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getting-startedQuick Start

Last Updated: 3/9/2026

Quick Start

Get your first Hono application running in under 5 minutes. This guide will have you serving “Hello World” before you finish your coffee.

Prerequisites

You’ll need one of the following installed:

  • Node.js (v18 or higher) with npm, yarn, pnpm, or bun
  • Deno (v1.20 or higher)

Create Your First App

Hono provides starter templates for every platform. Use the create-hono command:

npm create hono@latest my-app
yarn create hono my-app
pnpm create hono@latest my-app
bun create hono@latest my-app
deno init --npm hono@latest my-app

Choose Your Platform

You’ll be prompted to select a template:

? Which template do you want to use?
    aws-lambda
    bun
    cloudflare-pages
❯   cloudflare-workers
    deno
    fastly
    nextjs
    nodejs
    vercel

For this guide, we’ll use Cloudflare Workers, but the code works the same on any platform.

Install Dependencies

Navigate to your project and install:

cd my-app
npm i
cd my-app
yarn
cd my-app
pnpm i
cd my-app
bun i

Start the Development Server

npm run dev
yarn dev
pnpm dev
bun run dev

Your app is now running! Open http://localhost:8787  in your browser.

Your First Endpoint

Open src/index.ts. You’ll see your first Hono application:

import { Hono } from 'hono'
 
const app = new Hono()
 
app.get('/', (c) => {
  return c.text('Hello Hono!')
})
 
export default app

That’s it! You’ve created a web server with one endpoint.

Add More Routes

Let’s add a JSON endpoint. Add this below your first route:

app.get('/api/hello', (c) => {
  return c.json({
    ok: true,
    message: 'Hello Hono!',
  })
})

Visit http://localhost:8787/api/hello  to see your JSON response.

Handle Path Parameters

Add a route with a path parameter:

app.get('/posts/:id', (c) => {
  const id = c.req.param('id')
  return c.text(`You requested post ${id}`)
})

Try http://localhost:8787/posts/123 .

Handle Query Parameters

Access query strings:

app.get('/search', (c) => {
  const query = c.req.query('q')
  return c.text(`You searched for: ${query}`)
})

Try http://localhost:8787/search?q=hono .

What You’ve Learned

In just a few minutes, you’ve:

✅ Created a Hono application
✅ Started a development server
✅ Returned text and JSON responses
✅ Handled path and query parameters

What’s Next

Learn the basics: Read Hello World for a deeper dive into your first application.

Understand core concepts: Check out Basic Concepts to learn about requests, responses, and middleware.

Deploy your app: See platform-specific guides in the Deployment section.

Build something real: Explore Guides for routing, validation, and more.

PhilosophyHello World