
{
    public class AppDbContext : DbContext
    {
        public AppDbContext(DbContextOptions<AppDbContext> options)
            : base(options)
        {
        }

        public DbSet<BlogPost> BlogPosts { get; set; }
    }
}

Step 8: Register AppDbContext in Program.cs

Open Program.cs, add these using statements at the top:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using MyMvcApp.Data;

Then, replace this line:

builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

with :

var connectionString = "Data Source=blog.db";
builder.Services.AddSqlite<AppDbContext>(connectionString);
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

Step 9: Add and Apply Migration

Now that EF Core knows about your AppDbContext, you can create and apply a migration:

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate --project workspace.csproj
dotnet ef database update --project workspace.csproj

Note:

To undo this action, use 'ef migrations remove'

Resulting Structure

After completing all steps, your project should look like this:

/
├── Controllers/
├── Data/
│   └── AppDbContext.cs
├── Models/
│   └── BlogPost.cs
├── Views/
├── Program.cs
├── workspace.csproj
├── blog.db
└── Migrations/

Step: How to Check and Inspect the SQLite Database on Replit

Step 1: Confirm blog.db Exists

Run this command in the Replit shell:

ls -l blog.db

Step 2: Open the SQLite File Using CLI

Use the sqlite3 tool to open and inspect the database:

sqlite3 blog.db

Step 3: Run SQLite Commands

Inside the SQLite shell, try these commands:

.tables

.schema BlogPosts

SELECT * FROM BlogPosts;

Exit SQLite Shell

To exit the SQLite shell:

.quit