Hooks are registered with the fastify.addHook
method and allow you to listen
to specific events in the application or request/response lifecycle. You have to
register a hook before the event is triggered, otherwise, the event is lost.
By using hooks you can interact directly with the lifecycle of Fastify. There are Request/Reply hooks and application hooks:
- Request/Reply Hooks
- Application Hooks
- Scope
- Route level hooks
- Using Hooks to Inject Custom Properties
- Diagnostics Channel Hooks
Notice: the done
callback is not available when using async
/await
or
returning a Promise
. If you do invoke a done
callback in this situation
unexpected behavior may occur, e.g. duplicate invocation of handlers.
Request and Reply are the core Fastify objects.
done
is the function to continue with the lifecycle.
It is easy to understand where each hook is executed by looking at the lifecycle page.
Hooks are affected by Fastify's encapsulation, and can thus be applied to selected routes. See the Scopes section for more information.
There are eight different hooks that you can use in Request/Reply (in order of execution):
fastify.addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => {
// Some code
done()
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('onRequest', async (request, reply) => {
// Some code
await asyncMethod()
})
Notice: in the onRequest hook, request.body
will always be
undefined
, because the body parsing happens before the
preValidation hook.
If you are using the preParsing
hook, you can transform the request payload
stream before it is parsed. It receives the request and reply objects as other
hooks, and a stream with the current request payload.
If it returns a value (via return
or via the callback function), it must
return a stream.
For instance, you can uncompress the request body:
fastify.addHook('preParsing', (request, reply, payload, done) => {
// Some code
done(null, newPayload)
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('preParsing', async (request, reply, payload) => {
// Some code
await asyncMethod()
return newPayload
})
Notice: in the preParsing hook, request.body
will always be
undefined
, because the body parsing happens before the
preValidation hook.
Notice: you should also add a receivedEncodedLength
property to the
returned stream. This property is used to correctly match the request payload
with the Content-Length
header value. Ideally, this property should be updated
on each received chunk.
If you are using the preValidation
hook, you can change the payload before it
is validated. For example:
fastify.addHook('preValidation', (request, reply, done) => {
request.body = { ...request.body, importantKey: 'randomString' }
done()
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('preValidation', async (request, reply) => {
const importantKey = await generateRandomString()
request.body = { ...request.body, importantKey }
})
fastify.addHook('preHandler', (request, reply, done) => {
// some code
done()
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('preHandler', async (request, reply) => {
// Some code
await asyncMethod()
})
If you are using the preSerialization
hook, you can change (or replace) the
payload before it is serialized. For example:
fastify.addHook('preSerialization', (request, reply, payload, done) => {
const err = null
const newPayload = { wrapped: payload }
done(err, newPayload)
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('preSerialization', async (request, reply, payload) => {
return { wrapped: payload }
})
Note: the hook is NOT called if the payload is a string
, a Buffer
, a
stream
, or null
.
fastify.addHook('onError', (request, reply, error, done) => {
// Some code
done()
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('onError', async (request, reply, error) => {
// Useful for custom error logging
// You should not use this hook to update the error
})
This hook is useful if you need to do some custom error logging or add some specific header in case of error.
It is not intended for changing the error, and calling reply.send
will throw
an exception.
This hook will be executed only after the customErrorHandler
has been
executed, and only if the customErrorHandler
sends an error back to the user
(Note that the default customErrorHandler
always sends the error back to the
user).
Notice: unlike the other hooks, passing an error to the done
function is not
supported.
If you are using the onSend
hook, you can change the payload. For example:
fastify.addHook('onSend', (request, reply, payload, done) => {
const err = null;
const newPayload = payload.replace('some-text', 'some-new-text')
done(err, newPayload)
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('onSend', async (request, reply, payload) => {
const newPayload = payload.replace('some-text', 'some-new-text')
return newPayload
})
You can also clear the payload to send a response with an empty body by
replacing the payload with null
:
fastify.addHook('onSend', (request, reply, payload, done) => {
reply.code(304)
const newPayload = null
done(null, newPayload)
})
You can also send an empty body by replacing the payload with the empty string
''
, but be aware that this will cause theContent-Length
header to be set to0
, whereas theContent-Length
header will not be set if the payload isnull
.
