node-turbo is a library for Node.js to assist with the server side of 37signals' Hotwire Turbo framework. It provides classes and functions for Web servers and also convenience functions for the frameworks Koa and Express as well as for WebSocket and SSE.
This documentation assumes that you are familiar with Turbo and its handbook.
npm install node-turbo
This module has been built for Node.js only and does not work in the browser (nor is it needed there).
node-turbo as been written as an ECMAScript module and all examples will use ES module syntax. If you want to use node-turbo within a CommonJS application, use dynamic import()
instead of require()
.
node-turbo has been tested with:
Name | Version(s) |
---|---|
Node.js | 16.6 - 20.11.1 |
Hotwire Turbo | 7.3.0 - 8.0.4 |
Koa | 2.14.2 - 2.15.0 |
Express | 4.18.2 - 4.18.3 |
ws | 8.15.1 - 8.16.0 |
See /docs/API.md
for a documentation of all node-turbo classes and functions.
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
const ts = new TurboStream({
action: 'append',
target: 'target-id'
},
'<p>My content</p>');
const html = ts.render();
This will render the following HTML fragment:
<turbo-stream action="append" target="target-id">
<template>
<p>My content</p>
</template>
</turbo-stream>
For all supported official actions (append
, prepend
, replace
, update
, remove
, before
, after
, morph
and refresh
), there are chainable shortcut functions:
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
const ts = new TurboStream()
.append('target-id', '<p>My content</p>')
.replace('target-id-2', '<p>New content</p>')
.remove('target-id-3');
const html = ts.render();
Result:
<turbo-stream action="append" target="target-id">
<template>
<p>My content</p>
</template>
</turbo-stream>
<turbo-stream action="replace" target="target-id-2">
<template>
<p>New content</p>
</template>
</turbo-stream>
<turbo-stream action="remove" target="target-id-3">
<!-- <template> and content are omitted -->
</turbo-stream>
If you want/need to add additional attributes to an Turbo Stream element, you can always pass an object instead of the target ID string. Attributes with value null
will be rendered as boolean attributes.
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
const ts = new TurboStream()
.morph({
target: 'target-id',
'children-only': null,
custom: 'attribute'
},
'<p>My content</p>');
const html = ts.render();
Result:
<turbo-stream action="morph" target="target-id" children-only custom="attribute">
<template>
<p>My content</p>
</template>
</turbo-stream>
If you want to target multiple elements, you can use the [action]All()
function (not available when using the refresh
action):
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
const ts = new TurboStream().appendAll('.my-targets', '<p>My content</p>');
const html = ts.render();
Result:
<turbo-stream action="append" targets=".my-targets">
<template>
<p>My content</p>
</template>
</turbo-stream>
The action refresh
works differently as it does not have a target or targets.
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
let ts = new TurboStream().refresh();
let html = ts.render();
// Renders <turbo-stream action="refresh"></turbo-stream>
ts.refresh('1234');
html = ts.render();
// Renders <turbo-stream action="refresh" request-id="1234"></turbo-stream>
ts.refresh({
'request-id': '1234',
'custom': 'param'
});
html = ts.render();
// Renders <turbo-stream action="refresh" request-id="1234" custom="param"></turbo-stream>
If you want to use custom actions, you can use the custom()
/customAll()
functions:
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
const ts = new TurboStream().custom('custom-action', 'target-id', '<p>My content</p>');
const html = ts.render();
Result:
<turbo-stream action="custom-action" target="target-id">
<template>
<p>My content</p>
</template>
</turbo-stream>
If you want to use the Node.js streams API with Turbo Streams, you can create a Readable stream instance which reads Turbo Stream messages.
