Hono
Hono is a small, simple, and ultrafast web framework for Cloudflare Pages and Workers, Deno, and Bun. In this guide, you will create a new Hono application and deploy it using Cloudflare Pages.
Create a new project
Use the create-cloudflare
CLI (C3) to create a new project. C3 will create a new project directory, initiate Hono’s official setup tool, and provide the option to deploy instantly.
To use create-cloudflare
to create a new Hono project, run the following command:
$ npm create cloudflare@latest my-hono-app -- --framework=hono
Open your project and create a src/server.js
file (or src/server.ts
if you are using TypeScript). Add the following content to your file:
import { Hono } from "hono";
const app = new Hono();
app.get("/", (ctx) => ctx.text("Hello world, this is Hono!!"));
export default app;
To serve static files like CSS, image or JavaScript files, add the following to your src/server.js/ts
file:
app.get("/public/*", async (ctx) => { return await ctx.env.ASSETS.fetch(ctx.req.raw);
});
This will cause all the files in the public
folder within dist
to be served in your application.
Open your package.json
file and update the scripts
section:
package.json "scripts": { "dev": "run-p dev:*", "dev:wrangler": "wrangler pages dev dist --live-reload", "dev:esbuild": "esbuild --bundle src/server.js --format=esm --watch --outfile=dist/_worker.js", "build": "esbuild --bundle src/server.js --format=esm --outfile=dist/_worker.js", "deploy": "wrangler pages publish dist" },
package.json "scripts": { "dev": "run-p dev:*", "dev:wrangler": "wrangler pages dev dist --live-reload", "dev:esbuild": "esbuild --bundle src/server.ts --format=esm --watch --outfile=dist/_worker.js", "build": "esbuild --bundle src/server.ts --format=esm --outfile=dist/_worker.js", "deploy": "wrangler pages publish dist" },
Then, run the following command.
$ npm install npm-run-all --save-dev
Installing npm-run-all
enables you to use a single command (npm run dev
) to run npm run dev:wrangler
and npm run dev:esbuild
simultaneously in watch mode.
Run in local dev
Start your dev workflow by running:
$ npm run dev
You should be able to review your generated web application at http://localhost:8788
.
Before you continue
All of the framework guides assume you already have a fundamental understanding of Git. If you are new to Git, refer to this summarized Git handbook on how to set up Git on your local machine.
If you clone with SSH, you must generate SSH keys on each computer you use to push or pull from GitHub.
Refer to the GitHub documentation and Git documentation for more information.
Create a GitHub repository
Create a new GitHub repository by visiting repo.new. After creating a new repository, go to your newly created project directory to prepare and push your local application to GitHub by running the following commands in your terminal:
$ git init
$ git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-gh-username>/<repository-name>
$ git add .
$ git commit -m "Initial commit"
$ git branch -M main
$ git push -u origin main
Deploy with Cloudflare Pages
Deploy via the create-cloudflare
CLI (C3)
If you use create-cloudflare
(C3) to create your new Hono project, C3 will install all dependencies needed for your project and prompt you to deploy your project via the CLI. If you deploy, your site will be live and you will be provided with a deployment URL.
Deploy via the Cloudflare dashboard
- Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard and select your account.
- In Account Home, select Workers & Pages > Create application > Pages > Connect to Git.
- Select the new GitHub repository that you created and, in the Set up builds and deployments section, provide the following information:
Configuration option | Value |
---|---|
Production branch | main |
Build command | npm run build |
Build directory | dist |
After configuring your site, you can begin your first deploy. You should see Cloudflare Pages installing my-hono-app
, your project dependencies, and building your site before deploying it.
After deploying your site, you will receive a unique subdomain for your project on *.pages.dev
.
Every time you commit new code to your Hono site, Cloudflare Pages will automatically rebuild your project and deploy it. You will also get access to preview deployments on new pull requests, so you can preview how changes look to your site before deploying them to production.
Related resources
Tutorials
For more tutorials involving Hono, refer to the following resources:
- Create a fine-tuned OpenAI model with R2
- Build a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) AI
- Recommend products on e-commerce sites using Workers AI and Stripe
- Build a Comments API
- Build a Slackbot
- Build a Staff Directory Application
- Create a serverless, globally distributed REST API with Fauna
- Use R2 As static asset storage for your Pages app
Demo apps
For demo applications using Hono, refer to the following resources:
- shrty.dev: A URL shortener that makes use of KV and Workers Analytics Engine. The admin interface uses Function Calling. Go Shorty!
- Homie - Home Automation using Function Calling: A home automation tool that uses AI Function calling to change the color of lightbulbs in your home.
- Hackathon Helper: A series of starters for Hackathons. Get building quicker! Python, Streamlit, Workers, and Pages starters for all your AI needs!
- NBA Finals Polling and Predictor: This stateful polling application uses Cloudflare Workers AI, Cloudflare Pages, Cloudflare Durable Objects, and Hono to keep track of users’ votes for different basketball teams and generates personal predictions for the series.
- Whatever-ify: Turn yourself into…whatever. Take a photo, get a description, generate a scene and character, then generate an image based on that calendar.
- Phoney AI: This application uses Cloudflare Workers AI, Twilio, and AssemblyAI. Your phone is an input and output device.
- Vanilla JavaScript Chat Application using Cloudflare Workers AI: A web based chat interface built on Cloudflare Pages that allows for exploring Text Generation models on Cloudflare Workers AI. Design is built using tailwind.