# Strata.js

> Microservices made simple.

A fast, opinionated microservice framework with pluggable backends and an Express-inspired API.

## Table of Contents

### AI

- [LLM Documentation](/ai/llms-txt.md): Auto-generated llms.txt and llms-full.txt files that provide LLM-friendly documentation for AI coding tools.
- [MCP Server](/ai/mcp-server.md): MCP server that lets AI coding tools discover, inspect, and call running Strata services via Redis for local development.

### Concepts

- [Why Strata](/concepts/why-strata.md): Why Strata.js replaces REST with message queues and how its Express-like API makes the transition familiar.
- [Architecture](/concepts/architecture.md): How Strata organizes services into a hierarchy of services, contexts, and operations with pluggable backends.
- [Middleware Model](/concepts/middleware-model.md): How Strata's three-hook middleware system (beforeRequest, success, failure) intercepts and modifies requests and responses.
- [The Protocol](/concepts/the-protocol.md): The language-agnostic JSON envelope protocol that defines request and response message structure on the wire.

### Getting Started

- [Quick Start](/getting-started/quick-start.md): Get a Strata service running in 5 minutes with Redis and a minimal code example.
- [Your First Service](/getting-started/your-first-service.md): Build a realistic Strata service with multiple contexts, middleware, YAML configuration, and service-to-service calls.
- [Configuration](/getting-started/configuration.md): How to configure StrataService and StrataClient using config objects, environment variables, or the config utility.

### Core API

- [Application (StrataService)](/core-api/application.md): API reference for the StrataService class, the top-level object that manages backends, contexts, and middleware.
- [Context (StrataContext)](/core-api/context.md): API reference for the StrataContext class, which groups related operations like an Express Router.
- [Envelope Types](/core-api/envelope.md): TypeScript interfaces for MessageEnvelope, RequestEnvelope, PostEnvelope, and ResponseEnvelope wire types.
- [Backends](/core-api/backends.md): Built-in backend implementations (Redis Lists, Redis Streams, In-Memory) and how to configure them.
- [Client (StrataClient)](/core-api/client.md): API reference for the StrataClient class, which sends requests, posts, and service commands to Strata services.
- [Request (StrataRequest)](/core-api/request.md): API reference for the StrataRequest class, which carries request data, response data, and lifecycle methods.

### Guides

- [Using Middleware](/guides/using-middleware.md): How to install, register, configure, and order middleware at the service, context, and operation levels.
- [Writing Middleware](/guides/writing-middleware.md): How to create custom middleware by implementing the OperationMiddleware interface with beforeRequest, success, and failure hooks.
- [Using a Custom Backend](/guides/using-custom-backends.md): How to register and configure a third-party or custom backend implementation with your Strata service or client.
- [Writing a Custom Backend](/guides/writing-custom-backends.md): How to build a custom backend by extending BaseStrataBackend for any messaging system (AMQP, Kafka, gRPC, etc.).
- [Service Commands](/guides/service-commands.md): How to send runtime commands to running services for concurrency tuning, graceful shutdown, and service inspection.
- [Envelope Validation](/guides/envelope-validation.md): How Strata's built-in envelope validation catches malformed messages at the transport layer with near-zero overhead.
- [Migrating from v1 to v2](/guides/migration-v1-to-v2.md): Step-by-step guide to migrating from Strata v1 to v2, covering all breaking changes and their replacements.

### Middleware

- [Middleware Packages](/middleware.md): Overview of first-party Strata middleware packages for caching, message logging, and payload validation.
- [Cache Middleware](/middleware/cache.md): Response caching middleware with memory, Redis, and custom store support for skipping repeated operation handler calls.
- [Message Logging Middleware](/middleware/message-logging.md): Middleware that logs request and response envelopes to a monitoring service group for debugging and observability.
- [Payload Validation Middleware](/middleware/payload-validation.md): Middleware that validates request payloads using AJV (JSON Schema) or Zod before they reach operation handlers.

### Utilities

- [Utilities](/utilities.md): Overview of standalone Strata utility packages for configuration loading and structured logging.
- [Config](/utilities/config.md): Configuration loader utility supporting YAML/JSON files, environment variable substitution, and file includes.
- [Logging](/utilities/logging.md): Structured logging utility wrapping pino with a console.*-style API for multi-argument log messages.

### Tools

- [Tools](/tools.md): Overview of standalone Strata tools for HTTP bridging, message monitoring, and service management.
- [RPC Bridge](/tools/rpc-bridge.md): HTTP and WebSocket bridge that exposes Strata services to browsers, mobile apps, and external consumers.
- [Queue Monitor](/tools/queue-monitor.md): A Strata service that captures all messages and writes them to Elasticsearch, Logstash, or the console for observability.
- [Service Tools](/tools/service-tools.md): Web UI for discovering and calling Strata services with a JSON payload editor, saved environments, and auth support.