--- title: Implement EF Core Interceptors | daily.dev description: EF Core interceptors let developers hook into points of interaction between EF Core and the database, enabling modification or suppression of operations like... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Implement EF Core Interceptors | daily.dev og:description: EF Core interceptors let developers hook into points of interaction between EF Core and the database, enabling modification or suppression of operations like... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/pJ8a0erKU.png og:image:alt: Implement EF Core Interceptors og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Implement EF Core Interceptors **[NikolaTech](https://daily.dev/sources/nikolatech)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary EF Core interceptors let developers hook into points of interaction between EF Core and the database, enabling modification or suppression of operations like SaveChanges. The guide walks through implementing a SaveChangesInterceptor for automatic audit field updates (CreatedAt/ModifiedAt) via an IAuditableEntity interface, and a separate interceptor to convert hard deletes into soft deletes using an ISoftDeletableEntity interface combined with a global query filter via HasQueryFilter. It also covers two ways to register interceptors: through DI container registration added to DbContext configuration, or directly inside OnConfiguring. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I automatically set CreatedAt and ModifiedAt timestamps in EF Core without cluttering my SaveChanges method? Create an IAuditableEntity interface exposing CreatedAt and ModifiedAt properties, then implement a custom SaveChangesInterceptor that overrides SavingChangesAsync. Inside, iterate the DbContext's ChangeTracker entries implementing IAuditableEntity, setting CreatedAt to UtcNow when the entity state is Added and ModifiedAt to UtcNow when the state is Modified. _daily.dev surfaces EF Core patterns like this for developers wiring up audit fields cleanly._ ### How can I convert a hard delete into a soft delete in EF Core using interceptors? Implement an ISoftDeletableEntity interface with IsDeleted and DeletedAt properties, then build a SaveChangesInterceptor that overrides SavingChangesAsync. Inside, find ChangeTracker entries implementing ISoftDeletableEntity with state Deleted, change their state to Modified, and set IsDeleted to true with DeletedAt to the current UTC time. Pair this with a global query filter using HasQueryFilter to exclude soft-deleted records automatically. _Developers building soft delete logic in EF Core can find implementation walkthroughs like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [EF Core Interceptors: The Complete Guide \(.NET 10\)](https://daily.dev/posts/ef-core-interceptors-the-complete-guide-net-10--u2nhhvfym) · Code with Mukesh · 15 upvotes · 1 comments - [Second-Level Caching in EF Core 10: The Complete Guide](https://daily.dev/posts/second-level-caching-in-ef-core-10-the-complete-guide-bvdnj7ehj) · Code with Mukesh · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Global Query Filters in EF Core](https://daily.dev/posts/global-query-filters-in-ef-core-cwq8yucpe) · Waseem .NET Newsletter · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#logging](https://daily.dev/tags/logging), [#c#](https://daily.dev/tags/c#) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Implement EF Core Interceptors","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku"},"datePublished":"2026-10-04T13:07:27.302Z","dateModified":"2026-10-04T13:16:58.007Z","description":"EF Core interceptors let developers hook into points of interaction between EF Core and the database, enabling modification or suppression of operations like...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/46aaee48018de6478c6e341994bd0c6f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/46aaee48018de6478c6e341994bd0c6f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"NikolaTech","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NikolaTech","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1h2fO6FL--/f_auto,q_auto/v1791119050/logos/nikolatech?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/nikolatech"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":".net,logging,c#","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NikolaTech","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/nikolatech"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Implement EF Core Interceptors"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/implement-ef-core-interceptors-pj8a0erku#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I automatically set CreatedAt and ModifiedAt timestamps in EF Core without cluttering my SaveChanges method?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Create an IAuditableEntity interface exposing CreatedAt and ModifiedAt properties, then implement a custom SaveChangesInterceptor that overrides SavingChangesAsync. 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