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
const ts = new TurboStream();
const readable = ts.createReadableStream();
readable.pipe(process.stdout);
// These elements get piped immediately:
ts
.append('target-id', '<p>My content</p>')
.replace('target-id-2', '<p>New content</p>')
.remove('target-id-3');
See Koa, SSE or WebSocket for further examples.
import { TurboFrame } from 'node-turbo';
const tf = new TurboFrame('my-id', '<p>content</p>');
const html = tf.render();
This will render the following HTML fragment:
<turbo-frame id="my-id">
<p>My content</p>
</turbo-stream>
You can add additional attributes by passing an object instead of the id string:
import { TurboFrame } from 'node-turbo';
const tf = new TurboFrame({
id: 'my-id',
custom: 'foo'
}, '<p>content</p>');
const html = tf.render();
Result:
<turbo-frame id="my-id" custom="foo">
<p>My content</p>
</turbo-stream>
node-turbo also provides the following helper functions. You can use these to adapt the behaviour of your server to the differend kind of requests.
import { isTurboStreamRequest } from 'node-turbo';
const isTsReq = isTurboStreamRequest(req);
Checks if the request is a Turbo Stream request by looking if the HTTP header Accept
includes the MIME type text/vnd.turbo-stream.html
. Expects an object like an http.ClientRequest instance but doesn not make any hard checks. Returns true
or false
.
import { isTurboFrameRequest } from 'node-turbo';
const isTfReq = isTurboFrameRequest(req);
Checks if the request is a Turbo Stream request by looking for the HTTP header turbo-frame
, which holds the ID of the Turbo Frame that made the request. Expects an object like an http.ClientRequest
instance but does not make any hard checks. Returns true
or false
.
import { getTurboFrameId } from 'node-turbo';
const tfId = getTurboFrameId(req);
Returns the content of the HTTP header turbo-frame
, which holds the ID of the Turbo Frame which made the request. Expects an object like an http.ClientRequest
instance but doesn not make any hard checks.
You can add convencience functions to your Koa application by calling turbochargeKoa(app)
. This adds the following functions to Koa's context
:
-
turboStream()
Returns a chainable Turbo Stream instance which directly writes toctx.body
whenever an element is added. Also sets the correctContent-Type
header. -
turboFrame()
Returns a Turbo Frame instance which directly writes toctx.body
. -
isTurboStreamRequest()
Checks if the request is a Turbo Stream request by looking for the MIME type in theaccept
headers.
Returnstrue
/false
. -
isTurboFrameRequest()
Checks if the request is a Turbo Frame request by looking for theturbo-frame
header.
Returnstrue
/false
. -
getTurboFrameId()
Returns the contents of theturbo-frame
header. -
sseTurboStream()
Experimental. Configures Koa to keep the connection open and use a stream to pipe toctx.res
.
See SSE using Koa for further examples.
import Koa from 'koa';
import { turbochargeKoa } from 'node-turbo/koa';
const app = new Koa();
turbochargeKoa(app);
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
if (ctx.path !== '/turbo-frame') {
return await next();
}
if (ctx.isTurboFrameRequest()) {
// Automatically retrieves the Turbo Frame ID from the header
// and uses it for the response.
ctx.turboFrame('<p>New content</p>');
//You can set it manually with:
// ctx.turboFrame('turbo-frame-id', <p>New content</p>');
}
else {
ctx.redirect('/path/to/other/page');
}
});
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
if (ctx.path !== '/turbo-stream') {
return await next();
}
if (ctx.isTurboStreamRequest()) {
ctx.turboStream()
.append('target-id', '<p>New content</p>');
}
else {
ctx.redirect('/path/to/other/page');
}
});
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
if (ctx.path !== '/sse') {
return await next();
}
const ssets = ctx.sseTurboStream();
// These get automatically piped to ctx.res in SSE format.
ssets
.append('target-id', '<p>My content</p>')
.updateAll('.targets', '<p>My other content</p>');
});
app.listen(8080);
You can add convencience functions to your Express application by calling turbochargeExpress(app)
. This adds the following functions to Express' request
object:
-
isTurboStreamRequest()
Checks if the request is a Turbo Stream request by looking for the MIME type in theaccept
headers.
Returnstrue
/false
. -
isTurboFrameRequest()
Checks if the request is a Turbo Frame request by looking for theturbo-frame
header.
