Vodka

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A modern Go web framework focused on developer experience, full-stack workflow, and rapid iteration.

Vodka is a lightweight and high-performance HTTP framework for Go that combines clean routing, middleware chaining, authentication utilities, validation support, and a powerful CLI for building modern full-stack applications.

Unlike traditional Go frameworks that focus only on request handling, Vodka heavily emphasizes developer experience and fast iteration.

---

Demo

Project Scaffolding

---

Full Stack Workflow

---

Table of Contents

• Features
• Why Vodka
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Generated Backend Structure
• Minimal API Example
• Using Vodka for APIs
• Core Concepts
• Middleware
• Validation
• Authentication
• SPA Support
• Production Build
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• License

---

Features

Feature	Included
Radix Tree Routing	✅
Middleware Chaining	✅
Route Groups	✅
JSON Binding	✅
Request Validation	✅
JWT Validation Helpers	✅
Bearer Auth Middleware	✅
Vite + React Scaffolding	✅
SPA Serving	✅
Panic Recovery Middleware	✅
Logger Middleware	✅
CORS Middleware	✅
Context Storage	✅

---

Why Vodka?

Vodka combines:

• ⚡ Fast backend iteration
• ⚛️ React + Vite integration
• 🧩 Lightweight routing
• 🔐 Authentication helpers
• ✅ Validation support
• 🚀 Developer-first workflow

without requiring heavy configuration or excessive boilerplate.

---

Prerequisites

Make sure the following tools are installed before using Vodka:

• Go 1.24+
• Node.js 20.19+ or newer
• npm

Verify installation:

go version
node -v
npm -v

---

Installation

Install the Vodka CLI

go install github.com/DevanshuTripathi/vodka/cmd/vodka@latest

Make sure your Go bin directory is added to your system PATH.

---

Linux / macOS

export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

---

Windows

Add the following directory to Environment Variables:

%USERPROFILE%\go\bin

---

Quick Start

Create a Full-Stack App

vodka create my-app

This generates:

• A Go backend powered by Vodka
• A React + Vite frontend
• Preconfigured development workflow
• SPA support for production deployments

---

Generated Project Structure

my-app/
├── controllers/
├── routes/
├── frontend/
├── main.go
├── go.mod
└── vodka.config.json

---

Install Frontend Dependencies

After scaffolding the project, install frontend dependencies manually:

cd my-app

cd frontend
npm install

cd ..

---

Start Development Mode

vodka run dev

This starts:

• Vite frontend dev server
• Vodka backend server
• Concurrent frontend/backend workflow

---

Generated Backend Structure

Vodka organizes backend code into simple and clean layers.

backend/
├── controllers/
│   └── ping.go
├── routes/
│   └── routes.go
├── main.go
└── go.mod

---

controllers/

Contains request handlers and business logic.

func Pong(c *vodka.Context) {
	c.String(200, "Pong!")
}

---

routes/

Registers API routes.

app.GET("/ping", controllers.Pong)

---

main.go

Bootstraps the Vodka engine and middleware configuration.

app := vodka.DefaultRouter()

routes.Setup(app)

app.Run(":8080")

---

Minimal API Example

package main

import (
	"log"

	"github.com/DevanshuTripathi/vodka"
)

func main() {
	app := vodka.DefaultRouter()

	app.GET("/ping", func(c *vodka.Context) {
		c.JSON(200, vodka.M{
			"message": "pong!",
		})
	})

	if err := app.Run(":8080"); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
}

---

Test the API

curl http://localhost:8080/ping

Response:

{
  "message": "pong!"
}

---

Using Vodka for APIs

Create a Go Module

mkdir backend-app

cd backend-app

go mod init app

go get github.com/DevanshuTripathi/vodka

---

Run Backend Server

vodka

Vodka automatically:

• Watches .go files
• Rebuilds your backend
• Restarts the server instantly

---

Core Concepts

Engine

vodka.Engine is the central router and application instance.

