Routing | Kito

Kito provides a simple and intuitive routing system that supports all HTTP methods and dynamic route parameters.

Basic Routes

Define routes using HTTP method helpers:

import { server } from "kitojs";
const app = server();
 
app.get("/", ({ res }) => res.send("GET request"));
app.post("/data", ({ res }) => res.send("POST request"));
app.put("/update", ({ res }) => res.send("PUT request"));
app.delete("/remove", ({ res }) => res.send("DELETE request"));
app.patch("/modify", ({ res }) => res.send("PATCH request"));

Route Parameters

Capture dynamic segments in your URLs:

// Single parameter
app.get("/users/:id", ({ req, res }) => {
  const { id } = req.params;
  res.json({ userId: id });
});
 
// Multiple parameters
app.get("/posts/:category/:id", ({ req, res }) => {
  const { category, id } = req.params;
  res.json({ category, id });
});

💡 Tip

Parameters are always strings. Use validation to convert them to other types.

Query Parameters

Access query string parameters through ctx.req.query:

// URL: /search?q=kito&limit=10
app.get("/search", ({ req, res }) => {
  const { q, limit } = req.query;
  res.json({ 
    searchTerm: q, 
    limit 
  });
});

Request Body

Handle JSON and form data in POST/PUT/PATCH requests:

app.post("/users", ({ req, res }) => {
  const body = req.json();
  
  res.json({
    message: "User created",
    data: body
  });
});

Route Chaining

Chain multiple routes on the same path using route(). You can also apply middlewares to all routes in the chain:

import { server, router } from "kitojs";
 
const app = server();
 
// Basic chaining
app.route("/api/users")
  .get(({ res }) => res.json({ users: [] }))
  .post(({ res }) => res.json({ created: true }))
  .end();
 
// Chaining with middlewares
app.route("/api/admin", [authMiddleware])
  .get(({ res }) => res.send("Admin Dashboard"))
  .post(({ res }) => res.send("Admin Action"))
  .end();

Router

The router() function creates a new router instance that can be mounted to the main server or other routers. This is useful for organizing your application into modules.

import { server, router } from "kitojs";
 
// Create a router for user routes
const users = router();
 
users.get("/", ({ res }) => {
  res.send("Users list");
});
 
users.post("/", ({ res }) => {
  res.send("Create user");
});
 
// Mount the router to the main app
const app = server();
app.mount("/users", users);
 
app.listen(3000);

You can also export routers from separate files:

// routes/cats.ts
import { router } from "kitojs";
 
export default router()
  .get("/", ({ res }) => res.send("All cats"))
  .post("/", ({ res }) => res.send("New cat"));

// index.ts
import { server } from "kitojs";
import catsRoutes from "./routes/cats";
 
server()
  .mount("/cats", catsRoutes)
  .listen(3000);

Response Methods

Kito provides several methods to send responses:

// Send plain text
app.get("/text", ({ res }) => {
  res.send("Hello World");
});
 
// Send JSON
app.get("/json", ({ res }) => {
  res.json({ message: "Hello" });
});
 
// Send HTML
app.get("/html", ({ res }) => {
  res.html("<h1>Hello</h1>");
});
 
// Set status code
app.get("/not-found", ({ res }) => {
  res.status(404).send("Not Found");
});
 
// Redirect
app.get("/old-page", ({ res }) => {
  res.redirect("/new-page");
});

Headers and Cookies

Manage response headers and cookies:

app.get("/with-headers", ({ res }) => {
  res
    .header("X-Custom-Header", "value")
    .cookie("session", "abc123", { httpOnly: true })
    .json({ success: true });
});

File Responses

Send files and downloads:

// Send a file
app.get("/file", ({ res }) => {
  res.sendFile("path/to/file.pdf");
});
 
// Trigger download
app.get("/download", ({ res }) => {
  res.download("path/to/file.pdf", "custom-name.pdf");
});

ℹ️ Note

All response methods automatically set appropriate Content-Type headers.