MasterController
Introduction
The backend fortress — a fast, modern MVC framework for Node.js.
MasterController is the backend half of Master: a pure-ESM, Node 20+ MVC framework that handles routing, controllers, a composable middleware pipeline, WebSockets, CORS, and production-grade security — without the boilerplate.
Boot in one file#
A MasterController app starts with a tiny server.js. setupServer() wires the framework pipeline, startMVC('app') loads your routes and pre-registers every controller, and start() finalizes the request pipeline.
server.js
// backend/server.js
import master from 'mastercontroller';
master.root = import.meta.dirname;
master.environmentType = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
const server = master.setupServer('http'); // wire the pipeline
master.cors.init({ origin: ['http://localhost:3000'] });
await master.startMVC('app'); // load routes.js + discover controllers
await master.start(server); // finalize + register terminal routing
server.listen(3001, () => console.log('⚡ API on :3001'));Controllers reply with data#
Controllers are plain ESM classes. Each request gets a fresh instance; action methods receive the request object and reply with this.returnJson(...) or this.returnError(...). Pair them with MasterRecord queries for a complete API.
postsController.js
// app/controllers/postsController.js
import db from '../models/db.js';
export default class PostsController {
constructor(requestObject) {
this.requestObject = requestObject;
}
// GET /posts
async index() {
const data = await db.Post.toList();
this.returnJson({ data });
}
// GET /posts/:id
async show(obj) {
const post = await db.Post.where((p) => p.id == $$, Number(obj.params.id)).single();
if (!post) return this.returnError(404, 'Not found');
this.returnJson({ data: post });
}
} API-first, view-optional
In a Master app the UI lives in Next.js, so controllers return JSON by default. MasterController also ships a pluggable view layer (
returnView) if you want classic server-rendered HTML — see Views & Templates.What’s in the box#
- Routing — single routes, RESTful resources, and route constraints.
- Controllers — actions, params, JSON, redirects, and filters.
- Middleware pipeline — composable
(ctx, next)stages. - WebSockets — socket controllers via Socket.IO.
- Security — CSRF, rate limiting, secure headers, HSTS.
- Monitoring & scaling — Prometheus metrics and Redis-backed horizontal scaling.