Quick Start
Start with a fresh Nitro project or adopt it in your current Vite project.
#Try Nitro online
Get a taste of Nitro in your browser using our playground.
#Create a Nitro project
The fastest way to create a Nitro application is using the create-nitro-app.
npx create-nitro-appPreview
Follow the instructions from the CLI and you will be ready to start your development server.
#Add to a Vite project
You can add Nitro to any existing Vite project to get API routes, server-side rendering, and more.
#Install nitro and vite
npm i nitro vite#Add Nitro plugin to Vite
Add the Nitro plugin to your vite.config.ts:
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import { nitro } from "nitro/vite";
export default defineConfig({
plugins: [
nitro()
],
});#Configure Nitro
Create a nitro.config.ts to configure the server directory:
import { defineConfig } from "nitro";
export default defineConfig({
serverDir: "./server",
});The serverDir option tells Nitro where to look for your server routes. In this example, all routes will be inside the server/ directory.
#Create an API route
Create your first API route at server/api/test.ts:
import { defineHandler } from "nitro";
export default defineHandler(() => {
return { message: "Hello Nitro!" };
});The file path maps directly to the route URL — server/api/test.ts becomes /api/test.
Tip
As an alternative to filesystem routing, you can declare routes programmatically using the routes config option. See Programmatic route handlers for more details.
Tip
You can return strings, JSON objects, Response instances, or readable streams from your handlers. See Routing for more about dynamic routes, methods, and middleware.
#Start the development server
npm run dev -- --openYour API route is now accessible at http://localhost:3000/api/test :sparkles: