Case studies

Upgrade case studies: how real-world upgrade situations play out

Quick answer. These are scenario walkthroughs showing how UpgradePilot handles common upgrade situations in ASP.NET Zero, ABP, .NET, React and Next.js. They describe how the pipeline behaves; they are not customer testimonials.

Transparency note. We’re an early open-source project. The walkthroughs below are illustrative scenarios built from how the pipeline works, with no invented customers or metrics. Named, measured customer case studies will replace them as customers approve publication.

ASP.NET Zero

A customized ASP.NET Zero SaaS product, several versions behind

The situation: A SaaS product built on an ASP.NET Zero template two years ago. The team has customized tenant management, billing and the permission model, and every upgrade attempt stalled in the merge.
The challenge: Template changes and years of product changes overlap in the same classes, so a text diff drowns the real conflicts.
What UpgradePilot does: UpgradePilot detects the version, downloads the target template, and compares both trees with Roslyn. Template changes in untouched members are applied; overlapping members become conflicts. Packages are bumped and restored, migrations checked, build and tests run.
What the team reviews: The conflict list (mostly the customized tenant and permission code), plus any migration marked destructive.
What to expect: The team starts from a building, tested branch and a short list of conflicts rather than an empty merge.

ASP.NET Zero guide →

ABP Framework

An ABP modular application with in-house modules

The situation: A modular ABP solution with several internal modules that override ABP services and module configuration.
The challenge: A new ABP release changes packages and APIs across many projects, and the team can’t spare an engineer for weeks.
What UpgradePilot does: The planner reads the target release notes, every .csproj is updated and verified with dotnet restore, Roslyn codemods handle renamed APIs, and the build and tests validate the result.
What the team reviews: Overridden services and module configuration where release notes describe a design change.
What to expect: A pull request that already restores, builds and passes tests, with citations back to the release notes.

ABP Framework guide →

.NET

A .NET API with EF Core and a risky migration history

The situation: A line-of-business API with many projects, Central Package Management and a long EF Core migration history.
The challenge: Package and target-framework bumps are easy to start and hard to finish; schema changes are the part nobody wants to get wrong.
What UpgradePilot does: Target versions come from dotnet list package --outdated, CPM is updated, the target framework is raised, and the Database Migration agent flags destructive operations instead of applying them.
What the team reviews: Any migration flagged destructive, and packages blocked by dependencies without compatible releases.
What to expect: Schema risk is visible in the pull request before anything touches a database.

.NET guide →

React

A React SPA with deprecated APIs and a stale toolchain

The situation: A customer-facing React single-page app that has not had a major upgrade in a long time.
The challenge: Deprecated APIs are scattered across hundreds of files, and no one trusts a find-and-replace.
What UpgradePilot does: Versions come from npm outdated and are verified with npm install. The official react-codemod transforms matching the release notes are applied, then npm run build and the Jest/Vitest suite run.
What the team reviews: Third-party components lagging behind, and behavior the unit tests don’t cover.
What to expect: Mechanical changes arrive as codemod output; reviewers focus on behavior, not syntax.

React guide →

Next.js

A Next.js site on the Pages Router that needs a major upgrade

The situation: A marketing and app site using the Pages Router, behind on Next.js and dependencies.
The challenge: The team wants to stay current without being forced into an App Router rewrite.
What UpgradePilot does: The Framework Detector identifies the Pages Router, the official @next/codemod transforms are applied, dependencies are upgraded and verified, and the production build runs.
What the team reviews: Config, middleware and hosting settings called out in the release notes.
What to expect: A supported Next.js version without a mandatory architecture change.

Next.js guide →

.NET + Next.js

A full-stack repo: .NET API plus a Next.js frontend

The situation: One repository containing an ABP/.NET backend and a Next.js frontend that must stay in step.
The challenge: Two toolchains, one release: a backend upgrade can quietly break the frontend’s API client.
What UpgradePilot does: The backend is upgraded and validated first. The frontend then runs through the npm-based pipeline. A frontend that can’t be confidently identified is flagged instead of guessed at.
What the team reviews: Regenerated API clients, shared auth/CORS configuration and any flagged half.
What to expect: One pull request, one report, and a rollback plan that covers both halves.

.NET + React/Next.js guide →

Upgrade case studies: how real-world upgrade situations play out

A customized ASP.NET Zero SaaS product, several versions behind

An ABP modular application with in-house modules

A .NET API with EF Core and a risky migration history

A React SPA with deprecated APIs and a stale toolchain

A Next.js site on the Pages Router that needs a major upgrade

A full-stack repo: .NET API plus a Next.js frontend

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