Module ngx_http_js_module

The ngx_http_js_module module is used to implement location and variable handlers in njs — a subset of the JavaScript language.

Download and install instructions are available here.

Example Configuration

The example works since 0.4.0.

http {
    js_import http.js;

    js_set $foo     http.foo;
    js_set $summary http.summary;

    server {
        listen 8000;

        location / {
            add_header X-Foo $foo;
            js_content http.baz;
        }

        location = /summary {
            return 200 $summary;
        }

        location = /hello {
            js_content http.hello;
        }
    }
}

The http.js file:

function foo(r) {
    r.log("hello from foo() handler");
    return "foo";
}

function summary(r) {
    var a, s, h;

    s = "JS summary\n\n";

    s += "Method: " + r.method + "\n";
    s += "HTTP version: " + r.httpVersion + "\n";
    s += "Host: " + r.headersIn.host + "\n";
    s += "Remote Address: " + r.remoteAddress + "\n";
    s += "URI: " + r.uri + "\n";

    s += "Headers:\n";
    for (h in r.headersIn) {
        s += "  header '" + h + "' is '" + r.headersIn[h] + "'\n";
    }

    s += "Args:\n";
    for (a in r.args) {
        s += "  arg '" + a + "' is '" + r.args[a] + "'\n";
    }

    return s;
}

function baz(r) {
    r.status = 200;
    r.headersOut.foo = 1234;
    r.headersOut['Content-Type'] = "text/plain; charset=utf-8";
    r.headersOut['Content-Length'] = 15;
    r.sendHeader();
    r.send("nginx");
    r.send("java");
    r.send("script");

    r.finish();
}

function hello(r) {
    r.return(200, "Hello world!");
}

export default {foo, summary, baz, hello};

Directives

Syntax: js_body_filter function | module.function [buffer_type=string | buffer];
Default:
Context: location, limit_except

This directive appeared in version 0.5.2.

Sets an njs function as a response body filter. The filter function is called for each data chunk of a response body with the following arguments:

r
the HTTP request object
data
the incoming data chunk, may be a string or Buffer depending on the buffer_type value, by default is a string.
flags
an object with the following properties:
last
a boolean value, true if data is a last buffer.

The filter function can pass its own modified version of the input data chunk to the next body filter by calling r.sendBuffer(). For example, to transform all the lowercase letters in the response body:

function filter(r, data, flags) {
    r.sendBuffer(data.toLowerCase(), flags);
}

To stop filtering (following data chunks will be passed to client without calling js_body_filter), r.done() can be used.

If the filter function changes the length of the response body, then it is required to clear out the “Content-Length” response header (if any) in js_header_filter to enforce chunked transfer encoding.

Syntax: js_content function | module.function;
Default:
Context: location, limit_except

Sets an njs function as a location content handler. Since 0.4.0, a module function can be referenced.

Syntax: js_header_filter function | module.function;
Default:
Context: location, limit_except

This directive appeared in version 0.5.1.

Sets an njs function as a response header filter. The directive allows changing arbitrary header fields of a response header.

Syntax: js_import module.js | export_name from module.js;
Default:
Context: http

This directive appeared in version 0.4.0.

Imports a module that implements location and variable handlers in njs. The export_name is used as a namespace to access module functions. If the export_name is not specified, the module name will be used as a namespace.

js_import http.js;

Here, the module name http is used as a namespace while accessing exports. If the imported module exports foo(), http.foo is used to refer to it.

Several js_import directives can be specified.

Syntax: js_include file;
Default:
Context: http

Specifies a file that implements location and variable handlers in njs:

nginx.conf:
js_include http.js;
location   /version {
    js_content version;
}

http.js:
function version(r) {
    r.return(200, njs.version);
}

The directive is deprecated since 0.4.0, the js_import directive should be used instead.

Syntax: js_path path;
Default:
Context: http

This directive appeared in version 0.3.0.

Sets an additional path for njs modules.

Syntax: js_set $variable function | module.function;
Default:
Context: http

Sets an njs function for the specified variable. Since 0.4.0, a module function can be referenced.

The function is called when the variable is referenced for the first time for a given request. The exact moment depends on a phase at which the variable is referenced. This can be used to perform some logic not related to variable evaluation. For example, if the variable is referenced only in the log_format directive, its handler will not be executed until the log phase. This handler can be used to do some cleanup right before the request is freed.

Syntax: js_var $variable [value];
Default:
Context: http

This directive appeared in version 0.5.3.

Declares a writable variable. The value can contain text, variables, and their combination. The variable is not overwritten after a redirect unlike variables created with the set directive.

Request Argument

Each HTTP njs handler receives one argument, a request object.

© 2002-2021 Igor Sysoev
© 2011-2021 Nginx, Inc.
Licensed under the BSD License.
https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_js_module.html