Code Effects Implementation
The Code Effects decision automation platform is made of five components. Two of them, the Rule Editor and the Rule Engine, are what every implementation uses. The other three are .NET libraries that manage, record and expose your rules: the Rule Repository, Audit and the MCP server.
| Component |
What it does |
Packages |
| Rule Editor |
A web-based component in which business users write rules in plain language, with menus that offer only what your source object allows. |
CodeEffects.Rule.Editor (NuGet), @codeeffects/editor (npm) |
| Rule Engine |
Compiles rules and evaluates them against your .NET objects, or uses them to filter collections. |
CodeEffects.Rule.Engine (NuGet), or the licensed package from the Code Effects Portal |
| Rule Repository |
A complete rule management application inside your web application: storage, versions, a decision workflow of approvals, going live and taking offline, tests, permissions and AI-assisted authoring. |
CodeEffects.Rule.Repository, a database connection package, @codeeffects/repository (npm) |
| Audit |
Records every evaluation of your live rules in production, with the values it read, so that any decision can be explained, replayed and analyzed. |
CodeEffects.Rule.Audit |
| MCP Server |
Lets AI clients work with your rules and evaluations through the Model Context Protocol, under your sign-in and permissions. |
CodeEffects.Rule.Mcp |
Which Components You Need
- Stand-alone: the Rule Editor and the Rule Engine. Your application stores the rules, decides who may change them, and evaluates them. This gives you full control, and also leaves you to build rule storage, versioning, testing and approvals yourself. See Editor Implementation and Engine Implementation.
- With the Rule Repository. The Rule Repository provides everything around the rules: storage, versions, approvals, going live, tests and permissions, with the Rule Editor built in. Your production applications load the live rules from it and evaluate them with the Rule Engine. Add Audit to record those evaluations, and the MCP server to let AI clients work with your rules. See Repository Implementation.
The Rule Editor and the Rule Engine work together: the editor produces the rules, and the engine evaluates them.
Estimated Time to Production
These are rough figures from the implementations of our customers and our own. They assume an existing .NET application with its source objects already in place and a deployment process that works. They include writing, configuring and testing the integration; they do not include your organization's approvals or the time it takes to write the rules themselves.
| Implementation |
A .NET development team |
An AI coding agent |
| Stand-alone Rule Editor and Rule Engine, with your own rule storage, versioning and testing |
2 to 4 months for a team of two or three developers |
2 to 5 hours, plus testing and review by your team |
| Rule Repository, Audit and the MCP server, with rule evaluation in your production code |
3 to 4 days for one junior .NET developer, plus 1 to 2 days of testing |
1 to 2 hours, plus 1 to 2 days of testing |
Most of the time a stand-alone implementation takes goes into building what the Rule Repository already provides. Not every project needs all of it: an application without versioning, testing or auditing takes less. These figures are typical, not a commitment.
Requirements
| Component |
Runs on |
| Rule Editor, Rule Engine |
.NET Standard 2.0: .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later, and .NET Core 2.0 or later, including .NET 8 and later. The editor needs a .NET web application (ASP.NET Core, MVC, Razor Pages, Blazor or WebForms) and runs in all current versions of all major browsers. |
| Rule Repository, Audit |
ASP.NET Core, or ASP.NET on .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later. A SQL Server 2012 or later or PostgreSQL 14 or later database. |
| MCP Server |
ASP.NET Core on .NET 8 or later, behind your own OAuth sign-in. |
None of the components depends on a third-party service. Your rules and data stay in your systems; the only exception is the Rule Repository's optional AI features, which send what they work on to the AI provider you configure.
Getting the Packages
Code Effects is offered as Code Effects packages. The Rule Editor (NuGet and npm) and the Rule Engine (NuGet) are free for personal, community, development and research use as Code Effects Personal, with no limits on users, evaluations, developer seats or hardware. Commercial use requires a perpetual package: Code Effects Standard covers the Rule Editor and the Rule Engine; Business adds the Rule Repository, Enterprise adds Audit, and Ultimate adds the MCP server, each licensed per team of 30 users; Code Effects Source is the source code of the entire platform. Every package except Personal is downloaded with your product key from the Code Effects Portal, never from NuGet. See Code Effects Packages.
Demo Projects
Fork, compile and run any of our demo projects to see a complete implementation, or try the live demo.
Resources