Hapi Node.js Framework

Hapi (pronounced happy) is a rich open-source Node.js framework for building web applications and services, designed around configuration over code with built-in input validation, caching, authentication, and plugin architecture. Originally created by Eran Hammer at Walmart Labs in 2011 to handle Black Friday traffic spikes on Walmart.com, Hapi powers large-scale applications including Walmart, Disney, PayPal, and Mozilla. Key features: Configuration-centric design where routes, handlers, plugins, and middleware are defined through configuration objects rather than imperative code, making application structure explicit, testable, and self-documenting. Built-in input validation via Joi schema validation for request payloads, query parameters, headers, and path parameters with automatic error responses (HTTP 400) for invalid input. Modular plugin system organizes functionality into plugins with defined dependencies, enabling code reuse and microservice patterns. Built-in authentication strategies including Basic auth, Bearer token, Cookie-based sessions, and support for custom schemes with per-route authentication requirements. Built-in caching via Catbox supporting Redis, Memcached, MongoDB, and in-memory backends with configurable TTL and segment-based cache partitioning. Request lifecycle extensions including onPreAuth, onPostAuth, onPreHandler, onPostHandler, and onPreResponse hooks for custom request processing pipelines. Route-level response caching with automatic cache headers and conditional requests via ETag and Last-Modified. Security headers via blankie and scooter plugins including CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and HSTS. Inert plugin for static file serving and file responses. Vision plugin for server-side rendering with Handlebars, EJS, Pug, and custom template engines. Lab and Code testing frameworks with built-in server injection for unit testing without network overhead.