Introduction to Nomi.js: A Node.js Micro Framework for Backend Development

This article introduces Nomi.js, a Node.js micro‑framework developed by Qunar that is built on Koa2 and designed for enterprise‑level microservice applications.

What is Nomi?

Nomi.js (Node micro framework) is a highly modular, low‑intrusion framework that offers high stability, modularity, and task separation, making it ideal for building RESTful APIs and microservices.

Pain points solved by Nomi

Provides a clear target scenario for enterprise team development and microservice construction.

Zero‑intrusion design allows existing business code to be migrated without refactoring.

Offers customizable engineering constraints to keep project structure consistent across teams.

Middleware and plugin loaders enable plug‑and‑play extensions without rebuilding the ecosystem.

Focuses developers on business logic rather than framework boilerplate.

Key Features

Multi‑module development support

RESTful API support

Weakly intrusive design

Customizable engineering constraints

Async/await support

Elegant syntax sugar for cleaner code

How to start a Nomi service

First, install the nomi-cli scaffolding tool: npm i nomi-cli -g Then build your application with the following commands:

1. nomi-cli init   // initialize project
2. cd <project> && npm i   // install dependencies
3. npm run build   // compile
4. npm start   // start Nomi service

After the setup, you can access the service at http://127.0.0.1:8080/order/detail/2 to see the response.

Creating a Controller (MVC pattern)

Create app/controller/OrderController.js with the following content:

/**
 * Controller example
 * File: app/controller/OrderController.js
 * Description: Order controller class example
 */
const { RequestMapping, Service } = require('nomi-router').notation;

@RequestMapping({ path: "/order" })
class OrderController {
    @Service('service.orderService')
    serviceInst;

    @RequestMapping({ path: "/detail/{orderNum:string}", method: "get" })
    async getOrderDetail(req, res, params, ctx) {
        res.body = await this.serviceInst.getDetail(params.orderNum);
    }
}

exports.OrderController = OrderController;

Creating a Service

Create app/service/OrderService.js:

/**
 * Service example
 * File: app/service/OrderService.js
 * Description: Order service class example
 */
const { Service } = require('nomi-router').notation;

@Service("service.orderService")
class OrderService {
    async getDetail(orderNum) {
        // Call remote procedure or query database (shown later)
        let result = {};
        // result = await ctx.curl(`http://javaServer.com/order/detail/${orderNum}`, { dataType: 'json' });
        return result.data || { orderNum };
    }
}

exports.OrderService = OrderService;

Review

In summary, three steps get a Nomi application running: install the CLI, write a controller, and write a service. Nomi’s syntax sugar such as @RequestMapping and @Service simplifies routing and dependency injection, allowing developers to focus solely on business logic. For more advanced features, refer to the advanced tutorial.