Returnstrue
/false
. -
getTurboFrameId()
Returns the contents of theturbo-frame
header.
Also adds the following functions to Express' response
object:
-
turboStream()
Returns a chainable Turbo Stream instance which introduces the functionsend()
which sends the rendered Turbo Stream message as HTTP response with the correct MIME type. -
turboFrame(id, content)
Returns a Turbo Frame instance which directly sends the rendered Turbo Frame message as HTTP response. -
turboFrame(content)
If you omit theid
attribute, it is automatically added by using the ID from theturbo-frame
header. -
sseTurboStream()
Experimental. Configures Express to keep the connection open and use a stream to pipe tores
.
See SSE using Express for further examples.
import express from 'express';
import { turbochargeExpress } from 'node-turbo/express';
const app = express();
turbochargeExpress(app);
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
if (req.isTurboFrameRequest()) {
res.turboFrame('<p>My content</p>');
}
else if (req.isTurboStreamRequest()) {
res.turboStream()
.append('target-id', '<p>My content</p>')
.remove('taget-id-2')
.send();
}
else {
res.status(501).end();
}
});
app.listen(8080, () => {
// ...
});
We're using the library ws for our examples.
import { WsTurboStream } from 'node-turbo/ws';
import { WebSocketServer } from 'ws';
const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port: 8080 });
wss.on('connection', webSocket => {
// The Turbo Stream messages get sent immediately.
WsTurboStream
.use(webSocket)
.append('id1', 'c1')
.update('id2', 'c2');
});
You can also use the Node.js streams API by utilizing ws' createWebSocketStream()
function.
import { TurboStream } from 'node-turbo';
import { WebSocketServer, createWebSocketStream } from 'ws';
const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port: 8080 });
wss.on('connection', function connection(ws) {
const ts = new TurboStream();
const readable = ts.createReadableStream();
const wsStream = createWebSocketStream(ws, { encoding: 'utf8' });
readable.pipe(wsStream);
ts
.append('target-id', '<p>My content</p>')
.update('target-id-2', '<p>Updated content</p>')
.remove('target-id-2');
});
import http from 'node:http';
import { SseTurboStream } from 'node-turbo/sse';
const config = {};
config.port = 8080;
config.baseUrl = `http://localhost:${config.port}`;
config.sseUrl = `${config.baseUrl}/sse`;
const httpServer = http.createServer((req, res) => {
// SSE endpoint
if (req.url === '/sse') {
res.writeHead(200, {
'Content-Type': 'text/event-stream',
'Cache-Control': 'no-cache',
...(req.httpVersionMajor === 1 && { 'Connection': 'keep-alive' })
});
// Turbo listens to nameless events and 'message' events.
const ssets = new SseTurboStream('message');
// Timeout is only here for us to have time to observe.
setTimeout(() => {
ssets.append('stream1', '<p>My content</p>')
.append('stream2', '<p>My content 2</p>')
.append('stream3', '<p>\n<span>My multiline content 3</span>\n</p>');
res.write(ssets.flush());
}, 1000);
// You can also use the streams API.
setTimeout(() => {
const stream = ssets.createReadableStream();
stream.pipe(res);
ssets.prependAll('.stream', '<p>Prepend!</p>');
}, 2000);
return;
}
// Client
res.end(`<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>SSE Test</title>
<style>
.b {
border: 1px dashed #cccc;
margin-bottom: 10px;
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
<script type="module" src="https://unpkg.com/@hotwired/turbo@8.0.4/dist/turbo.es2017-esm.js"></script>
<script>
var eventSource = new EventSource('/sse');
eventSource.onmessage = function(event) {
document.getElementById('log').innerText += event.data + '\\n\\n';
};
</script>
</head>
<body>
<turbo-stream-source src="${ config.sseUrl }">
<h1>SSE Test</h1>
<h2>Control</h2>
<pre class="b" id="log"></pre>
<h2>stream1</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream1"></div>
<h2>stream2</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream2"></div>
<h2>stream3</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream3"></div>
</body>
</html>`);
});
httpServer.listen(config.port);
httpServer.on('error', (err) => {
console.log(err);
process.exit(1);
});
httpServer.on('listening', () => {
console.log(`HTTP server listening on port ${config.port}…`);
});
import Koa from 'koa';
import { turbochargeKoa } from 'node-turbo/koa';
// Config
const config = {};
config.port = 8080;
config.baseUrl = `http://localhost:${config.port}`;
config.sseUrl = `${config.baseUrl}/sse`;
// Koa
const app = new Koa();
// Augment Koa with convenience functions.
