Skip to Content
advanced-guidesBest Practices

Last Updated: 3/11/2026

Best Practices

Hono is flexible, but following these best practices will help you build better applications.

Avoid Controllers

Don’t create Ruby on Rails-like controllers:

// ❌ Avoid
const booksList = (c: Context) => {
  return c.json('list books')
}
 
app.get('/books', booksList)

The issue: Path parameters can’t be inferred without complex generics.

// ❌ Avoid
const bookPermalink = (c: Context) => {
  const id = c.req.param('id') // Can't infer type
  return c.json(`get ${id}`)
}

Instead, write handlers inline:

// ✅ Recommended
app.get('/books/:id', (c) => {
  const id = c.req.param('id') // Type is inferred!
  return c.json(`get ${id}`)
})

Use Factory for Reusable Handlers

If you need reusable handlers, use factory.createHandlers():

import { createFactory } from 'hono/factory'
import { logger } from 'hono/logger'
 
const factory = createFactory()
 
const middleware = factory.createMiddleware(async (c, next) => {
  c.set('foo', 'bar')
  await next()
})
 
const handlers = factory.createHandlers(logger(), middleware, (c) => {
  return c.json(c.var.foo)
})
 
app.get('/api', ...handlers)

Building Larger Applications

Use app.route() to organize your code:

authors.ts:

import { Hono } from 'hono'
 
const app = new Hono()
 
app.get('/', (c) => c.json('list authors'))
app.post('/', (c) => c.json('create author', 201))
app.get('/:id', (c) => c.json(`get ${c.req.param('id')}`))
 
export default app

books.ts:

import { Hono } from 'hono'
 
const app = new Hono()
 
app.get('/', (c) => c.json('list books'))
app.post('/', (c) => c.json('create book', 201))
app.get('/:id', (c) => c.json(`get ${c.req.param('id')}`))
 
export default app

index.ts:

import { Hono } from 'hono'
import authors from './authors'
import books from './books'
 
const app = new Hono()
 
app.route('/authors', authors)
app.route('/books', books)
 
export default app

With RPC

For type-safe RPC, chain your routes:

authors.ts:

import { Hono } from 'hono'
 
const app = new Hono()
  .get('/', (c) => c.json('list authors'))
  .post('/', (c) => c.json('create author', 201))
  .get('/:id', (c) => c.json(`get ${c.req.param('id')}`))
 
export default app
export type AppType = typeof app

Client:

import type { AppType } from './authors'
import { hc } from 'hono/client'
 
const client = hc<AppType>('http://localhost')
// Fully typed!

See RPC with larger applications for details.

JsxFaq