Middleware is a function that runs during the request–response cycle—before a request is handled or before a response is sent.

Hono includes built-in middleware, and you can add your own or use community middleware. Below are a few examples of what middleware can do.

Logger

Example: a logger.

import { logger } from 'hono/logger'

//...

app.use('*', logger())

This logs all server activity to the console:

Basic authentication

Restrict routes with HTTP basic auth:

import { basicAuth } from 'hono/basic-auth'

//...
  
app.use('/dashboard', basicAuth({ 
  username: 'test', 
  password: 'test'
}))

  
app.get('/dashboard', (c) => { 
  return c.text('Logged in') 
})

The route is accessible only with the correct credentials; otherwise the client gets 401 Unauthorized.

Implement CORS

import { cors } from 'hono/cors'  

//...

app.use('/api/*', cors())

(You can use many options)

Set cache headers

import { cache } from 'hono/cache'

//...

app.get(
  '*',
  cache({
    cacheName: 'my-app',
    cacheControl: 'max-age=3600',
  })
)

Set compression headers

import { compress } from 'hono/compress'

//...

app.use('*', compress())

---

For more middleware, see the official documentation.

Lessons in this unit:

0:	Introduction
1:	Your first Hono app
2:	The Request object
3:	Send a response to the client
4:	Manage cookies
5:	Work with HTTP headers
6:	Handling redirects
7:	Routing
8:	JSX templates
9:	▶︎ Middleware
10:	Hono on Node.js