Elysia.js + Bun: The Complete Guide (2026)

Elysia.js is a Bun-native HTTP framework that handles over 500,000 requests per second in benchmarks. That number is real — it comes from Bun's native HTTP server combined with Elysia's zero-overhead routing. But raw speed isn't the reason to use it. The reason is Eden Treaty: end-to-end type safety between your server and client with zero code generation.

Read the full article with all code examples at stacknotice.com

Setup

bun create elysia my-api
cd my-api
bun run dev

Minimum working server:

// src/index.ts
import { Elysia } from 'elysia'

const app = new Elysia()
  .get('/', () => 'Hello Elysia')
  .listen(3000)

// This export is what enables Eden Treaty
export type App = typeof app

Routing with TypeBox Validation

import { Elysia, t } from 'elysia'

const app = new Elysia()
  .get('/users', () => getUsers())
  .get('/users/:id', ({ params }) => getUserById(params.id))
  .post('/users', ({ body }) => createUser(body), {
    body: t.Object({
      name: t.String({ minLength: 1 }),
      email: t.String({ format: 'email' }),
      role: t.Union([t.Literal('admin'), t.Literal('user')]),
    }),
  })
  .delete('/users/:id', ({ params }) => deleteUser(params.id))

The t namespace is TypeBox — one schema for both runtime validation and TypeScript types.

Route Groups as Plugins

// src/routes/users.ts
export const usersRouter = new Elysia({ prefix: '/users' })
  .get('/', () => UserService.getAll())
  .get('/:id', ({ params }) => UserService.getById(params.id))
  .post('/', ({ body }) => UserService.create(body), {
    body: t.Object({
      name: t.String(),
      email: t.String({ format: 'email' }),
    }),
  })

// src/index.ts
const app = new Elysia()
  .use(usersRouter)
  .use(productsRouter)
  .listen(3000)

export type App = typeof app

Auth Middleware with derive

export const authPlugin = new Elysia({ name: 'auth' })
  .derive({ as: 'scoped' }, async ({ headers, error }) => {
    const token = headers['authorization']?.slice(7)
    if (!token) throw error(401, 'Missing token')

    const payload = await verifyJWT(token)
    if (!payload) throw error(401, 'Invalid token')

    return {
      user: {
        id: payload.sub as string,
        email: payload.email as string,
        role: payload.role as 'admin' | 'user',
      },
    }
  })

// Apply to protected routes
export const protectedRouter = new Elysia({ prefix: '/api' })
  .use(authPlugin)
  .get('/me', ({ user }) => user) // `user` is fully typed

{ as: 'scoped' } means the derived context only applies to this instance — not to parent or sibling routes.

Eden Treaty — The Killer Feature

On your client, import the App type and create a typed client:

// client/api.ts
import { treaty } from '@elysiajs/eden'
import type { App } from '../server/src/index'

export const api = treaty<App>('http://localhost:3000')

Now you have a typed client that mirrors your API structure:

// Fully typed — no codegen, no schema files
const { data: users } = await api.users.get()
const { data: user } = await api.users({ id: '123' }).get()
const { data: newUser } = await api.users.post({
  name: 'Alice',
  email: '[e-mail]',
})

// TypeScript error — body doesn't match schema
// @ts-expect-error
await api.users.post({ name: 123 }) // must be string

When you change a route's input shape on the server, TypeScript errors appear at every client call site that's now wrong. Zero manual type updates.

Drizzle ORM Integration

// src/plugins/database.ts
import { Elysia } from 'elysia'
import { db } from '../db'

export const databasePlugin = new Elysia({ name: 'database' })
  .decorate('db', db)

// src/routes/posts.ts
export const postsRouter = new Elysia({ prefix: '/posts' })
  .use(databasePlugin)
  .use(authPlugin)
  .get('/', async ({ db }) => {
    return db.select().from(posts).orderBy(desc(posts.publishedAt))
  })
  .post('/', async ({ db, body, user }) => {
    const [post] = await db.insert(posts)
      .values({ ...body, authorId: user.id })
      .returning()
    return post
  }, {
    body: t.Object({
      title: t.String({ minLength: 1 }),
      content: t.String({ minLength: 1 }),
    }),
  })

Common Plugins

bun add @elysiajs/cors @elysiajs/swagger @elysiajs/bearer

const app = new Elysia()
  .use(cors({ origin: ['http://localhost:3000'] }))
  .use(swagger()) // Auto-generated Swagger UI at /swagger
  .use(bearer())  // Extracts Bearer token to context.bearer

The swagger() plugin reads your TypeBox schemas and generates OpenAPI docs automatically.

Elysia vs Alternatives

Use case	Best choice
Bun-only, need Eden Treaty	Elysia
Multi-runtime (Workers, Deno, Node)	Hono
Full Next.js stack	Next.js Route Handlers
tRPC-style type safety	tRPC + Next.js
Microservices in Bun	Elysia

Elysia makes the most sense when you're fully committed to Bun and want end-to-end type safety without tRPC's JSON-RPC overhead. If you need Cloudflare Workers or Deno Deploy, use Hono instead.

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For the full guide with lifecycle hooks, global error handling, performance details, and deployment config: stacknotice.com/blog/elysiajs-bun-complete-guide-2026