HTTP Server - Rivet — ContextQMD

Methods of Running Your Server

registry.start()

The simplest way to run your server. Starts a local manager server, serves static files from a public directory, and starts the actor runner:

import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

registry.start();

Run with npx tsx --watch index.ts (Node.js), bun --watch index.ts (Bun), or deno run --allow-net --allow-read --allow-env --watch index.ts (Deno). The server starts on http://localhost:6420 by default.

With Fetch Handlers

A fetch handler is a function that takes a Request and returns a Response. This is the standard pattern used by Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy, Bun, and other modern runtimes.

Use registry.serve() to get a fetch handler:

import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

export default registry.serve();

To integrate with a router like Hono or Elysia, use registry.handler():

import { Hono } from "hono";
import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

const app = new Hono();
app.get("/health", (c) => c.text("OK"));
app.all("/api/rivet/*", (c) => registry.handler(c.req.raw));

export default app;

</Tab> <Tab title="Elysia">

import { Elysia } from "elysia";
import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

const app = new Elysia()
  .get("/health", () => "OK")
  .all("/api/rivet/*", ({ request }) => registry.handler(request));

export default app;

</Tab> </Tabs>

Then run your server:

bash

npx tsx --watch server.ts

bash

bun --watch server.ts

bash

deno run --allow-net --allow-read --allow-env --watch server.ts

</CodeGroup>

Explicit HTTP Server

If you need to explicitly start the HTTP server instead of using the fetch handler pattern:

Using Hono with @hono/node-server:

import { Hono } from "hono";
import { serve } from "@hono/node-server";
import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

const app = new Hono();
app.all("/api/rivet/*", (c) => registry.handler(c.req.raw));

serve({ fetch: app.fetch, port: 3000 });

</Tab> <Tab title="Node.js (Adapter)">

Using @whatwg-node/server to adapt the fetch handler to Node's HTTP server:

import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";
import { createServer } from "node:http";
import { createServerAdapter } from "@whatwg-node/server";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

const handler = createServerAdapter(registry.serve().fetch);
const server = createServer(handler);
server.listen(3000);

</Tab> <Tab title="Bun">

Using Bun's native server:

import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

Bun.serve({
  port: 3000,
  fetch: (request: Request) => registry.handler(request),
});

</Tab> <Tab title="Deno">

Using Deno's native server:

import { actor, setup } from "rivetkit";

const myActor = actor({ state: {}, actions: {} });
const registry = setup({ use: { myActor } });

Deno.serve({ port: 3000 }, (request: Request) => registry.handler(request));

</Tab> </Tabs>