Note: If you change the payload, you may only change it to a string
, a
Buffer
, a stream
, or null
.
fastify.addHook('onResponse', (request, reply, done) => {
// Some code
done()
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('onResponse', async (request, reply) => {
// Some code
await asyncMethod()
})
The onResponse
hook is executed when a response has been sent, so you will not
be able to send more data to the client. It can however be useful for sending
data to external services, for example, to gather statistics.
fastify.addHook('onTimeout', (request, reply, done) => {
// Some code
done()
})
Or async/await
:
fastify.addHook('onTimeout', async (request, reply) => {
// Some code
await asyncMethod()
})
onTimeout
is useful if you need to monitor the request timed out in your
service (if the connectionTimeout
property is set on the Fastify instance).
The onTimeout
hook is executed when a request is timed out and the HTTP socket
has been hanged up. Therefore, you will not be able to send data to the client.
If you get an error during the execution of your hook, just pass it to done()
and Fastify will automatically close the request and send the appropriate error
code to the user.
fastify.addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => {
done(new Error('Some error'))
})
If you want to pass a custom error code to the user, just use reply.code()
:
fastify.addHook('preHandler', (request, reply, done) => {
reply.code(400)
done(new Error('Some error'))
})
The error will be handled by Reply
.
Or if you're using async/await
you can just throw an error:
fastify.addHook('onResponse', async (request, reply) => {
throw new Error('Some error')
})
If needed, you can respond to a request before you reach the route handler, for
example when implementing an authentication hook. Replying from a hook implies
that the hook chain is stopped and the rest of the hooks and handlers are
not executed. If the hook is using the callback approach, i.e. it is not an
async
function or it returns a Promise
, it is as simple as calling
reply.send()
and avoiding calling the callback. If the hook is async
,
reply.send()
must be called before the function returns or the promise
resolves, otherwise, the request will proceed. When reply.send()
is called
outside of the promise chain, it is important to return reply
otherwise the
request will be executed twice.
It is important to not mix callbacks and async
/Promise
, otherwise the
hook chain will be executed twice.
If you are using onRequest
or preHandler
use reply.send
.
fastify.addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => {
reply.send('Early response')
})
// Works with async functions too
fastify.addHook('preHandler', async (request, reply) => {
await something()
reply.send({ hello: 'world' })
return reply // mandatory, so the request is not executed further
})
If you want to respond with a stream, you should avoid using an async
function
for the hook. If you must use an async
function, your code will need to follow
the pattern in
test/hooks-async.js.
fastify.addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => {
const stream = fs.createReadStream('some-file', 'utf8')
reply.send(stream)
})
If you are sending a response without await
on it, make sure to always return reply
:
fastify.addHook('preHandler', async (request, reply) => {
setImmediate(() => { reply.send('hello') })
// This is needed to signal the handler to wait for a response
// to be sent outside of the promise chain
return reply
})
fastify.addHook('preHandler', async (request, reply) => {
// the @fastify/static plugin will send a file asynchronously,
// so we should return reply
reply.sendFile('myfile')
return reply
})
You can hook into the application-lifecycle as well.
Triggered before the server starts listening for requests and when .ready()
is
invoked. It cannot change the routes or add new hooks. Registered hook functions
are executed serially. Only after all onReady
hook functions have completed
will the server start listening for requests. Hook functions accept one
argument: a callback, done
, to be invoked after the hook function is complete.
Hook functions are invoked with this
bound to the associated Fastify instance.
// callback style
fastify.addHook('onReady', function (done) {
// Some code
const err = null;
done(err)
})
// or async/await style
fastify.addHook('onReady', async function () {
// Some async code
await loadCacheFromDatabase()
})
Triggered when fastify.close()
is invoked to stop the server. It is useful
when plugins need a "shutdown" event, for example, to close an
open connection to a database.
The hook function takes the Fastify instance as a first argument,
and a done
callback for synchronous hook functions.
