strapi/website/documentation/architecture/router.md

Router

The most basic feature of any web application is the ability to interpret a request sent to a URL, then send back a response. In order to do this, your application has to be able to distinguish one URL from another.

Like most web frameworks, Strapi provides a router: a mechanism for mapping URLs to controllers. Routes are rules that tell Strapi what to do when faced with an incoming request.

For every API, routes can be found in ./api/apiName/config/routes.json.

Route format

Each route consists of an address (as a key) and a target (as an object value). The address is a URL path and a specific HTTP method. The target is defined by an object with a controller and an action. When the router receives an incoming request, it checks the address of all routes for matches. If a matching route is found, the request is then passed to its target.

The schema for a route is:

{
  "routes": {
    "VERB /endpoint/:param": {
      "controller": "controllerName",
      "action": "actionName"
    }
  }
}

For example to manage your Post records with a CRUD, your route should look like this:

{
  "routes": {
    "GET /post": {
      "controller": "Post",
      "action": "find"
    }
    "GET /post/:id": {
      "controller": "Post",
      "action": "findOne"
    },
    "POST /post": {
      "controller": "Post",
      "action": "create"
    },
    "PUT /post/:id": {
      "controller": "Post",
      "action": "update"
    },
    "DELETE /post/:id": {
      "controller": "Post",
      "action": "delete"
    }
  }
}

Route parameters

Route paths will be translated to regular expressions used to match requests. Query strings will not be considered when matching requests.

Route parameters are captured and added to ctx.params or ctx.request.body.

Router prefix

Prefix your API aiming to not have any conflicts with your front-end if you have one of if need to for some other reasons.

Configuration:

• Key: prefix
• Environment: all
• Location: ./config/general.json
• Type: string

Example:

{
  "prefix": "/api"
}

Notes:

• Let an empty string if you don't want to prefix your API.
• The prefix must starts with a /.