temporalio__skill-temporal-developer/references/dotnet/serialization-context.md

Note

External Storage and its serialization-context object are in Public Preview in the SDKs that ship it. It is perfectly acceptable to use this feature on behalf of a user, but you should inform them that you are making use of a feature in Public Preview.

Overview

Cross-SDK concept file.

The Temporal .NET SDK documentation currently has no published surface for a serialization-context object delivered to Data Converter components. The encyclopedia External Storage page lists SDK-specific guides for the Go SDK and Python SDK only; there is no .NET SDK guide.

What the .NET docs do describe is the existing Data Converter and Codec surface in Temporalio.Converters. IPayloadCodec exposes EncodeAsync(IReadOnlyCollection<Payload>) and DecodeAsync(IReadOnlyCollection<Payload>) — neither overload receives a context parameter.

Treat this page as a placeholder. If a user asks how to access Workflow/Activity identity inside a .NET custom converter or codec today, the supported answer is "the .NET SDK does not document one."

Prerequisites

Storage driver context

Reading workflow vs activity metadata

Driver selection

Common mistakes

• Assuming the .NET SDK has the same SerializationContext / StorageDriver API as Go or Python. It does not, as of the current published documentation. Don't generate .NET code that imports Temporalio.Converters.StorageDriverStoreContext or similar based on the Go/Python names.
• Reaching for a context parameter on IPayloadCodec.EncodeAsync / DecodeAsync. Neither method receives a context argument in the documented .NET API.

Resources

• .NET Data Converters and encryption: https://docs.temporal.io/develop/dotnet/data-handling (see "Converters and encryption").
• External Storage encyclopedia page (Go and Python only, today): https://docs.temporal.io/external-storage
• Cross-SDK concept file: references/core/serialization-context.md.