Views and Templates
AdonisJS is an excellent fit for creating traditional server-rendered applications in Node.js. If you enjoy the simplicity of using a backend template engine that outputs HTML without any overhead of Virtual DOM and build tools, then this guide is for you.
The typical workflow of a server-rendered application in AdonisJS looks as follows.
- Choose a template engine to render HTML dynamically.
- Use Vite for bundling CSS and frontend JavaScript.
- Optionally, you can opt for libraries like HTMX or Unpoly to progressively enhance your application and navigate like an SPA.
The AdonisJS core team has created a framework-agnostic template engine called Edge.js but does not force you to use it. You can use any other template engine you would like inside an AdonisJS application.
Popular options
Following is the list of popular template engines you can use inside an AdonisJS application (just like any other Node.js application).
- EdgeJS is a simple, modern, and batteries included template engine created and maintained by the AdonisJS core team for Node.js.
- Pug is a template engine heavily influenced by Haml.
- Nunjucks is a rich feature template engine inspired by Jinja2.
Hybrid applications
AdonisJS is also a great fit for creating hybrid applications that render HTML on the server and then hydrate your JavaScript on the client. This approach is popular among developers who want to use Vue, React, Svelte, Solid, or others for building interactive user interfaces but still want a full backend stack to handle server-side concerns.
In this case, AdonisJS provide a first-class support for using InertiaJS to bridge the gap between your frontend and backend.