Custom Web Server

Modern.js encapsulates most server-side capabilities required by projects, typically eliminating the need for server-side development. However, in certain scenarios such as user authentication, request preprocessing, or adding page skeletons, custom server-side logic may still be necessary.

To use the Custom Web Server in a Modern.js project, follow these steps:

Install @modern-js/server-runtime dependency

If the @modern-js/server-runtime dependency is not yet installed in your project, install it first:

pnpm add @modern-js/server-runtime

Version Consistency

Make sure the version of @modern-js/server-runtime matches the version of @modern-js/app-tools in your project. All Modern.js official packages are released with a uniform version number, and version mismatches may cause compatibility issues.

Check the version of @modern-js/app-tools first, then install the same version of @modern-js/server-runtime:

# Check the current version of @modern-js/app-tools
pnpm list @modern-js/app-tools

# Install the same version of @modern-js/server-runtime
pnpm add @modern-js/server-runtime@<version>

Create the server directory and configuration file

Create a server/modern.server.ts file in the project root directory:

server/modern.server.ts

import { defineServerConfig } from '@modern-js/server-runtime';

export default defineServerConfig({
  middlewares: [], // Middleware
  renderMiddlewares: [], // Render Middleware
  plugins: [], // Plugins
  onError: () => {}, // Error handling
});

After creating the file, you can write custom logic in this file.

Capabilities of the Custom Web Server

Modern.js's Web Server is based on Hono, and in the latest version of the Custom Web Server, we expose Hono's middleware capabilities, you can refer to Hono API for more usage.

In the server/modern.server.ts file, you can add the following configurations to extend the Server:

Middleware
Render Middleware
Server-side Plugin

In the Plugin, you can define Middleware and RenderMiddleware. The middleware loading process is illustrated in the following diagram:

Basic Configuration

server/modern.server.ts

import { defineServerConfig } from '@modern-js/server-runtime';

export default defineServerConfig({
  middlewares: [],
  renderMiddlewares: [],
  plugins: [],
  onError: () => {},
});

Type Definition

defineServerConfig type definition is as follows:

import type { MiddlewareHandler } from 'hono';

type MiddlewareOrder = 'pre' | 'post' | 'default';
type MiddlewareObj = {
  name: string;
  path?: string;
  method?: 'options' | 'get' | 'post' | 'put' | 'delete' | 'patch' | 'all';
  handler: MiddlewareHandler | MiddlewareHandler[];
  before?: Array<MiddlewareObj['name']>;
  order?: MiddlewareOrder;
};
type ServerConfig = {
  middlewares?: MiddlewareObj[];
  renderMiddlewares?: MiddlewareObj[];
  plugins?: ServerPlugin[];
  onError?: (err: Error, c: Context) => Promise<any> | any;
};

Middleware

Middleware supports executing custom logic before and after the request handling and page routing processes in Modern.js services. If custom logic needs to handle both API routes and page routes, Middleware is the clear choice.

Note

If you only need to handle BFF API routes, you can determine whether a request is for a BFF API by checking if req.path starts with the BFF prefix.

Usage is as follows:

server/modern.server.ts

import {
  defineServerConfig,
  type MiddlewareHandler,
} from '@modern-js/server-runtime';

export const handler: MiddlewareHandler = async (c, next) => {
  const monitors = c.get('monitors');
  const start = Date.now();

  await next();

  const end = Date.now();
  // Report Duration
  monitors.timing('request_timing', end - start);
};

export default defineServerConfig({
  middlewares: [
    {
      name: 'request-timing',
      handler,
    },
  ],
});

Warning

You must execute the next function to proceed with the subsequent Middleware.

RenderMiddleware

If you only need to handle the logic before and after page rendering, modern.js also provides rendering middleware, which can be used as follows:

server/modern.server.ts

import {
  defineServerConfig,
  type MiddlewareHandler,
} from '@modern-js/server-runtime';

// Inject render performance metrics
const renderTiming: MiddlewareHandler = async (c, next) => {
  const start = Date.now();

  await next();

  const end = Date.now();
  c.res.headers.set('server-timing', `render; dur=${end - start}`);
};

// Modify the Response Body
const modifyResBody: MiddlewareHandler = async (c, next) => {
  await next();

  const { res } = c;
  const text = await res.text();
  const newText = text.replace('<body>', '<body> <h3>bytedance</h3>');

  c.res = c.body(newText, {
    status: res.status,
    headers: res.headers,
  });
};

export default defineServerConfig({
  renderMiddlewares: [
    {
      name: 'render-timing',
      handler: renderTiming,
    },
    {
      name: 'modify-res-body',
      handler: modifyResBody,
    },
  ],
});

Plugin

Modern.js supports adding the aforementioned middleware and rendering middleware for the Server in custom plugins, which can be used as follows:

server/plugins/server.ts

import type { ServerPlugin } from '@modern-js/server-runtime';

export default (): ServerPlugin => ({
  name: 'serverPlugin',
  setup(api) {
    api.onPrepare(() => {
      const { middlewares, renderMiddlewares } = api.getServerContext();

      // Inject server-side data for page dataLoader consumption
      middlewares?.push({
        name: 'server-plugin-middleware',
        handler: async (c, next) => {
          c.set('message', 'hi modern.js');
          await next();
          // ...
        },
      });

      // redirect
      renderMiddlewares?.push({
        name: 'server-plugin-render-middleware',
        handler: async (c, next) => {
          const user = getUser(c.req);
          if (!user) {
            return c.redirect('/login');
          }

          await next();
        },
      });
    });
  },
});

server/modern.server.ts

import { defineServerConfig } from '@modern-js/server-runtime';
import serverPlugin from './plugins/serverPlugin';

export default defineServerConfig({
  plugins: [serverPlugin()],
});

src/routes/page.data.ts

import { useHonoContext } from '@modern-js/server-runtime';
import { defer } from '@modern-js/runtime/router';

export default () => {
  const ctx = useHonoContext();
  // SSR scenario consumes data injected by the Server Side
  const message = ctx.get('message');

  // ...
};

onError

onError is a global error handling function used to capture and handle all uncaught errors in the Modern.js server. By customizing the onError function, developers can uniformly handle different types of errors, return custom error responses, and implement features such as error logging and error classification.

Below is a basic example of an onError configuration:

server/modern.server.ts

import { defineServerConfig } from '@modern-js/server-runtime';

export default defineServerConfig({
  onError: (err, c) => {
    // Log the error
    console.error('Server error:', err);

    // Return different responses based on the error type
    if (err instanceof SyntaxError) {
      return c.json({ error: 'Invalid JSON' }, 400);
    }

    // Customize BFF error response based on request path
    if (c.req.path.includes('/api')) {
      return c.json({ message: 'API error occurred' }, 500);
    }

    return c.text('Internal Server Error', 500);
  },
});

#Custom Web Server

#Capabilities of the Custom Web Server

#Basic Configuration

#Type Definition

#Middleware

#RenderMiddleware

#Plugin

#onError

Custom Web Server

Capabilities of the Custom Web Server

Basic Configuration

Type Definition

Middleware

RenderMiddleware

Plugin

onError