Girouette

Elegant decorator-based routing for AdonisJS v6

Introduction

Girouette provides a beautiful, fluent API for defining your AdonisJS routes using decorators. By bringing route definitions closer to your controller methods, Girouette makes your application's routing more intuitive and maintainable.

Installation

You can install Girouette via the AdonisJS CLI:

node ace add @softwarecitadel/girouette

Basic Routing

After installation, you can start using decorators to define your routes.

By convention, Girouette will scan all files in the ./app folder that end with _controller.ts.

Import the decorators you need in your controller:

import {
  Get,
  Post,
  Put,
  Patch,
  Delete,
  Any,
  Middleware,
  ResourceMiddleware,
  GroupMiddleware,
  Resource,
  Where,
  Group,
  GroupDomain,
} from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'
import { HttpContext } from '@adonisjs/core/http'

export default class UsersController {
  @Get('/users')
  async index({ response }: HttpContext) {
    // Handle GET request
  }

  @Post('/users')
  async store({ request }: HttpContext) {
    // Handle POST request
  }
}

Route Groups

Girouette provides several decorators for grouping routes:

import { Group, GroupMiddleware, GroupDomain } from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'
import { middleware } from '#start/kernel'

@Group({ name: 'admin', prefix: '/admin' }) // Name prefix and URL prefix
@GroupMiddleware([middleware.auth()]) // Shared middleware
@GroupDomain('admin.example.com') // Domain restriction
export default class AdminController {
  @Get('/dashboard', 'admin.dashboard') // Final URL: /admin/dashboard
  async index() {
    // Route name: admin.dashboard
    // Protected by auth middleware
    // Only accessible via admin.example.com
  }
}

The @Group decorator accepts a configuration object with the following options:

// Just a name prefix
@Group({ name: 'api' })
export class ApiController {}

// Just a URL prefix
@Group({ prefix: '/api' })
export class ApiController {}

// Both at once
@Group({ name: 'api', prefix: '/api/v1' })
export class ApiController {}

Route Middleware

You can protect your routes using middleware through the Middleware decorator:

import { Get, Middleware } from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'
import { middleware } from '#start/kernel'

export default class UsersController {
  @Get('/profile')
  @Middleware([middleware.auth()])
  async show({ auth }: HttpContext) {
    // Only authenticated users can access this route
  }
}

Resource Controllers

For RESTful resources, Girouette provides a Resource decorator that automatically defines conventional routes:

import { Resource } from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'

@Resource('/posts', 'posts')
export default class PostsController {
  async index() {} // GET /posts
  async create() {} // GET /posts/create
  async store() {} // POST /posts
  async show() {} // GET /posts/:id
  async edit() {} // GET /posts/:id/edit
  async update() {} // PUT/PATCH /posts/:id
  async destroy() {} // DELETE /posts/:id
}

Route Constraints

Use the Where decorator to add constraints to your route parameters:

import { Get, Where } from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'

export default class PostsController {
  @Get('/posts/:slug')
  @Where('slug', /^[a-z0-9-]+$/)
  async show({ params }: HttpContext) {
    // Only matches if slug contains lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
  }
}

Available Decorators

HTTP Methods

• @Get(pattern: string, name?: string)
• @Post(pattern: string, name?: string)
• @Put(pattern: string, name?: string)
• @Patch(pattern: string, name?: string)
• @Delete(pattern: string, name?: string)
• @Any(pattern: string, name?: string)

Route Configuration

• @Group(name?: string) - Define optional route name prefix
• @GroupDomain(domain: string) - Restrict routes to a specific domain
• @GroupMiddleware(middleware: Middleware[]) - Apply middleware to all routes
• @Middleware(middleware: Middleware[]) - Apply middleware to a single route
• @Resource(pattern: string, name?: string) - Create RESTful resource routes
• @ResourceMiddleware(actions: string | string[], middleware: Middleware[]) - Apply middleware to resource actions
• @Where(param: string, matcher: string | RegExp | Function) - Add route parameter constraints

Advanced Usage

Combining Multiple Decorators

Decorators can be combined to create sophisticated routing configurations:

import { Get, Middleware, Where } from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'
import { middleware } from '#start/kernel'

@Group('/api')
export default class ArticlesController {
  @Get('/articles/:id')
  @Middleware([middleware.auth()])
  @Where('id', /^\d+$/)
  async show({ params }: HttpContext) {
    // Protected route with parameter validation
  }
}

Resource Middleware

Apply middleware to specific resource actions:

import { Resource, ResourceMiddleware } from '@softwarecitadel/girouette'
import { middleware } from '#start/kernel'

@Resource('/admin/posts', 'admin.posts')
@ResourceMiddleware(['store', 'update', 'destroy'], [middleware.auth()])
export default class AdminPostsController {
  // Only store, update, and destroy methods are protected
}

License

Girouette is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.