Hono CLI

Install the Hono CLI globally using npm to gain access to the hono command for documentation access, server management, and application testing.

npm install -g @hono/cli

The hono command provides a suite of tools for interacting with Hono applications, including documentation access, code optimization, request testing, and server management.

Available commands include:

• docs: Access documentation summaries.
• optimize: Generate optimized Hono applications.
• search: Search through documentation.
• request: Send requests to a running Hono app.
• serve: Start a Hono server.

You can check the installed version using the -v or --version flag.

hono --version

By default, the request command prints the response body to stdout. You can modify this behavior using the following flags:

• --json: If the response content-type is JSON, this flag will format the output as a JSON object containing the status, body, and headers.
• --include: Includes the HTTP status and headers in the output before the body.
• --head: Shows only the HTTP status and headers, omitting the body.

# View only headers
hono request src/index.ts -I

# View headers and body together
hono request src/index.ts -i

# Get a structured JSON object of the whole response
hono request src/index.ts -J

You can capture the output of a request and save it directly to a file using the --output or --remote-name flags.

• Use -o, --output <file> to specify a specific filename for the saved response.
• Use -O, --remote-name to automatically name the file based on the request path and the response's content-type.

hono request src/index.ts -P /api/data -o response.json

Options for the hono optimize command to control the bundling and optimization process.

-o, --outfile <outfile>                Output file
-m, --minify                          minify output file
-t, --target [target]                 environment target
--no-request-body-api-removal          Disable request body API removal optimization
--no-context-response-api-removal      Disable response utility API removal from Context object
--no-hono-api-removal                  Disable Hono API removal optimization

Options for the hono serve command to configure the running server.

-p, --port <port>       Port number (default: 7070)
--show-routes           Show registered routes
--use <middleware>      Use middleware (can be used multiple times)
-e, --external <package> Mark package as external (can be used multiple times)

Options for the hono request command to control the HTTP request sent to the application.

-P, --path <path>      Request path (default: "/")
-X, --method <method>   HTTP method (default: GET)
-d, --data <data>       Request body data
-H, --header <header>   Custom headers (can be used multiple times)
-w, --watch             Watch for changes and resend request
-J, --json              Output response as JSON
-o, --output <file>     Write to file instead of stdout
-O, --remote-name       Write output to file named as remote file
-i, --include           Include protocol and headers in the output
-I, --head              Show only protocol and headers in the output
-e, --external <package> Mark package as external (can be used multiple times)

The hono serve command starts a specialized server for Hono applications with built-in TypeScript and JSX support. You can specify a port, show registered routes, and inject middleware directly via the CLI.

# Start server with default empty app
hono serve

# Start server on specific port
hono serve -p 3000 src/app.ts

# Start server and show routes
hono serve --show-routes src/app.ts

# Start server with middleware
hono serve --use 'cors()' src/app.ts

# Start server with multiple middleware
hono serve --use 'cors()' --use 'logger()' src/app.ts

# Start server with external packages
hono serve -e pg -e prisma src/app.ts

The hono optimize command generates an optimized Hono class and exports a bundled file. It applies several tree-shaking optimizations to reduce bundle size:

• Request body API removal: Removes c.req.json(), c.req.formData(), etc., if the app only uses GET, HEAD, or OPTIONS.
• Context response API removal: Removes unused response utilities like c.body(), c.json(), c.text(), etc.
• Hono API removal: Removes unused initialization methods like route, mount, and fire.

You can disable these optimizations using specific flags.

# Generate an optimized Hono class and export bundled file to dist/index.js
hono optimize

# Specify entry file and output file
hono optimize -o dist/app.js src/app.ts

# Export bundled file with minification
hono optimize -m

# Disable specific optimizations
hono optimize -m --no-request-body-api-removal

The hono request command sends HTTP requests to your Hono application using the built-in app.request() method. This is ideal for testing routes without starting a full server. It supports custom paths, methods, data, and headers.

# GET request to default app root (uses src/index.ts or src/index.tsx)
hono request

# GET request to specific path
hono request -P /users/123

# POST request with data
hono request -P /api/users -X POST -d '{"name":"Alice"}'

# Request with custom headers
hono request -P /api/protected \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer token' \
  -H 'User-Agent: MyApp' \
  src/your-app.ts

# Request with external packages (useful for Node.js native modules)
hono request -e pg -e dotenv src/your-app.ts