// the find
w3cj/hono-open-api-starter
A starter template for building fully documented type-safe JSON APIs with Hono and Open API
A Hono starter template that wires up type-safe routing, Zod validation, OpenAPI spec generation, and Drizzle ORM with SQLite into a single coherent project structure. It targets developers who want auto-generated, accurate API docs without writing specs by hand. The Scalar UI replaces Swagger UI and is noticeably better.
The route → schema → OpenAPI chain is genuinely tight: you define a Zod schema once and get request validation, TypeScript types, and the OpenAPI spec all from the same source. The file-per-concern layout (routes/handlers/types per feature folder) is a pattern worth stealing even if you don't use this template. Env validation at startup via Zod means misconfigured deploys fail immediately rather than at runtime. The `stoker` helper cuts a surprising amount of repetitive OpenAPI boilerplate.
SQLite via Drizzle is fine for prototyping but the template doesn't show how to swap it for Postgres, which is what most production workloads actually need — and the migration config is tightly coupled to `better-sqlite3`. The README itself warns about two already-broken dependency versions (Drizzle 0.35+, Zod v4), which is not a confidence-inspiring start. There's no auth scaffold at all — not even a stub — so the first real thing you add after cloning isn't in the template. The test file covers happy paths only; error cases and middleware behavior are untested.