It uses a Radix Tree-based routing architecture for fast request matching and low overhead.

app := vodka.DefaultRouter()

---

Context

vodka.Context wraps Go's http.Request and http.ResponseWriter into a clean and ergonomic API.

---

JSON Response

c.JSON(200, vodka.M{
	"message": "hello",
})

---

Query Parameters

name := c.Query("name")

---

URL Parameters

id := c.Param("id")

---

Bind JSON

var user User
c.BindJSON(&user)

---

Error Handling

c.Error(400, errors.New("invalid request"))

---

Middleware

Vodka middleware is simply a vodka.HandlerFunc.

func(*vodka.Context)

Middlewares can:

• Modify requests
• Attach values to context
• Authenticate users
• Log requests
• Recover from panics
• Handle errors

Middlewares are registered using:

app.Use(...)

or:

group.Use(...)

---

How Middleware Works

Each incoming request is wrapped in a *vodka.Context and the framework builds a handler chain.

The chain includes:

• Group middlewares
• Route middlewares
• Final route handler

c.Next() continues execution to the next middleware or handler.

If you omit c.Next(), the request chain stops immediately.

---

Custom Middleware Example

func RequestTimer() vodka.HandlerFunc {
	return func(c *vodka.Context) {
		start := time.Now()

		c.Next()

		latency := time.Since(start)

		log.Printf(
			"[RequestTimer] %s %s %v",
			c.Request.Method,
			c.Request.URL.Path,
			latency,
		)
	}
}

func main() {
	app := vodka.DefaultRouter()

	app.Use(
		vodka.Logger(),
		vodka.Recovery(),
		vodka.ErrorHandler(),
	)

	app.Use(RequestTimer())

	api := app.Group("/api", AdminOnly())

	api.GET("/dashboard", func(c *vodka.Context) {
		userRole, _ := c.Get("user_role")

		c.JSON(200, vodka.M{
			"role": userRole,
		})
	})
}

---

Request ID Middleware

Track requests across your logs using automatic request ID generation. Every request gets a unique ID that's automatically added to response headers and stored in the context.

app := vodka.DefaultRouter()

// Add request ID middleware — generates unique ID for each request
app.Use(mixers.RequestID())

app.GET("/api/users", func(c *vodka.Context) {
	requestID, _ := c.Get("request-id")
	log.Printf("[%v] Fetching users", requestID)
	c.JSON(200, vodka.M{"users": []string{"Alice", "Bob"}})
})

// Client receives: X-Request-ID: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000

Custom Header Name

Use a different header name if needed (context key is always "request-id"):

app.Use(mixers.RequestIDWithHeader("X-Correlation-ID"))

---

Validation

Vodka supports request validation using struct tags.

type User struct {
	Email    string `validate:"required,email"`
	Password string `validate:"min=8"`
}

---

Authentication

Vodka includes built-in Bearer authentication middleware and JWT validation helpers.

You can also provide custom validation logic:

app.Use(vodka.BearerAuth(contextKey, func(token string) (any, bool) {
	return validateToken(token)
}))

---

Full-Stack SPA Support

Projects generated using vodka create come with SPA serving preconfigured.

app.ServeSPA("./frontend/dist")

If a route does not match an API endpoint, Vodka automatically serves the frontend application.

This enables seamless React Router support in production.

---

Performance

Vodka uses a Radix Tree router optimized for:

• Fast route matching
• Low memory overhead
• Efficient middleware execution

---

Production Build

Build Frontend

cd frontend
npm run build

---

Build Backend

vodka

---

Philosophy

Vodka is designed around a few core ideas:

• Fast development workflow
• Minimal boilerplate
• Strong developer experience
• Clean APIs
• Modern full-stack integration
• Practical defaults

---

Roadmap

• More middleware packages
• Enhanced validation system
• Improved benchmarking suite
• Expanded CLI tooling
• Testing utilities

---

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome.

If you find bugs or have suggestions, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

---

License

MIT License