// callback style
fastify.addHook('onClose', (instance, done) => {
// Some code
done()
})
// or async/await style
fastify.addHook('onClose', async (instance) => {
// Some async code
await closeDatabaseConnections()
})
Triggered when a new route is registered. Listeners are passed a routeOptions
object as the sole parameter. The interface is synchronous, and, as such, the
listeners are not passed a callback. This hook is encapsulated.
fastify.addHook('onRoute', (routeOptions) => {
//Some code
routeOptions.method
routeOptions.schema
routeOptions.url // the complete URL of the route, it will include the prefix if any
routeOptions.path // `url` alias
routeOptions.routePath // the URL of the route without the prefix
routeOptions.bodyLimit
routeOptions.logLevel
routeOptions.logSerializers
routeOptions.prefix
})
If you are authoring a plugin and you need to customize application routes, like modifying the options or adding new route hooks, this is the right place.
fastify.addHook('onRoute', (routeOptions) => {
function onPreSerialization(request, reply, payload, done) {
// Your code
done(null, payload)
}
// preSerialization can be an array or undefined
routeOptions.preSerialization = [...(routeOptions.preSerialization || []), onPreSerialization]
})
Triggered when a new plugin is registered and a new encapsulation context is created. The hook will be executed before the registered code.
This hook can be useful if you are developing a plugin that needs to know when a plugin context is formed, and you want to operate in that specific context, thus this hook is encapsulated.
Note: This hook will not be called if a plugin is wrapped inside
fastify-plugin
.
fastify.decorate('data', [])
fastify.register(async (instance, opts) => {
instance.data.push('hello')
console.log(instance.data) // ['hello']
instance.register(async (instance, opts) => {
instance.data.push('world')
console.log(instance.data) // ['hello', 'world']
}, { prefix: '/hola' })
}, { prefix: '/ciao' })
fastify.register(async (instance, opts) => {
console.log(instance.data) // []
}, { prefix: '/hello' })
fastify.addHook('onRegister', (instance, opts) => {
// Create a new array from the old one
// but without keeping the reference
// allowing the user to have encapsulated
// instances of the `data` property
instance.data = instance.data.slice()
// the options of the new registered instance
console.log(opts.prefix)
})
Except for onClose, all hooks are encapsulated. This means that you
can decide where your hooks should run by using register
as explained in the
plugins guide. If you pass a function, that
function is bound to the right Fastify context and from there you have full
access to the Fastify API.
fastify.addHook('onRequest', function (request, reply, done) {
const self = this // Fastify context
done()
})
Note that the Fastify context in each hook is the same as the plugin where the route was registered, for example:
fastify.addHook('onRequest', async function (req, reply) {
if (req.raw.url === '/nested') {
assert.strictEqual(this.foo, 'bar')
} else {
assert.strictEqual(this.foo, undefined)
}
})
fastify.get('/', async function (req, reply) {
assert.strictEqual(this.foo, undefined)
return { hello: 'world' }
})
fastify.register(async function plugin (fastify, opts) {
fastify.decorate('foo', 'bar')
fastify.get('/nested', async function (req, reply) {
assert.strictEqual(this.foo, 'bar')
return { hello: 'world' }
})
})
Warn: if you declare the function with an arrow
function,
the this
will not be Fastify, but the one of the current scope.
You can declare one or more custom lifecycle hooks (onRequest, onResponse, preParsing, preValidation, preHandler, preSerialization, onSend, onTimeout, and onError) hook(s) that will be unique for the route. If you do so, those hooks are always executed as the last hook in their category.
