Route Decorators

Route Decorators map HTTP methods and specific URL paths to controller methods.

Overview

While the @Controller() decorator defines the base prefix for the entire class, Route Decorators define the specific endpoints and HTTP verbs that a given method handles.

Nest provides decorators for all standard HTTP methods, allowing you to easily build comprehensive REST APIs.

Key Concepts

• HTTP Verbs: @Get(), @Post(), @Put(), @Patch(), @Delete(), @Options(), @Head(), and @All().
• Path Mapping: You can pass a string to the decorator to append a specific path to the controller’s prefix (e.g., @Get('active')).
• Status Codes: By default, Nest handles status codes automatically (200 for everything except POST which is 201). You can override this with @HttpCode().
• Headers: You can specify custom response headers using the @Header() decorator.

Code Examples

Standard HTTP Methods

@Controller('users')
export class UsersController {
  
  // GET /users
  @Get()
  findAll() {}

  // POST /users
  @Post()
  create() {}

  // GET /users/active
  @Get('active')
  findActiveUsers() {}

  // DELETE /users
  @Delete()
  deleteAll() {}
}

Custom Status Codes and Headers

You can easily override the default behavior using additional decorators on the method.

import { Controller, Post, HttpCode, HttpStatus, Header } from '@nestjs/common';

@Controller('users')
export class UsersController {
  
  @Post()
  // Change the default 201 to 204 No Content
  @HttpCode(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT) 
  // Add a custom response header
  @Header('Cache-Control', 'none') 
  create() {
    return 'This action adds a new user';
  }
}

The @All() Decorator

If you need a method to handle all HTTP verbs for a specific path, use @All().

// Handles GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc. to /webhook
@All('webhook')
handleIncomingWebhook() {
  return 'Handled';
}

Best Practices

• Use HttpStatus Enum: Instead of using magic numbers like @HttpCode(204), use Nest’s built-in HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT enum for better readability.
• Understand Put vs Patch: Use @Put() for full resource replacements, and @Patch() for partial updates.
• Keep Paths Consistent: Don’t put trailing or leading slashes in your route decorator strings (e.g., use @Get('profile') instead of @Get('/profile/')). Nest handles slashes automatically.