ReactServe

React-style backend framework for building APIs with JSX

ReactServe lets you build backend APIs using React-style JSX syntax. Define routes, handle requests, and send responses all within familiar JSX components.

Quick Start

Create a new ReactServe app:

npx create-react-serve my-api
cd my-api
npm install
npm run dev

npx create-react-serve my-api
cd my-api
npm install
npm run dev

Example

import { App, Route, Response, useRoute, serve } from "react-serve-js";

function Backend() {
  return (
    <App port={3000}>
      <Route path="/" method="GET">
        {async () => {
          return <Response json={{ message: "Hello World!" }} />;
        }}
      </Route>

      <Route path="/users/:id" method="GET">
        {async () => {
          const { params } = useRoute();
          const user = await getUserById(params.id);
          return user ? (
            <Response json={user} />
          ) : (
            <Response status={404} json={{ error: "User not found" }} />
          );
        }}
      </Route>
    </App>
  );
}

serve(Backend());

Features

• 🔥 Hot Reload - Automatic server restart on file changes
• 🎯 Type Safe - Full TypeScript support
• ⚡ Fast - Built on Express.js
• 🧩 Composable - Use React patterns for API logic
• 📦 Zero Config - Works out of the box
• 🛠️ CLI Tool - Bootstrap new projects instantly

Packages

This repository is a monorepo containing:

Core Packages

• react-serve-js - The core framework
• create-react-serve - CLI tool for bootstrapping apps

Examples

• basic - Basic API example with CRUD operations

Documentation

Components

<App> - Root component that configures your server

• port?: number - Server port (default: 9000)

<Route> - Defines an API endpoint

• path: string - URL path pattern
• method: string - HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.)
• children: () => Promise<ReactElement> - Request handler

<Response> - Sends response to client

• json?: any - JSON response data
• status?: number - HTTP status code (default: 200)

Hooks

useRoute() - Access request data

• Returns: { params, query, body, req, res }