Tutorial Intro

Let's discover Yelix in less than 1 minutes.

Getting Started

Get started by creating a new server.

What you'll need

• Deno

Generate a new server

To generate a new server, run the following command:

deno run --allow-write --allow-read --allow-run https://docs.yelix.dev/yelix-template.ts

This command will create a new Yelix project with the following structure:

 api/
 └── hello.ts
 deno.json
 main.ts

Technical Information

Generated Files

File	Purpose	Description
deno.json	Project Configuration	Contains development tasks and project settings, including the dev task which starts the server.
remote:dev.ts	Development Server Script	Main script for starting the development server. It orchestrates the execution of other scripts like resolveEndpoints.ts and main.ts. This scripts loads from remote server.
main.ts	Server Setup	Initializes the Yelix server, loads the generated endpoints.ts, and starts the application.
api/hello.ts	Example Endpoint	Demonstrates a simple API endpoint (/api/hello) that returns a "Hello World!" message.

What Happens Behind the Scenes

When you run this command:

1. Run dev.ts via Dev task: When you run deno task dev, it executes the dev.ts script.
2. 1. Endpoint Resolution: The resolveEndpoints.ts script scans your api directory and generates proper static imports in endpoints.ts
3. 2. Server Startup: The Yelix server (main.ts) loads these endpoints and starts listening for requests
4. 3. File Watching: Two watchers run simultaneously:
      • One watches the api folder and regenerates endpoints.ts when files change
      • Another watches your entire project and restarts the server when needed
5. 4. Sibling closure: When your main.ts process is terminated, the resolver process is also terminated. This ensures that all processes are properly cleaned up.

Technical Implementation

The dev.ts script orchestrates this process by:

• Spawning the resolver process with file watching enabled
• Running the main server with the --watch flag for hot reloading
• Managing process lifecycle and termination

The resolver handles the critical task of transforming your directory structure into Deno Deploy-compatible static imports, creating entries like:

// In endpoints.ts (auto-generated)
const endpoints = [
  await import("./api/hello.ts"),
  await import("./api/users.ts"),
  // All your API endpoints are automatically included
];

Why This Matters

Deno Deploy has a strict requirement: imports must be static string literals. This architecture automatically handles this constraint while providing a seamless development experience where you can add new API endpoints without manually updating imports.

You can focus on building your API endpoints while the system handles the deployment compatibility for you.

Start your server

Run the development server:

deno task dev

This command will start your server in development mode with all required permissions.

Description	URL
URL for your index page	http://localhost:3030/
URL for the specified endpoint	http://localhost:3030/api/hello