This can be useful if you need to implement authentication, where the preParsing or preValidation hooks are exactly what you need. Multiple route-level hooks can also be specified as an array.
fastify.addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => {
// Your code
done()
})
fastify.addHook('onResponse', (request, reply, done) => {
// your code
done()
})
fastify.addHook('preParsing', (request, reply, done) => {
// Your code
done()
})
fastify.addHook('preValidation', (request, reply, done) => {
// Your code
done()
})
fastify.addHook('preHandler', (request, reply, done) => {
// Your code
done()
})
fastify.addHook('preSerialization', (request, reply, payload, done) => {
// Your code
done(null, payload)
})
fastify.addHook('onSend', (request, reply, payload, done) => {
// Your code
done(null, payload)
})
fastify.addHook('onTimeout', (request, reply, done) => {
// Your code
done()
})
fastify.addHook('onError', (request, reply, error, done) => {
// Your code
done()
})
fastify.route({
method: 'GET',
url: '/',
schema: { ... },
onRequest: function (request, reply, done) {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `onRequest` hooks
done()
},
onResponse: function (request, reply, done) {
// this hook will always be executed after the shared `onResponse` hooks
done()
},
preParsing: function (request, reply, done) {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `preParsing` hooks
done()
},
preValidation: function (request, reply, done) {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `preValidation` hooks
done()
},
preHandler: function (request, reply, done) {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `preHandler` hooks
done()
},
// // Example with an array. All hooks support this syntax.
//
// preHandler: [function (request, reply, done) {
// // This hook will always be executed after the shared `preHandler` hooks
// done()
// }],
preSerialization: (request, reply, payload, done) => {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `preSerialization` hooks
done(null, payload)
},
onSend: (request, reply, payload, done) => {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `onSend` hooks
done(null, payload)
},
onTimeout: (request, reply, done) => {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `onTimeout` hooks
done()
},
onError: (request, reply, error, done) => {
// This hook will always be executed after the shared `onError` hooks
done()
},
handler: function (request, reply) {
reply.send({ hello: 'world' })
}
})
Note: both options also accept an array of functions.
You can use a hook to inject custom properties into incoming requests. This is useful for reusing processed data from hooks in controllers.
A very common use case is, for example, checking user authentication based
on their token and then storing their recovered data into
the Request instance. This way, your controllers can read it
easily with request.authenticatedUser
or whatever you want to call it.
That's how it might look like:
fastify.addHook('preParsing', async (request) => {
request.authenticatedUser = {
id: 42,
name: 'Jane Doe',
role: 'admin'
}
})
fastify.get('/me/is-admin', async function (req, reply) {
return { isAdmin: req.authenticatedUser?.role === 'admin' || false }
})
Note that .authenticatedUser
could actually be any property name
choosen by yourself. Using your own custom property prevents you
from mutating existing properties, which
would be a dangerous and destructive operation. So be careful and
make sure your property is entirely new, also using this approach
only for very specific and small cases like this example.
Regarding TypeScript in this example, you'd need to update the
FastifyRequest
core interface to include your new property typing
(for more about it, see TypeScript page), like:
interface AuthenticatedUser { /* ... */ }
declare module 'fastify' {
export interface FastifyRequest {
authenticatedUser?: AuthenticatedUser;
}
}
Although this is a very pragmatic approach, if you're trying to do something more complex that changes these core objects, then consider creating a custom Plugin instead.
Note: The
diagnostics_channel
is currently experimental on Node.js, so its API is subject to change even in semver-patch releases of Node.js. For versions of Node.js supported by Fastify wherediagnostics_channel
is unavailable, the hook will use the polyfill if it is available. Otherwise, this feature will not be present.
Currently, one
diagnostics_channel
publish
event, 'fastify.initialization'
, happens at initialization time. The Fastify
instance is passed into the hook as a property of the object passed in. At this
point, the instance can be interacted with to add hooks, plugins, routes, or any
other sort of modification.
For example, a tracing package might do something like the following (which is, of course, a simplification). This would be in a file loaded in the initialization of the tracking package, in the typical "require instrumentation tools first" fashion.
const tracer = /* retrieved from elsehwere in the package */
const dc = require('diagnostics_channel')
const channel = dc.channel('fastify.initialization')
const spans = new WeakMap()
channel.subscribe(function ({ fastify }) {
fastify.addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => {
const span = tracer.startSpan('fastify.request')
spans.set(request, span)
done()
})
fastify.addHook('onResponse', (request, reply, done) => {
const span = spans.get(request)
span.finish()
done()
})
})