Hono 4.0.0, the latest release of the fast, lightweight web framework that runs on any JavaScript runtime, is now available. The update features static site generation, client components, and file-based routing.
Launched February 9, Hono 4.0.0 introduces the SSG Helper, which generates static pages of Hono applications. Developers use this by creating a separate file from the application, build.ts, and calling the toSSG() function in it. SSG Helper retrieves the contents of registered routes and saves them as static files. Adapters are available for the Bun toolkit and the Deno JavaScript runtime to speed development. A plug-in for Vite, @hono/vite-ssg, builds static sites with the vite command.
With client components, hono/jsx extends to run on the client and not just the server. Hooks such as useContext, useEffect, and Memo allow developers to create client components just like in React. File-based routing, called HonoX, is provided in a separate package. It enables development of large applications, supports fast rendering using Hono, and lets developers bring their own renderer. It works as Hono, so Hono middleware can be used.
Hono runs on JavaScript runtimes including Cloudflare Workers, Fastly Compute, Deno, Bun, Vercel, Netlify, AWS Lambda, Lambda@Edge, and Node.js. The framework has five routers, each of which is optimized for speed or size or other use cases. One of these, the SmartRouter, selects the best among the registered routers based on routing requirements.