Should I use navigation properties in EF Core?

When using EF Core should I always use navigation properties or never?
for example I have:

class Post
{
  public string Content { get; set; }
  public string AuthorId { get; set; }
  public User Author { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

class Post
{
  public string Content { get; set; }
  public string AuthorId { get; set; }
  public User Author { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

class User
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

class User
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

I use .NET 9 in my smaller project and I wonder if it's better to use it or not in terms of performance?

C#•13mo ago•

15 replies

When using EF Core should I always use navigation properties or never?
for example I have:

class Post
{
  public string Content { get; set; }
  public string AuthorId { get; set; }
  public User Author { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

class Post
{
  public string Content { get; set; }
  public string AuthorId { get; set; }
  public User Author { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

class User
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

class User
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public ICollection<Post> Posts { get; set; } // Should I use it?
}

I use .NET 9 in my smaller project and I wonder if it's better to use it or not in terms of performance?