Run targets
Run targets
The same source runs on three targets. Pick per deployment.
| Target | Entry | When |
|---|---|---|
| Node | app.serve({port}) or app.handler() |
npm packages, fastest iteration, dev workflow |
| Web Standards | app.fetch(req, env, ctx) |
Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy, Bun, Vercel Edge, Netlify Edge, Lambda, Service Worker, anywhere with a Request |
| Native ELF | scriptc build → static binary |
Containers, scratch images, single-digit-ms cold start, no runtime needed |
The Web Standards surface is canonical. app.handler() is a 50-80 LOC Node adapter around app.fetch; the same createRouter() symbol works in every environment.
Node
node app.js
Any npm package works. app.serve() wraps http.createServer; use app.handler() to mount into your own server.
Web Standards
// Anywhere with a `Request` in scope
const res = await app.fetch(new Request("http://localhost/user/42"));
// Cloudflare Workers / Deno Deploy / Bun / Vercel Edge / Service Worker
export default { async fetch(req, env, ctx) { return app.fetch(req, env, ctx); } };
The Ctx surface is Web-Standards-shaped: c.req.{url,method,path,header,query,param,body,raw},
c.set/c.get for request-scoped vars, c.header(name, value, {append: true}) for
multi-value headers. Off-the-shelf Hono middlewares wire in via the
hono-middleware template.
Recipes:
examples/integrations/cloudflare-workers/— CF Workers viaapp.fetchexamples/integrations/aws-lambda/— API Gateway v2 / Lambda URL bridge (Node orprovided.al2023ELF)
Native ELF
scriptc build app.js --npm-static @chttp/router --optimization=speed -o app-bin
./app-bin 3000
Everything the app imports must stay inside the scriptc subset, so npm packages outside it do not compile. Check with scriptc coverage. Rules for authors: Coding agents. To call C libraries from the ELF, see Native FFI.
app.fetch itself is JS-runtime-only today: new Request is not constructible
under scriptc 0.3.x, so an ELF host cannot call app.fetch(req). The native
entry is the host-shim app.fetchShim(method, url, headers, body, respond) —
plain primitives in, a callback out, no WHATWG types on either side — which
runs the same route table through the shared _dispatchPrim dispatch
primitive. The gate bench/apps/chttp-fetch.ts
keeps that path at 100% static coverage as part of the standard gate suite.
Bundler pipeline
unplugin-scriptc runs scriptc build inside Vite. @chttp/unplugin additionally lowers the route table at build time: Route lowering plugin.
Docker
A FROM scratch image carrying a ~2.4 MB binary: Deploy.
Benchmarks
Ratios against raw node:http, cold start and RSS: Benchmarks.