turbochargeKoa(app);
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
if (ctx.path !== '/sse') {
return await next();
}
// Use convenience function to configure Koa.
// Returns SseTurboStream instance which directly streams to res.
const ssets = ctx.sseTurboStream();
// Timeout is only here for us to have time to observe.
setTimeout(() => {
ssets
.append('stream1', '<p>My content <strong>1</strong></p>')
.append('stream2', '<p>My content <strong>2</strong></p>')
.append('stream3', '<p>My content <strong>3</strong></p>');
}, 1000);
setTimeout(() => {
ssets.prependAll('.stream', '<p>Prepend all</p>');
}, 2000);
});
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
ctx.body = `<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>SSE Test</title>
<style>
.b {
border: 1px dashed #cccc;
margin-bottom: 10px;
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
<script type="module" src="https://unpkg.com/@hotwired/turbo@8.0.4/dist/turbo.es2017-esm.js"></script>
<script>
var eventSource = new EventSource('/sse');
eventSource.onmessage = function(event) {
document.getElementById('log').innerText += event.data + '\\n\\n';
};
</script>
</head>
<body>
<turbo-stream-source src="${ config.sseUrl }">
<h1>SSE Test</h1>
<h2>Control</h2>
<pre class="b" id="log"></pre>
<h2>stream1</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream1"></div>
<h2>stream2</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream2"></div>
<h2>stream3</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream3"></div>
</body>
</html>`;
});
app.listen(config.port);
import express from 'express';
import { turbochargeExpress } from 'node-turbo/express';
// Config
const config = {};
config.port = 8080;
config.baseUrl = `http://localhost:${config.port}`;
config.sseUrl = `${config.baseUrl}/sse`;
// Express
const app = express();
// Augment Express with convenience functions.
turbochargeExpress(app);
// SSE endpoint
app.get('/sse', async (req, res) => {
// Use convenience function to configure Express.
// Returns SseTurboStream instance which directly streams to res.
const ssets = res.sseTurboStream();
// Timeout is only here for us to have time to observe.
setTimeout(() => {
ssets
.append('stream1', '<p>My content <strong>1</strong></p>')
.append('stream2', '<p>My content <strong>2</strong></p>')
.append('stream3', '<p>My content <strong>3</strong></p>');
}, 1000);
setTimeout(() => {
ssets.prependAll('.stream', '<p>Prepend all</p>');
}, 2000);
});
// Client
app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
res.send(`<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>SSE Test</title>
<style>
.b {
border: 1px dashed #cccc;
margin-bottom: 10px;
padding: 10px;
}
</style>
<script type="module" src="https://unpkg.com/@hotwired/turbo@8.0.4/dist/turbo.es2017-esm.js"></script>
<script>
var eventSource = new EventSource('/sse');
eventSource.onmessage = function(event) {
document.getElementById('log').innerText += event.data + '\\n\\n';
};
</script>
</head>
<body>
<turbo-stream-source src="${ config.sseUrl }">
<h1>SSE Test</h1>
<h2>Control</h2>
<pre class="b" id="log"></pre>
<h2>stream1</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream1"></div>
<h2>stream2</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream2"></div>
<h2>stream3</h2>
<div class="b stream" id="stream3"></div>
</body>
</html>`)
});
app.listen(config.port);
node-turbo is © 2024 Walter Krivanek walter@vividvisions.com and released under the MIT license.