secondsky/hono-routing
Type-safe Hono APIs with routing, middleware, RPC. Use for request validation, Zod/Valibot validators, or encountering middleware type inference, validation hook, RPC errors.
npx skills add https://github.com/secondsky/claude-skills --skill hono-routingStatus: Production Ready ✅
Last Updated: 2025-11-21
Dependencies: None (framework-agnostic)
Latest Versions: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
bun add [email protected] # preferred
# or: bun add [email protected]
Why Hono:
import { Hono } from 'hono'
const app = new Hono()
app.get('/', (c) => {
return c.json({ message: 'Hello Hono!' })
})
export default app
CRITICAL:
c.json(), c.text(), c.html() for responsesres.send() like Express)bun add [email protected] @hono/[email protected]
import { zValidator } from '@hono/zod-validator'
import { z } from 'zod'
const schema = z.object({
name: z.string(),
age: z.number(),
})
app.post('/user', zValidator('json', schema), (c) => {
const data = c.req.valid('json')
return c.json({ success: true, data })
})
✅ Return responses from handlers (c.json, c.text, c.html, etc.)
✅ Use c.req.valid('source') after validation middleware to get typed data
✅ Export app for deployment (Cloudflare Workers, Bun, Deno, Node.js)
✅ Use validation middleware (zValidator, vValidator) for type-safe request data
✅ Call await next() in middleware to pass control to next handler
✅ Use HTTPException for expected errors (returns proper HTTP status)
✅ Use template tag validators (zValidator, vValidator) not hooks
✅ Define context types for custom variables (Hono<{ Variables: { ... } }>)
✅ Use sub-apps (app.route()) for organizing large APIs
✅ Type your RPC routes (export type AppType = typeof routes) for client
❌ Never forget to return response from handlers
❌ Never use req.json() directly without validation - use c.req.valid()
❌ Never mix validation hooks with middleware - use middleware only
❌ Never forget await next() in middleware - breaks middleware chain
❌ Never use res.send() - not available (use c.json(), c.text(), etc.)
❌ Never skip error handling - use app.onError() for global handler
❌ Never access unvalidated data after validation middleware
❌ Never use blocking operations in middleware - breaks async chain
❌ Never hardcode origins in CORS - use environment variables
❌ Never skip type exports for RPC - client won't have types
Problem: Middleware returns response but route handler still executes
Solution: Don't return from middleware if you want chain to continue - only set variables
// ❌ Wrong - breaks chain
app.use('*', (c) => {
return c.json({ error: 'Unauthorized' }, 401)
})
// ✅ Correct - throw HTTPException instead
app.use('*', (c, next) => {
if (!isAuthorized) {
throw new HTTPException(401, { message: 'Unauthorized' })
}
await next()
})
Problem: Using validation hooks instead of middleware
Solution: Always use middleware validators (zValidator, vValidator)
// ❌ Wrong - hooks deprecated
app.post('/user', (c) => {
const data = c.req.json<User>() // No runtime validation!
})
// ✅ Correct - middleware with runtime validation
app.post('/user', zValidator('json', schema), (c) => {
const data = c.req.valid('json') // Validated & typed!
})
Problem: Middleware doesn't call next(), breaking chain
Solution: Always call await next() unless returning early
// ❌ Wrong - chain broken
app.use('*', (c) => {
console.log('Log')
// Missing await next()!
})
// ✅ Correct
app.use('*', async (c, next) => {
console.log('Log')
await next()
})
Problem: c.get() and c.set() not typed
Solution: Define Variables type in Hono constructor
// ❌ Wrong - no types
const app = new Hono()
c.set('user', { id: '123' }) // Not typed
const user = c.get('user') // any
// ✅ Correct - typed
type Variables = {
user: { id: string; name: string }
}
const app = new Hono<{ Variables: Variables }>()
c.set('user', { id: '123', name: 'Alice' })
const user = c.get('user') // Fully typed!
Problem: Client doesn't have types from server routes
Solution: Export AppType and use hc<AppType>
// Server
const routes = app.get('/users', (c) => c.json([]))
export type AppType = typeof routes // Export this!
// Client
import { hc } from 'hono/client'
import type { AppType } from './server'
const client = hc<AppType>('http://localhost:8787') // Fully typed!
Load references/top-errors.md for all 12 errors with detailed solutions.
When: Simple CRUD operations
Quick Pattern:
app.get('/users', (c) => c.json({ users: [] }))
app.post('/users', (c) => c.json({ created: true }))
app.get('/users/:id', (c) => c.json({ user: {} }))
app.put('/users/:id', (c) => c.json({ updated: true }))
app.delete('/users/:id', (c) => c.json({ deleted: true }))
Load: references/setup-guide.md → Complete Example
When: Need type-safe request validation
Quick Pattern:
import { zValidator } from '@hono/zod-validator'
import { z } from 'zod'
app.post('/user',
zValidator('json', z.object({
name: z.string(),
email: z.string().email(),
})),
(c) => {
const data = c.req.valid('json') // Typed!
return c.json(data)
}
)
Load: references/validation-libraries.md
When: Full-stack TypeScript with shared types
Load: references/rpc-guide.md + templates/rpc-pattern.ts
When: Authentication, logging, rate limiting
Load: references/middleware-catalog.md + templates/middleware-composition.ts
When: Share data between middleware and routes
Load: templates/context-extension.ts
Load references/setup-guide.md when:
Load references/top-errors.md when:
Load references/common-patterns.md when:
Load references/middleware-catalog.md when:
Load references/rpc-guide.md when:
Load references/validation-libraries.md when:
import { Hono } from 'hono'
const app = new Hono()
app.get('/', (c) => c.json({ message: 'Hello' }))
export default app
import { Hono } from 'hono'
import { cors } from 'hono/cors'
import { logger } from 'hono/logger'
import { HTTPException } from 'hono/http-exception'
type Variables = {
user: { id: string; name: string }
requestId: string
}
const app = new Hono<{ Variables: Variables }>()
// Global middleware
app.use('*', logger())
app.use('*', async (c, next) => {
c.set('requestId', crypto.randomUUID())
await next()
})
app.use('*', cors({
origin: process.env.ALLOWED_ORIGINS?.split(',') || [],
credentials: true,
}))
// Routes
app.route('/api', apiRoutes)
// Global error handler
app.onError((err, c) => {
if (err instanceof HTTPException) {
return c.json(
{ error: err.message },
err.status
)
}
console.error(err)
return c.json(
{ error: 'Internal Server Error' },
500
)
})
// 404 handler
app.notFound((c) => {
return c.json({ error: 'Not Found' }, 404)
})
export default app
Required:
hono@^4.10.2 - Core frameworkChoose ONE validator (recommended):
zod@^4.1.12 + @hono/zod-validator@^0.7.4 (most popular)valibot@^1.1.0 + @hono/valibot-validator@^0.5.3 (smaller bundle)arktype@^2.0.0 + @hono/arktype-validator@^0.1.0 (fastest runtime)typia@^7.0.0 + @hono/typia-validator@^0.1.0 (compile-time validation)Optional:
@hono/node-server - Node.js adapter@cloudflare/workers-types - TypeScript types for Workers| Feature | Hono | Express | Fastify |
| ---------------- | --------- | --------- | --------- |
| Size | ~10KB | ~200KB | ~100KB |
| TypeScript | ✅ Native | ⚠️ Types | ✅ Native |
| Type Inference| ✅ Full | ❌ No | ⚠️ Limited |
| RPC | ✅ Built-in| ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Edge Runtime | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Validation | ✅ Plugin | ⚠️ Manual | ✅ Plugin |
| Speed | Very Fast | Fast | Very Fast |
Recommendation:
Verified working projects:
When installing Hono and middleware packages, follow supply chain security best practices:
npm config set ignore-scripts true (or Bun: disabled by default)socket package score npm <pkg> or use socket npm install <pkg> to check packagesLoad the dependency-upgrade skill for full security configuration including Socket CLI integration, cooldown setup, lockfile validation, and CI enforcement.
bun add hono)Questions? Issues?
references/top-errors.md for all 12 errors and solutionsreferences/setup-guide.md for complete setup walkthroughreferences/common-patterns.md for production patternsreferences/middleware-catalog.md for built-in middlewarereferences/rpc-guide.md for type-safe client/serverTake secondsky/hono-routing from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.
The instructions reference npm.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.