Route Handlers

Route Handlers allow you to create custom request handlers for a given route using the Web Request and Response APIs.

Good to know: Route Handlers are only available inside the app directory. They are the equivalent of API Routes inside the pages directory meaning you do not need to use API Routes and Route Handlers together.

Convention

Route Handlers are defined in a route.js|ts file inside the app directory:

app/api/route.ts

export async function GET(request: Request) {}

Route Handlers can be nested anywhere inside the app directory, similar to page.js and layout.js. But there cannot be a route.js file at the same route segment level as page.js.

Supported HTTP Methods

The following HTTP methods are supported: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, and OPTIONS. If an unsupported method is called, Next.js will return a 405 Method Not Allowed response.

Extended `NextRequest` and `NextResponse` APIs

In addition to supporting the native Request and Response APIs, Next.js extends them with NextRequest and NextResponse to provide convenient helpers for advanced use cases.

Route Handlers are not cached by default. You can, however, opt into caching for GET methods. Other supported HTTP methods are not cached. To cache a GET method, use a route config option such as export const dynamic = 'force-static' in your Route Handler file.

app/items/route.ts

export const dynamic = 'force-static'
 
export async function GET() {
  const res = await fetch('https://data.mongodb-api.com/...', {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'API-Key': process.env.DATA_API_KEY,
    },
  })
  const data = await res.json()
 
  return Response.json({ data })
}

Good to know: Other supported HTTP methods are not cached, even if they are placed alongside a GET method that is cached, in the same file.

Special Route Handlers

Special Route Handlers like sitemap.ts, opengraph-image.tsx, and icon.tsx, and other metadata files remain static by default unless they use Dynamic APIs or dynamic config options.

Route Resolution

You can consider a route the lowest level routing primitive.

They do not participate in layouts or client-side navigations like page.
There cannot be a route.js file at the same route as page.js.

Page	Route	Result
`app/page.js`	`app/route.js`	Conflict
`app/page.js`	`app/api/route.js`	Valid
`app/[user]/page.js`	`app/api/route.js`	Valid

Each route.js or page.js file takes over all HTTP verbs for that route.

app/page.ts

export default function Page() {
  return <h1>Hello, Next.js!</h1>
}
 
// ❌ Conflict
// `app/route.ts`
export async function POST(request: Request) {}

Examples

The following examples show how to combine Route Handlers with other Next.js APIs and features.

Revalidating Cached Data

You can revalidate cached data using Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR):

app/posts/route.ts

export const revalidate = 60
 
export async function GET() {
  const data = await fetch('https://api.vercel.app/blog')
  const posts = await data.json()
 
  return Response.json(posts)
}

Cookies

You can read or set cookies with cookies from next/headers. This server function can be called directly in a Route Handler, or nested inside of another function.

Alternatively, you can return a new Response using the Set-Cookie header.

app/api/route.ts

import { cookies } from 'next/headers'
 
export async function GET(request: Request) {
  const cookieStore = await cookies()
  const token = cookieStore.get('token')
 
  return new Response('Hello, Next.js!', {
    status: 200,
    headers: { 'Set-Cookie': `token=${token.value}` },
  })
}

You can also use the underlying Web APIs to read cookies from the request (NextRequest):

app/api/route.ts

import { type NextRequest } from 'next/server'
 
export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
  const token = request.cookies.get('token')
}

Headers

You can read headers with headers from next/headers. This server function can be called directly in a Route Handler, or nested inside of another function.

This headers instance is read-only. To set headers, you need to return a new Response with new headers.

app/api/route.ts

import { headers } from 'next/headers'
 
export async function GET(request: Request) {
  const headersList = await headers()
  const referer = headersList.get('referer')
 
  return new Response('Hello, Next.js!', {
    status: 200,
    headers: { referer: referer },
  })
}

You can also use the underlying Web APIs to read headers from the request (NextRequest):

app/api/route.ts

import { type NextRequest } from 'next/server'
 
export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
  const requestHeaders = new Headers(request.headers)
}

Redirects

app/api/route.ts

import { redirect } from 'next/navigation'
 
export async function GET(request: Request) {
  redirect('https://nextjs.org/')
}

Dynamic Route Segments

Route Handlers can use Dynamic Segments to create request handlers from dynamic data.

app/items/[slug]/route.ts

export async function GET(
  request: Request,
  { params }: { params: Promise<{ slug: string }> }
) {
  const slug = (await params).slug // 'a', 'b', or 'c'
}

