---
title: "Quick start for Hono"
description: "Add MainSDK to a Hono app with one middleware, guard one route with auth.require, run it in local mode with a test user and pass mainsdk check."
section: "getting-started"
status: "Planned for 0.5"
spec: "public-beta"
canonical: "https://mainsdk.dev/docs/getting-started/quickstart-hono"
updated: "2026-10-28"
---

# Quick start for Hono

> Add MainSDK to a Hono app with one middleware, guard one route with auth.require, run it in local mode with a test user and pass mainsdk check.

Status: Planned for 0.5 · Canonical: https://mainsdk.dev/docs/getting-started/quickstart-hono · Updated: 2026-10-28

You will add MainSDK to a Hono app on Node.js 22 or later, guard one route and run it with no account or key. It takes about 10 minutes.

## 1. Initialise

```bash
npx mainsdk init
```

## 2. Write the route

The route is a plain `Request` in and `Response` out, so Hono and a test call it the same way.

```ts title="src/routes.ts"
import { auth } from 'mainsdk'

// The route's logic is a plain Request in, Response out, so Hono, Express and a test all call it the same way.
export async function me(req: Request): Promise<Response> {
  const session = await auth.require(req) // 401 with a fix when nobody is signed in
  return Response.json({ user: session.user })
}
```

## 3. Mount MainSDK

```ts title="src/app.ts"
import { Hono } from 'hono'
import { mainsdk } from 'mainsdk/hono'
import { me } from './routes.ts'

export const app = new Hono()
app.use('*', mainsdk())
app.get('/me', (c) => me(c.req.raw))
```

```ts title="src/server.ts"
import { serve } from '@hono/node-server'
import { app } from './app.ts'

serve({ fetch: app.fetch, port: Number(process.env.PORT ?? 3000) })
```

## 4. Run it in local mode

In local mode the bearer token `dev_ada` stands for a test person called `ada`. It works only on loopback, under `mainsdk dev`.

```bash
npx mainsdk dev -- node --experimental-strip-types src/server.ts
curl -i localhost:3000/me
curl -i -H "Authorization: Bearer dev_ada" localhost:3000/me
```

The first call answers `401` with a problem body that carries `MAIN-AUTH-0001` and a fix. The second answers `200` with the user.

## Check it

```bash
npx mainsdk check
```

The check passes when it prints `Passed`. It fails on a key in code, an undeclared network call or an unguarded action, and names the fix for each. Run it in CI too.

## What the sample app is

The finished app is in the repository under `apps/examples/hono`. CI installs it, starts it in local mode, requests the signed-in route and runs `mainsdk check`, so these steps cannot drift from the code. MainSDK is pre-release and no package is published yet: until the first beta, run the sample from a checkout.