Document EnableServiceProviderCaching and UseMemoryCache configuration in EF Core

[Copilot]

Summary

This PR adds comprehensive documentation for EF Core's memory caching configuration options, specifically EnableServiceProviderCaching and UseMemoryCache. The documentation explains where these features are used, what the defaults are, and when to customize them.

What's Documented

EnableServiceProviderCaching

• Purpose: Controls whether EF Core caches internal service providers for improved performance
• Default behavior: Enabled by default (true) - service providers are cached and reused across DbContext instances with the same configuration
• When to disable: For testing environments to ensure each test gets a fresh service provider when DbContext configurations change test-to-test
• Performance impact: Better performance and lower memory overhead for applications that create many DbContext instances

UseMemoryCache / Memory Cache Integration

• Purpose: Configures the IMemoryCache used by EF Core for internal caching operations like query compilation and model building
• Default configuration: EF Core automatically configures IMemoryCache with a default size limit of 10240
• Cache sizing: Compiled queries have a cache size of 10, built models have a cache size of 100
• Customization: Call AddMemoryCache if you need to change the default size limits
• Clarification: IMemoryCache is not used for internal service provider caching (separate feature)

Documentation Changes

Updated Files

• entity-framework/core/dbcontext-configuration/index.md
  • Added both EnableServiceProviderCaching and UseMemoryCache to the DbContext configuration options table
  • Created new ## EnableServiceProviderCaching section with complete explanation of service provider caching
  • Created new ## Memory Cache Integration section explaining IMemoryCache configuration
  • Included code examples for both ASP.NET Core DI scenarios
  • All content passes markdown linting rules

Documentation Structure

• Two main sections at ## heading level for clear organization
• Configuration options table updated with links to both sections
• Focused, accurate technical content based on reviewer feedback
• Clean formatting with proper list handling and paragraph flow

Key Technical Details

• Service provider caching is enabled by default (important for developers to know)
• Default memory cache size limit is 10240
• Memory cache and service provider caching are separate, independent features
• Proper guidance on when to customize each setting

Fixes #4855

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Document UseMemoryCache</issue_title>
<issue_description>Explain where it's used and what are the defaults</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes #4855

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[AndriySvyryd]

@copilot Update the PR description with a summary of the changes

[Copilot]

@copilot Update the PR description with a summary of the changes

Updated the PR description with a comprehensive summary of the changes, including what was documented, the technical details, and the documentation structure.

[AndriySvyryd]

@copilot

Suggested change

	**When to disable caching**: You might want to disable service provider caching (`false`) for testing environments to ensure each test gets a fresh service provider, or when `DbContext` configurations change dynamically at runtime.
	**When to disable caching**: You might want to disable service provider caching (`false`) for testing environments to ensure each test gets a fresh service provider when `DbContext` configurations change test-to-test.

[Copilot]

Updated the guidance in commit 705ef58 to focus on testing environments where DbContext configurations change test-to-test.

[roji]

This is a duplicate snippet of the one shown just above, but with true instead of false. It's also out of context - the true snippet is shown right after the sentence about how to disable caching (the opposite).

[roji]

I'm conflicted about this sort of documentation. Yes, we have EnableServiceProviderCaching() as a public API, but this is something that I think we'd never recommend users ever actually use

So I'm not sure whether (and why) we should actually be documenting this - it runs the risk of pushing people towards an API they shouldn't use, it makes this doc page less useful (since it gets bloated with a non-useful API), and it creates more work for us (writing/reviewing the docs).

If we believe there are legitimate reasons for users to use this (I'm not really aware of any), then these should be documented here. There's just one sentence below: "for testing environments to ensure each test gets a fresh service provider when DbContext configurations change test-to-test", but I'm unclear as to when users would actually run into this: most settings don't require a different service provider, and those that do generally should be singleton options, so a new service provider is created anyway.

[roji]

nit: remove unneeded curlies

[roji]

This feels like it belongs in the advanced performance topics page, not here. We should ideally be documenting by concern (modeling, performance, querying...).