Server Routes

Event handlers

An event handler is a function that will be binded to a route and executed when the route is matched by the router for an incoming request.

Filesystem routing

Nitro supports file-based routing for your API routes (files are automatically mapped to h3 routes). Defining a route is as simple as creating a file inside the api/ or routes/ directory.

You can only define one handler per files and you can append the HTTP method to the filename to define a specific request method.

api/
  test.ts      <-- /api/test
routes/
  hello.get.ts     <-- GET /hello
  hello.post.ts    <-- POST /hello
nitro.config.ts

You can nest routes by creating subdirectories.

routes/
  communities/
    index.get.ts
    index.post.ts
    [id]/
        index.get.ts
        index.post.ts
  hello.get.ts
  hello.post.ts

Simple routes

First, create a file in routes/ or api/ directory. The filename will be the route path.

Then, export a function wrapped in defineEventHandler that will be executed when the route is matched.

export default defineEventHandler(() => {
  return { hello: 'API' }
})

Route with params

Single param

To define a route with params, use the [<param>] syntax where <param> is the name of the param. The param will be available in the event.context.params object or using the getRouterParam utility from unjs/h3.

export default defineEventHandler(event => {
  const name = getRouterParam(event, 'name')

  return `Hello ${name}!`
})

Call the route with the param /hello/nitro, you will get:

Hello nitro!

Multiple params

You can define multiple params in a route using [<param1>]/[<param2>] syntax where each param is a folder. You cannot define multiple params in a single filename of folder.

export default defineEventHandler(event => {
  const name = getRouterParam(event, 'name')
  const age = getRouterParam(event, 'age')

  return `Hello ${name}! You are ${age} years old.`
})

Catch all params

You can capture all the remaining parts of a URL using [...<param>] syntax. This will include the / in the param.

export default defineEventHandler(event => {
  const name = getRouterParam(event, 'name')

  return `Hello ${name}!`
})

Call the route with the param /hello/nitro/is/hot, you will get:

Hello nitro/is/hot!

Specific request method

You can append the HTTP method to the filename to force the route to be matched only for a specific HTTP request method, for example hello.get.ts will only match for GET requests. You can use any HTTP method you want.

// routes/users/[id].get.ts
export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
  const id = getRouterParam(event, 'id')

  // Do something with id

  return `User profile!`
})

Catch all route

You can create a special route that will match all routes that are not matched by any other route. This is useful for creating a default route.

To create a catch all route, create a file named [...].ts in the routes/ or api/ directory or in any subdirectory.

export default defineEventHandler(event => {
  const url = getRequestURL(event)

  return `Hello ${url}!`
})

Environment specific handlers

You can specify for a route that will only be included in specific builds by adding a .dev, .prod or .prerender suffix to the file name, for example: routes/test.get.dev.ts or routes/test.get.prod.ts.

Middleware

Nitro route middleware can hook into the request lifecycle.

Middleware are auto-registered within the middleware/ directory.

routes/
  hello.ts
middleware/
  auth.ts
  logger.ts
  ...
nitro.config.ts

Simple middleware

Middleware are defined exactly like route handlers with the only exception that they should not return anything. Returning from middleware behaves like returning from a request - the value will be returned as a response and further code will not be ran.

export default defineEventHandler((event) => {
  // Extends or modify the event
  event.context.user = { name: 'Nitro' }
})

Middleware in middleware/ directory are automatically registered for all routes. If you want to register a middleware for a specific route, see Object Syntax Event Handler.

Route Meta

You can define route handler meta at build-time using defineRouteMeta micro in the event handler files.

defineRouteMeta({
  openAPI: {
    tags: ["test"],
    description: "Test route description",
    parameters: [{ in: "query", name: "test", required: true }],
  },
});

export default defineEventHandler(() => "OK");

Execution order

Middleware are executed in directory listing order.

middleware/
  auth.ts <-- First
  logger.ts <-- Second
  ... <-- Third

Prefix middleware with a number to control their execution order.

middleware/
  1.logger.ts <-- First
  2.auth.ts <-- Second
  3.... <-- Third

Request filtering

Middleware are executed on every request.

Apply custom logic to scope them to specific conditions.

For example, you can use the URL to apply a middleware to a specific route:

export default defineEventHandler((event) => {
  // Will only execute for /auth route
  if (getRequestURL(event).pathname.startsWith('/auth')) {
    event.context.user = { name: 'Nitro' }
  }
})

Error handling

You can use the utilities available in H3 to handle errors in both routes and middlewares.

The way errors are sent back to the client depends on the route's path. For most routes Content-Type is set to text/html by default and a simple html error page is delievered. If the route starts with /api/ (either because it is placed in api/ or routes/api/) the default will change to application/json and a JSON object will be sent.

This behaviour can be overridden by some request properties (e.g.: Accept or User-Agent headers).

Route Rules

Nitro allows you to add logic at the top-level for each route of your configuration. It can be used for redirecting, proxying, caching and adding headers to routes.

It is a map from route pattern (following unjs/radix3) to route options.

When cache option is set, handlers matching pattern will be automatically wrapped with defineCachedEventHandler. See the cache guide to learn more about this function.

You can set route rules in nitro.config.ts using the routeRules option.

export default defineNitroConfig({
  routeRules: {
    '/blog/**': { swr: true },
    '/blog/**': { swr: 600 },
    '/blog/**': { static: true },
    '/blog/**': { cache: { /* cache options*/ } },
    '/assets/**': { headers: { 'cache-control': 's-maxage=0' } },
    '/api/v1/**': { cors: true, headers: { 'access-control-allow-methods': 'GET' } },
    '/old-page': { redirect: '/new-page' },
    '/old-page/**': { redirect: '/new-page/**' },
    '/proxy/example': { proxy: 'https://example.com' },
    '/proxy/**': { proxy: '/api/**' },
  }
})