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Express

Express (expressjs.com) is the historical-default Node.js web framework — minimalist, imperative, bare-HTTP-server with middleware-chain-as-architecture. The canonical reference point for "a Node.js web app" since ~2010.

Stub

This page covers only what currently-ingested sources name about Express. Broader Express internals (middleware chain, router, view engines) are out of scope until a source discusses them.

Relevance to the wiki (2026-04-21)

Canonical bare- HTTP framework — as named by Vercel's 2026-04-21 WDK post verbatim: "For frameworks without a bundler like Express or Hono, we use Nitro instead. ... These frameworks don't ship with a build system, i.e. they don't have a bundler, and just expose a bare HTTP server."

Integration for WDK therefore requires the virtual- handler-via-Nitro shim: esbuild bundles workflows, Nitro wraps the Express app at runtime + injects the virtual handlers to expose workflow endpoints.

Key properties (named by ingested sources)

• Bare HTTP server — app.get(path, handler) is imperative; no file-based routing to drop handlers into.
• No bundler — ships as a library, not a framework with a build system.
• Launch-supported WDK framework (2026-04-21) via the Nitro shim.

Seen in

• sources/2026-04-21-vercel-inside-workflow-devkit-how-framework-integrations-work — canonical wiki introduction. Express named alongside Hono as the bundlerless-framework category WDK shims via Nitro.

Related

• systems/nodejs — Express's runtime.
• systems/hono — sibling bare-HTTP framework, also Nitro-shimmed in the WDK integration.
• systems/nitro-unjs — the build-system shim the WDK integration uses.
• systems/vercel-workflow — the 2026-04-21 integration.
• file-based-routing-vs-bare-http-framework-taxonomy — the taxonomy Express anchors on the bare-HTTP side.
• virtual-handler-via-nitro-for-bundlerless-frameworks — the canonical pattern for integrating WDK-like SDKs with Express.