Introduction

Vukem is a web framework for REST APIs and full-stack apps: routing, validation, an ORM with migrations, authentication, JSON resources with problem+json errors, HTMX-first views or Inertia with React, Vue or Svelte, GraphQL, gRPC and realtime channels, all driven by one CLI.

Why Vukem#

• Standard library first. Handlers and middleware are plain net/http. Any http.Handler works.
• No magic. No globals, no init() registration, no reflection-based dependency injection. Generators write code you own.
• Typed end to end. Typed configuration structs, named routes checked at boot, Zod-style schemas (z) that parse every input into Go types.
• Batteries included, opt-in. SQLite out of the box; PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, S3 and WebSockets as separate driver modules, so you only download what you use.
• APIs first-class. RFC 9457 problem details, JSON-only route groups, CORS and body limits are built in.
• Secure by default. Security headers with CSP nonces, deny-by-default CORS, path-traversal-safe static files and fail-closed boot checks, mapped to the OWASP Top 10:2025.

A taste#

A handler is a function that receives a *web.Ctx and returns an error. Returned errors go to a central handler that renders the right response for the client.

func Routes(r *router.Router, posts *controllers.PostController) {
	r.Get("/", func(c *web.Ctx) error {
		return c.String(http.StatusOK, "Hello from Vukem")
	}).Name("home")

	r.Group("/admin", func(g *router.Group) {
		g.Resource("posts", posts) // posts.index, posts.store, posts.show…
	}).Name("admin.")
}

func (p *PostController) Show(c *web.Ctx) error {
	id, err := c.ParamInt("post") // non-numeric id → 404
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	post, ok := p.store.Find(id)
	if !ok {
		return errs.ErrNotFound // HTML page or problem+json, by content negotiation
	}

	return c.JSON(http.StatusOK, post)
}

What works today#

The Prototype (v0.1) and ALPHA (v0.2–v0.13) phases are complete, and every BETA feature has shipped (v0.14–v0.20); BETA is in stabilisation before v1.0.0.

See it in production#

Three open-source apps built with Vukem run live: an HTMX quiz, a raffle platform with Inertia and Vue, and a marketplace with Inertia and React. The Showcase links each one and lists the features it demonstrates.

Next steps#