Getting Started
Using Hono is super easy. We can set up the project, write code, develop with a local server, and deploy quickly. The same code will work on any runtime, just with different entry points. Let's look at the basic usage of Hono.
Starter
Starter templates are available for each platform. Use the following "create-hono" command.
npm create hono@latest my-appyarn create hono my-apppnpm create hono@latest my-appbun create hono@latest my-appdeno run -A npm:create-hono@latest my-appThen you will be asked which template you would like to use. Let's select Cloudflare Workers for this example.
? Which template do you want to use?
aws-lambda
bun
cloudflare-pages
❯ cloudflare-workers
deno
fastly
nextjs
nodejs
vercelThe template will be pulled into my-app, so go to it and install the dependencies.
cd my-app
npm icd my-app
yarncd my-app
pnpm icd my-app
bun iOnce the package installation is complete, run the following command to start up a local server.
npm run devyarn devpnpm devbun run devHello World
You can write code in TypeScript with the Cloudflare Workers development tool "Wrangler", Deno, Bun, or others without being aware of transpiling.
Write your first application with Hono in src/index.ts. The example below is a starter Hono application.
The import and the final export default parts may vary from runtime to runtime, but all of the application code will run the same code everywhere.
import { Hono } from 'hono'
const app = new Hono()
app.get('/', (c) => {
return c.text('Hello Hono!')
})
export default appStart the development server and access http://localhost:8787 with your browser.
npm run devyarn devpnpm devbun run devReturn JSON
Returning JSON is also easy. The following is an example of handling a GET Request to /api/hello and returning an application/json Response.
app.get('/api/hello', (c) => {
return c.json({
ok: true,
message: 'Hello Hono!',
})
})Request and Response
Getting a path parameter, URL query value, and appending a Response header is written as follows.
app.get('/posts/:id', (c) => {
const page = c.req.query('page')
const id = c.req.param('id')
c.header('X-Message', 'Hi!')
return c.text(`You want see ${page} of ${id}`)
})We can easily handle POST, PUT, and DELETE not only GET.
app.post('/posts', (c) => c.text('Created!', 201))
app.delete('/posts/:id', (c) => c.text(`${c.req.param('id')} is deleted!`))Return HTML
Hono is also suitable for returning a little HTML. Rename the file to src/index.tsx and configure it to use JSX (check with each runtime as it is different). You don't need to use a huge front-end framework.
const View = () => {
return (
<html>
<body>
<h1>Hello Hono!</h1>
</body>
</html>
)
}
app.get('/page', (c) => {
return c.html(<View />)
})Return raw Response
You can also return the raw Response.
app.get('/', (c) => {
return new Response('Good morning!')
})Using Middleware
Middleware can do the hard work for you. For example, add in Basic Authentication.
import { basicAuth } from 'hono/basic-auth'
// ...
app.use(
'/admin/*',
basicAuth({
username: 'admin',
password: 'secret',
})
)
app.get('/admin', (c) => {
return c.text('You are authorized!')
})There are useful built-in middleware including Bearer and authentication using JWT, CORS and ETag. Hono also provides third-party middleware using external libraries such as GraphQL Server and Firebase Auth. And, you can make your own middleware.
Adapter
There are Adapters for platform-dependent functions, e.g., handling static files or WebSocket. For example, to handle WebSocket in Cloudflare Workers, import hono/cloudflare-workers.
import { upgradeWebSocket } from 'hono/cloudflare-workers'
app.get(
'/ws',
upgradeWebSocket((c) => {
// ...
})
)Next step
Most code will work on any platform, but there are guides for each. For instance, how to set up projects or how to deploy. Please see the page for the exact platform you want to use to create your application!