ASP.NET Core MVC : How to get raw JSON bound to a string without a type?

The cleanest option I’ve found is adding your own simple InputFormatter:

public class RawJsonBodyInputFormatter : InputFormatter
{
    public RawJsonBodyInputFormatter()
    {
        this.SupportedMediaTypes.Add("application/json");
    }

    public override async Task<InputFormatterResult> ReadRequestBodyAsync(InputFormatterContext context)
    {
        var request = context.HttpContext.Request;
        using (var reader = new StreamReader(request.Body))
        {
            var content = await reader.ReadToEndAsync();
            return await InputFormatterResult.SuccessAsync(content);
        }
    }

    protected override bool CanReadType(Type type)
    {
        return type == typeof(string);
    }
}

And in your Startup.cs inside ConfigureServices:

services
    .AddMvc(options =>
    {
        options.InputFormatters.Insert(0, new RawJsonBodyInputFormatter());
    });

That will let you get at the raw JSON payload in your controllers:

[HttpPost]
public IActionResult Post([FromBody]string value)
{
    // value will be the request json payload
}