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docsgetting-startedNodejs

Last Updated: 3/9/2026

Node.js

Node.js  is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment.

Hono was not designed for Node.js at first. But with a Node.js Adapter  it can run on Node.js as well.

::: info It works on Node.js versions greater than 18.x. The specific required Node.js versions are as follows:

  • 18.x => 18.14.1+
  • 19.x => 19.7.0+
  • 20.x => 20.0.0+

Essentially, you can simply use the latest version of each major release. :::

1. Setup

A starter for Node.js is available. Start your project with “create-hono” command. Select nodejs template for this example.

::: code-group

npm create hono@latest my-app
yarn create hono my-app
pnpm create hono my-app
bun create hono@latest my-app
deno init --npm hono my-app

::: Move to my-app and install the dependencies.

::: code-group

cd my-app
npm i
cd my-app
yarn
cd my-app
pnpm i
cd my-app
bun i

:::

2. Hello World

Edit src/index.ts:

import { serve } from '@hono/node-server'
import { Hono } from 'hono'
 
const app = new Hono()
app.get('/', (c) => c.text('Hello Node.js!'))
 
serve(app)

If you want to gracefully shut down the server, write it like this:

const server = serve(app)
 
// graceful shutdown
process.on('SIGINT', () => {
  server.close()
  process.exit(0)
})
process.on('SIGTERM', () => {
  server.close((err) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error(err)
      process.exit(1)
    }
    process.exit(0)
  })
})

3. Run

Run the development server locally. Then, access http://localhost:3000 in your Web browser.

::: code-group

npm run dev
yarn dev
pnpm dev

:::

Change port number

You can specify the port number with the port option.

serve({
  fetch: app.fetch,
  port: 8787,
})

Access the raw Node.js APIs

You can access the Node.js APIs from c.env.incoming and c.env.outgoing.

import { Hono } from 'hono'
import { serve, type HttpBindings } from '@hono/node-server'
// or `Http2Bindings` if you use HTTP2
 
type Bindings = HttpBindings & {
  /* ... */
}
 
const app = new Hono<{ Bindings: Bindings }>()
 
app.get('/', (c) => {
  return c.json({
    remoteAddress: c.env.incoming.socket.remoteAddress,
  })
})
 
serve(app)

Serve static files

You can use serveStatic to serve static files from the local file system. For example, suppose the directory structure is as follows:

./
├── favicon.ico
├── index.ts
└── static
    ├── hello.txt
    └── image.png

If a request to the path /static/* comes in and you want to return a file under ./static, you can write the following:

import { serveStatic } from '@hono/node-server/serve-static'
 
app.use('/static/*', serveStatic({ root: './' }))

Use the path option to serve favicon.ico in the directory root:

app.use('/favicon.ico', serveStatic({ path: './favicon.ico' }))

If a request to the path /hello.txt or /image.png comes in and you want to return a file named ./static/hello.txt or ./static/image.png, you can use the following:

app.use('*', serveStatic({ root: './static' }))

rewriteRequestPath

If you want to map http://localhost:3000/static/* to ./statics, you can use the rewriteRequestPath option:

app.get(
  '/static/*',
  serveStatic({
    root: './',
    rewriteRequestPath: (path) =>
      path.replace(/^\/static/, '/statics'),
  })
)

http2

You can run hono on a Node.js http2 Server .

unencrypted http2

import { createServer } from 'node:http2'
 
const server = serve({
  fetch: app.fetch,
  createServer,
})

encrypted http2

import { createSecureServer } from 'node:http2'
import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 
const server = serve({
  fetch: app.fetch,
  createServer: createSecureServer,
  serverOptions: {
    key: readFileSync('localhost-privkey.pem'),
    cert: readFileSync('localhost-cert.pem'),
  },
})

Building & Deployment

::: code-group

npm run build
yarn run build
pnpm run build
bun run build

::: info Apps with a front-end framework may need to use Hono’s Vite plugins . :::

Dockerfile

Here is an example of a nodejs Dockerfile.

FROM node:22-alpine AS base

FROM base AS builder

RUN apk add --no-cache gcompat
WORKDIR /app

COPY package*json tsconfig.json src ./

RUN npm ci && \
    npm run build && \
    npm prune --production

FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app

RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs
RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 hono

COPY --from=builder --chown=hono:nodejs /app/node_modules /app/node_modules
COPY --from=builder --chown=hono:nodejs /app/dist /app/dist
COPY --from=builder --chown=hono:nodejs /app/package.json /app/package.json

USER hono
EXPOSE 3000

CMD ["node", "/app/dist/index.js"]
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