flow-middleware

Run Express middlewares on any Node.js server framework without hacking/polluting native req/res objects with Proxy.

Checkout the Next.js example with Passport.js integration.

Why, How

Why

As people start using a new Node server library other than Express, they encounter a lack of middlewares that Express already has, which have been well tested and production-ready many years ago. Some of them try to shape a brand new ecosystem on the new island and some just go back to Express.

Let's start from admitting Express is one of the most successful, beautifully designed and battle-tested software in the Node ecosystem. Don't forget its hundreds of outstanding middlewares have been born on it. Then why you can't use them? The answers will be summarized:

• It breaks since they depend on req.param() and res.redirect() that Express decorates native objects with. I don't want to hack to make them work in my ${Your favorite server comes here}.
• Pollution. Express officially recommends middlewares to extend object properties such as req.session and req.flash, just where my ${Your favorite server} leaves them tidy. Plus, dynamic extensions don't fit today of the TypeScript era.

Yeah. Let's move on.

How

JavaScript Proxy.

Wrapping req and res by Proxy to split using native methods and Express methods. Express exports clean prototypes that we can intercept internal calls with. It lets middlewares to call native methods like res.writeHead() and res.end() so native objects properly embed HTTP info and send the response.

In the end, flow-middleware returns the extended properties like req.session and req.user so you can use them after the middlewares go through.

Getting started

Install it with Express.

yarn add flow-middleware express

flow(...middlewares)

A function flow creates an http handler from some Express middlewares, processed from left to right of arguments.

import flow from 'flow-middleware';
import { ok } from "assert";
import { createServer } from 'http';
import cookieParser from 'cookie-parser';
import session from 'express-session';
import flash from 'express-flash';

// Creates an async function that handles req and res.
const handle = flow(
    cookieParser(),
    session({ secret: 'x' }),
    flash(),
    (reqProxy, _resProxy, next) => {
    
        // Our wrapped objects provide accessors
        // that Express middlewares extended💪
        ok(reqProxy.cookies);
        ok(reqProxy.session);
        ok(reqProxy.flash);
        next();
    }
);

createServer(async (req, res) => {
  
    // Let's run the Express middlewares🚀
    const [ reqProxy, resProxy ] = await handle(req, res);

    // Native objects are clean thanks to our proxy✨
    ok(req.cookies === undefined);
    ok(req.session === undefined);
    ok(req.flash === undefined);

    // You still can access to Express properties here🚚
    ok(reqProxy.cookies);
    ok(reqProxy.session);
    ok(reqProxy.flash);
    ok(resProxy.cookie);
    ok(resProxy.redirect);

    res.end('Hello!');
}).listen(3000);

compose(...middlewares)(...middlewares)()

compose lets you hold a set of middlewares and share it on other routes. This is useful when you want the same initializing middlewares to come first while the different middlewares come at the end. Calling it with zero arguments returns a handler function.

This is a Passport example where a login handler for POST /api/auth/github and an OAuth callback handler for GET /api/auth/callback/github share their initializing middlewares.

import cookieSession from 'cookie-session';
import { compose } from 'flow-middleware';
import passport from './passport';

const composed = compose(
    cookieSession(),
    passport.initialize(),
    passport.session()
);

const handleToLogIn = composed(passport.authenticate('github'))();

const handleForCallback = composed(passport.authenticate('github', {
    failureRedirect: '/auth',
    successRedirect: '/',
}))();

Don't forget to call it with zero arguments at last to get a handler.

Wrapper function style

Or, you can simply write a wrapper function to share middlewares.

import { Handler } from 'express';

function withPassport(...middlewares: Handler[]) {
    return flow(
        cookieSession(),
        passport.initialize(),
        passport.session(),
        ...middlewares
    );
}

License

MIT

Author

Soichi Takamura <[email protected]>