Hitchy Core Manual

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Tutorial: Hello World! ​

Prerequisites ​

Hitchy is implemented in Javascript and requires Node.js as a runtime. In addition it relies on a tool called npm which is used to access a vast amount of packages ready for use. Hitchy is just one of those. This tool is included with Node.js.

Create Project ​

  • Create and enter new folder for your project: mkdir hello-world && cd hello-world
  • Initialize the project: npm init
  • Install Hitchy: npm i @hitchy/core

Configure Router ​

Create a sub-folder named config. Put a file named routes.js with the following content there:

javascript
exports.routes = {
	"/": ( req, res ) => res.send( "Hello World!" ),
};
exports.routes = {
	"/": ( req, res ) => res.send( "Hello World!" ),
};

Important

The file's name doesn't matter much. The key routes used for exporting in first line of file's content is essential though. As a convention, we suggest to name the file just like the exported configuration key to support long-term maintenance of code.

Run Project ​

When in project folder enter

sh
hitchy start
hitchy start

for running the project. This will display some URL to be opened in a web browser, like http://127.0.0.1:3000. Click on the URL or copy-n-paste it into your browser to get the desired output.

Stopping Hitchy

After starting hitchy the service is running in foreground. Log messages are printed on screen. If you want to stop hitchy just press Ctrl+C. This will gracefully shut down Hitchy.

Dockerize Your Project ​

For production setup, we strongly suggest to put your project in a Docker container.

  1. Create a file named Dockerfile in root folder of your project containing:

    dockerfile
    FROM node:lts-alpine
COPY . /app
RUN npm ci
CMD ["npm", "run", "start:docker"]
EXPOSE 3000
    FROM node:lts-alpine
COPY . /app
RUN npm ci
CMD ["npm", "run", "start:docker"]
EXPOSE 3000

  2. Create another file named .dockerignore in same folder with content:

    ignore
    node_modules
    node_modules

    This improves build time of the Docker image and prevents potential issues at runtime.

  3. Open your project's package.json file. Look for the scripts section and add script start:docker as demonstrated:

    json
    {
  ...
  "scripts": {
    ...
    "start:docker": "hitchy start --ip=0.0.0.0"
  }
  ...
}
    {
  ...
  "scripts": {
    ...
    "start:docker": "hitchy start --ip=0.0.0.0"
  }
  ...
}

  4. Build the image to use on creating containers:

    bash
    docker build -t name-of-your-project .
    docker build -t name-of-your-project .

  5. Optional: Publish your project by pushing the created image to a public container registry:

    bash
    docker push name-of-your-project
    docker push name-of-your-project

After that you may run your service at any machine with docker engine installed. Create and run a container with:

bash
docker run -d --restart always -p 3000:3000 name-of-your-project
docker run -d --restart always -p 3000:3000 name-of-your-project