Route	Example URL	`params`
`app/items/[slug]/route.js`	`/items/a`	`Promise<{ slug: 'a' }>`
`app/items/[slug]/route.js`	`/items/b`	`Promise<{ slug: 'b' }>`
`app/items/[slug]/route.js`	`/items/c`	`Promise<{ slug: 'c' }>`

URL Query Parameters

The request object passed to the Route Handler is a NextRequest instance, which has some additional convenience methods, including for more easily handling query parameters.

app/api/search/route.ts

import { type NextRequest } from 'next/server'
 
export function GET(request: NextRequest) {
  const searchParams = request.nextUrl.searchParams
  const query = searchParams.get('query')
  // query is "hello" for /api/search?query=hello
}

Streaming

Streaming is commonly used in combination with Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI, for AI-generated content. Learn more about the AI SDK.

app/api/chat/route.ts

import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai'
import { StreamingTextResponse, streamText } from 'ai'
 
export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json()
  const result = await streamText({
    model: openai('gpt-4-turbo'),
    messages,
  })
 
  return new StreamingTextResponse(result.toAIStream())
}

These abstractions use the Web APIs to create a stream. You can also use the underlying Web APIs directly.

app/api/route.ts

// https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/API/ReadableStream#convert_async_iterator_to_stream
function iteratorToStream(iterator: any) {
  return new ReadableStream({
    async pull(controller) {
      const { value, done } = await iterator.next()
 
      if (done) {
        controller.close()
      } else {
        controller.enqueue(value)
      }
    },
  })
}
 
function sleep(time: number) {
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    setTimeout(resolve, time)
  })
}
 
const encoder = new TextEncoder()
 
async function* makeIterator() {
  yield encoder.encode('<p>One</p>')
  await sleep(200)
  yield encoder.encode('<p>Two</p>')
  await sleep(200)
  yield encoder.encode('<p>Three</p>')
}
 
export async function GET() {
  const iterator = makeIterator()
  const stream = iteratorToStream(iterator)
 
  return new Response(stream)
}

Request Body

You can read the Request body using the standard Web API methods:

app/items/route.ts

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const res = await request.json()
  return Response.json({ res })
}

Request Body FormData

You can read the FormData using the request.formData() function:

app/items/route.ts

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const formData = await request.formData()
  const name = formData.get('name')
  const email = formData.get('email')
  return Response.json({ name, email })
}

Since formData data are all strings, you may want to use zod-form-data to validate the request and retrieve data in the format you prefer (e.g. number).

CORS

You can set CORS headers for a specific Route Handler using the standard Web API methods:

app/api/route.ts

export async function GET(request: Request) {
  return new Response('Hello, Next.js!', {
    status: 200,
    headers: {
      'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
      'Access-Control-Allow-Methods': 'GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS',
      'Access-Control-Allow-Headers': 'Content-Type, Authorization',
    },
  })
}

Good to know:

To add CORS headers to multiple Route Handlers, you can use Middleware or the next.config.js file.

Alternatively, see our CORS example package.

Webhooks

You can use a Route Handler to receive webhooks from third-party services:

app/api/route.ts

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  try {
    const text = await request.text()
    // Process the webhook payload
  } catch (error) {
    return new Response(`Webhook error: ${error.message}`, {
      status: 400,
    })
  }
 
  return new Response('Success!', {
    status: 200,
  })
}

Notably, unlike API Routes with the Pages Router, you do not need to use bodyParser to use any additional configuration.

Non-UI Responses

You can use Route Handlers to return non-UI content. Note that sitemap.xml, robots.txt, app icons, and open graph images all have built-in support.

app/rss.xml/route.ts

export async function GET() {
  return new Response(
    `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
 
<channel>
  <title>Next.js Documentation</title>
  <link>https://nextjs.org/docs</link>
  <description>The React Framework for the Web</description>
</channel>
 
</rss>`,
    {
      headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'text/xml',
      },
    }
  )
}

Segment Config Options

Route Handlers use the same route segment configuration as pages and layouts.

app/items/route.ts

export const dynamic = 'auto'
export const dynamicParams = true
export const revalidate = false
export const fetchCache = 'auto'
export const runtime = 'nodejs'
export const preferredRegion = 'auto'

See the API reference for more details.

Route Handlers

Convention

Supported HTTP Methods

Extended `NextRequest` and `NextResponse` APIs

Behavior

Caching

Special Route Handlers

Route Resolution

Examples

Revalidating Cached Data

Cookies

Headers

Redirects

Dynamic Route Segments

URL Query Parameters

Streaming

Request Body

Request Body FormData

CORS

Webhooks

Non-UI Responses

Segment Config Options

API Reference

route.js