Reply Helpers

Send clean, status-discriminated HTTP responses using tree-shakeable reply helpers: json(), ok(), notFound(), and redirect().

Taser.js provides standalone reply helper functions and a unified reply object imported from @taserjs/router/reply to construct standardized, type-safe HTTP responses. Every helper returns a standard Web Response with its HTTP status code embedded into the TypeScript return type (ReplyOf<Status, Body>). Because each helper is an independent standalone function, only the helpers you use are bundled into your application.

JSON Responses (`json`)

The json() function serializes data into a JSON string and automatically sets the Content-Type: application/json header:

src/routes/users.get.ts

import { json } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.get("/users").handler(({ ctx }) => {
  return json([
    { id: "1", name: "Alice" },
    { id: "2", name: "Bob" },
  ]);
});

You can pass an optional second argument to customize the HTTP status code or set additional response headers:

return json(
  { message: "Created successfully", id: "user_123" },
  {
    status: 201,
    headers: {
      "X-Custom-Header": "ProductService",
    },
  },
);

Plain Text Responses (`text`)

Use text() to return raw strings with Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8:

src/routes/robots.txt.get.ts

import { text } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.get("/robots.txt").handler(() => {
  return text("User-agent: *\nDisallow: /admin/\n");
});

HTML Responses (`html`)

Use html() to return HTML documents or markup strings with Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8:

src/routes/index.get.ts

import { html } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.get("/").handler(() => {
  return html("<h1>Welcome to Taser.js!</h1>");
});

Empty / No Content Responses (`noContent`)

For successful operations that do not return a payload (such as DELETE endpoints), use noContent(). It sets HTTP status 204:

src/routes/items/$id.delete.ts

import { noContent } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.delete("/items/:id").handler(async ({ ctx, req }) => {
  await ctx.db.deleteItem(req.params.id);
  return noContent();
});

Redirects (`redirect`)

Use redirect() to send HTTP redirects (default: 302 Found):

src/routes/old-docs.get.ts

import { redirect } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.get("/old-docs").handler(() => {
  // Permanent 301 redirect:
  return redirect("/docs/getting-started", { status: 301 });
});

External Redirect Protection

By default, redirect() prevents unintended external open redirects. If you need to redirect to external URLs, pass { allowExternal: true }:

return redirect("https://github.com/taserjs/taserjs", { allowExternal: true });

Status Code Helpers Reference

All reply helpers are exported from @taserjs/router/reply:

Helper Function	HTTP Status	Typical Usage
`ok(data?, init?)`	`200 OK`	Generic success response
`created(data?, init?)`	`201 Created`	Resource created successfully
`accepted(data?, init?)`	`202 Accepted`	Async job accepted for processing
`noContent(init?)`	`204 No Content`	Success with empty payload
`redirect(location, init?)`	`302 Found`	Temporary redirection
`badRequest(data?, init?)`	`400 Bad Request`	Client query or payload error
`unauthorized(data?, init?)`	`401 Unauthorized`	Missing or invalid authentication token
`forbidden(data?, init?)`	`403 Forbidden`	Authenticated user lacks permission
`notFound(data?, init?)`	`404 Not Found`	Resource or route does not exist
`methodNotAllowed(data?, init?)`	`405 Method Not Allowed`	HTTP method not supported for this route
`conflict(data?, init?)`	`409 Conflict`	Duplicate key or concurrency conflict
`payloadTooLarge(data?, init?)`	`413 Payload Too Large`	Request body exceeds maximum size limit
`unsupportedMediaType(data?, init?)`	`415 Unsupported Media Type`	Request `Content-Type` not accepted
`unprocessable(data?, init?)`	`422 Unprocessable Entity`	Schema validation error
`tooManyRequests(data?, init?)`	`429 Too Many Requests`	Rate limit or quota exceeded
`internalServerError(data?, init?)`	`500 Internal Server Error`	Unhandled exception

Example Usage of Error Helpers

src/routes/documents/$id.get.ts

import { forbidden, json, notFound, unauthorized } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.get("/documents/:id").handler(async ({ ctx, req, state }) => {
  const user = state.user;
  if (!user) {
    return unauthorized({ message: "Login required" });
  }

  const doc = await ctx.db.findDocument(req.params.id);
  if (!doc) {
    return notFound({ message: "Document not found" });
  }

  if (doc.ownerId !== user.id) {
    return forbidden({ message: "You do not own this document" });
  }

  return json(doc);
});

Setting Cookies

Prefer the first-party cookie() middleware and { cookies } jar (see Cookie Management). You can also set Set-Cookie manually via response init:

src/routes/auth/login.post.ts

import { json } from "@taserjs/router/reply";
import { t } from "@taserjs/router";

export default t.post("/auth/login").handler(async () => {
  const sessionToken = await createSession();

  return json(
    { success: true },
    {
      headers: {
        "Set-Cookie": `session=${sessionToken}; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=Strict; Path=/`,
      },
    },
  );
});

JSON Responses (`json`)

Plain Text Responses (`text`)

HTML Responses (`html`)

Empty / No Content Responses (`noContent`)

Redirects (`redirect`)

Status Code Helpers Reference

Example Usage of Error Helpers

Setting Cookies

Next Steps

Response Contracts

Streaming and Web Payloads

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