Elysia

Overview

Elysia is a Bun-native HTTP framework built for speed and developer experience. End-to-end type safety from server to client via Eden Treaty, schema validation baked in, and performance that rivals Go/Rust frameworks. Think Express but with types, on Bun.

When to Use

• Building REST APIs on Bun (instead of Express/Fastify)
• Need end-to-end type safety — server defines routes, client auto-infers types
• WebSocket server with typed messages
• High-performance API that needs to handle 100K+ req/sec
• Rapid prototyping with auto-generated OpenAPI/Swagger docs

Instructions

Getting Started

bun create elysia my-api
cd my-api
bun run dev

Basic REST API

// src/index.ts — Elysia REST API with validation
/**
 * Type-safe REST API using Elysia.
 * Body/query/params are validated at runtime AND typed at compile time.
 * No separate type definitions needed — schema IS the type.
 */
import { Elysia, t } from "elysia";

const app = new Elysia()
  // GET with typed query params
  .get("/users", async ({ query }) => {
    const { page, limit } = query;
    // page and limit are typed as numbers
    return { users: [], page, limit };
  }, {
    query: t.Object({
      page: t.Number({ default: 1 }),
      limit: t.Number({ default: 20, maximum: 100 }),
    }),
  })

  // POST with body validation
  .post("/users", async ({ body }) => {
    // body is typed as { name: string, email: string }
    const user = { id: crypto.randomUUID(), ...body, createdAt: new Date() };
    return user;
  }, {
    body: t.Object({
      name: t.String({ minLength: 2, maxLength: 100 }),
      email: t.String({ format: "email" }),
    }),
  })

  // Path params + response schema
  .get("/users/:id", async ({ params, error }) => {
    const user = await findUser(params.id);
    if (!user) return error(404, { message: "User not found" });
    return user;
  }, {
    params: t.Object({
      id: t.String({ format: "uuid" }),
    }),
  })

  // DELETE with auth guard
  .delete("/users/:id", async ({ params }) => {
    await deleteUser(params.id);
    return { deleted: true };
  }, {
    params: t.Object({ id: t.String() }),
    beforeHandle: ({ headers, error }) => {
      if (headers.authorization !== `Bearer ${process.env.ADMIN_TOKEN}`) {
        return error(401, { message: "Unauthorized" });
      }
    },
  })

  .listen(3000);

console.log(`🦊 Elysia running at ${app.server?.url}`);

WebSocket

// src/ws.ts — Type-safe WebSocket with Elysia
import { Elysia, t } from "elysia";

const app = new Elysia()
  .ws("/chat", {
    body: t.Object({
      type: t.Union([t.Literal("message"), t.Literal("ping")]),
      content: t.Optional(t.String()),
      room: t.String(),
    }),
    open(ws) {
      const room = ws.data.query.room || "general";
      ws.subscribe(room);
      ws.publish(room, JSON.stringify({ type: "system", content: `User joined ${room}` }));
    },
    message(ws, { type, content, room }) {
      if (type === "message" && content) {
        ws.publish(room, JSON.stringify({ type: "message", content, from: ws.id }));
      }
      if (type === "ping") {
        ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "pong" }));
      }
    },
    close(ws) {
      ws.unsubscribeAll();
    },
  })
  .listen(3000);

Eden Treaty — Type-Safe Client

// client.ts — Auto-typed API client generated from Elysia server
/**
 * Eden Treaty creates a fully typed client from your Elysia app type.
 * No codegen, no OpenAPI parsing — just TypeScript inference.
 */
import { treaty } from "@elysiajs/eden";
import type { App } from "./src/index";  // Import the app TYPE

const api = treaty<App>("localhost:3000");

// All methods, params, body, and responses are fully typed
const { data: users } = await api.users.get({ query: { page: 1, limit: 10 } });
//    ^? { users: User[], page: number, limit: number }

const { data: newUser } = await api.users.post({
  name: "Kai",
  email: "kai@example.com",
});
//    ^? { id: string, name: string, email: string, createdAt: Date }

const { error } = await api.users({ id: "bad-id" }).delete();
//    ^? { message: string } | null

Plugins and Middleware

// src/app.ts — Elysia with plugins
import { Elysia } from "elysia";
import { cors } from "@elysiajs/cors";
import { swagger } from "@elysiajs/swagger";
import { jwt } from "@elysiajs/jwt";

const app = new Elysia()
  .use(cors())
  .use(swagger({
    documentation: {
      info: { title: "My API", version: "1.0.0" },
    },
  }))
  .use(jwt({
    name: "jwt",
    secret: process.env.JWT_SECRET!,
    exp: "7d",
  }))
  // Auth guard as derive
  .derive(async ({ jwt, headers, error }) => {
    const token = headers.authorization?.replace("Bearer ", "");
    if (!token) return { user: null };
    const payload = await jwt.verify(token);
    if (!payload) return { user: null };
    return { user: payload as { id: string; email: string } };
  })
  // Protected route
  .get("/me", ({ user, error }) => {
    if (!user) return error(401, { message: "Not authenticated" });
    return user;
  })
  .listen(3000);

export type App = typeof app;

Group Routes

// src/routes/users.ts — Route group with shared prefix and guards
import { Elysia, t } from "elysia";

export const usersRoutes = new Elysia({ prefix: "/users" })
  .get("/", () => listUsers())
  .get("/:id", ({ params }) => getUser(params.id), {
    params: t.Object({ id: t.String() }),
  })
  .post("/", ({ body }) => createUser(body), {
    body: t.Object({
      name: t.String(),
      email: t.String({ format: "email" }),
    }),
  });

// Main app
import { Elysia } from "elysia";
import { usersRoutes } from "./routes/users";

const app = new Elysia()
  .use(usersRoutes)
  .listen(3000);

Examples

Example 1: Build a CRUD API with auth

User prompt: "Create a REST API for a todo app with JWT auth, input validation, and Swagger docs using Elysia on Bun."

The agent will create an Elysia app with JWT plugin, CRUD routes for todos with TypeBox validation, auth guards on mutation routes, and auto-generated Swagger at /swagger.

Example 2: Real-time chat server

User prompt: "Build a WebSocket chat server with rooms using Elysia."

The agent will set up Elysia WebSocket with typed messages, room subscription via pub/sub, and a REST endpoint to list active rooms.

Guidelines

• Use

  t.Object()

  for all inputs — runtime validation + compile-time types in one declaration
• Export the app type —

  export type App = typeof app

  enables Eden Treaty client
• Group routes with

  new Elysia({ prefix })

  — keeps route files modular

• derive

  for auth — compute user from JWT once, available in all routes

• beforeHandle

  for guards — return an error to short-circuit the request
• Bun is required — Elysia uses Bun-specific APIs; it won't work on Node.js
• Performance: Elysia handles 100K+ req/s — benchmark before adding middleware that might slow it down
• Swagger plugin at

  /swagger

  — auto-generated from your route schemas, zero config