express-file-routing

Flexible system-based file routing for Express with 0 dependencies.

Installation

npm install express-file-routing

Note: If you prefer yarn instead of npm, just use yarn add express-file-routing.

How to use

• app.ts (main)

import express from "express"
import createRouter, { router } from "express-file-routing"

const app = express()

app.use("/", router()) // as router middleware or

createRouter(app) // as wrapper function

app.listen(2000)

Note: It uses your project's /routes directory as source by default.

• routes/index.ts

export default async (req, res) => {
  if (req.method !== "GET") return res.status(404)

  return res.status(200)
}

Directory Structure

Files inside your project's /routes directory will get matched an url path automatically.

├── app.ts
├── routes
    ├── index.ts // index routes
    ├── posts
        ├── index.ts
        └── :id.ts or [id].ts // dynamic params
    └── users.ts
└── package.json

• /routes/index.ts → /
• /routes/posts/index.ts → /posts
• /routes/posts/[id].ts → /posts/:id
• /routes/users.ts → /users

API

createRouter(app, {
  directory: path.join(__dirname, "routes"),
  additionalMethods: ["ws", ...]
})
// or
app.use("/", router({
  directory: path.join(__dirname, "routes"),
  additionalMethods: ["ws", ...]
}))

Options

• directory: The path to the routes directory (defaults to /routes)
• additionalMethods: Additional methods that match an export from a route like ws (e.g. ws for express-ws)

Examples

HTTP Method Matching

If you export functions named e.g. get, post, put, patch, delete/del etc. those will get matched their corresponding http method automatically.

export const get = async (req, res) => { ... }

export const post = async (req, res) => { ... }

// it's not allowed to name variables 'delete': try 'del' instead
export const del = async (req, res) => { ... }

// you can still use a wildcard default export in addition
export default async (req, res) => { ... }

Note: Named method exports gain priority over wildcard exports (= default exports).

Middlewares

You can add isolated, route specific middlewares by exporting an array of Express request handlers from your route file.

import { rateLimit, bearerToken, userAuth } from "../middlewares"

export const get = [
  rateLimit(), bearerToken(), userAuth(),
  async (req, res) => { ... }
]

A middleware function might look like the following:

// /middlewares/userAuth.ts
export default (options) => async (req, res, next) => {
  if (req.authenticated) next()
  ...
}

Custom Methods Exports

You can add support for other method exports to your route files. This means that if your root app instance accepts non built-in handler invocations like app.ws(route, handler), you can make them being recognized as valid handlers.

// app.ts
import ws from "express-ws"

const { app } = ws(express())

createRouter(app, {
  additionalMethods: ["ws"]
})

// routes/index.ts
export const ws = async (ws, req) => {
  ws.send("hello world")
}

Usage with TypeScript

Adding support for route & method handler type definitions is as straightforward as including Express' native Handler type from @types/express.

// /routes/posts.ts
import type { Handler } from "express"

export const get: Handler = async (req, res, next) => { ... }