# Routing - Vapor Docs

Skip to content


# Routing

Routing is the process of finding the appropriate response to an incoming request.

## Making a Router

In Vapor the default Router is the `EngineRouter`. You can implement custom routers by implementing one conforming to the `Router` protocol.

    let router = try EngineRouter.default()

This is usually done in your `configure.swift` file.

## Registering a route

Imagine you want to return a list of users when someone visits `GET /users`. Leaving authorization aside, that would look something like this.

    router.get("users") { req in
        return // fetch the users
    }

In Vapor, routing is usually done using the `.get`, `.put`, `.post`, `.patch` and `.delete` shorthands. You can supply the path as `/` or comma-separated strings. We recommend comma separated, as it's more readable.

    router.get("path", "to", "something") { ... }

## Routes

The best place to add routes is in the `routes.swift` file. Use the router supplied as a parameter to this function to register your routes.

    import Vapor

    public func routes(_ router: Router) throws {
        // Basic "Hello, world!" example
        router.get("hello") { req in
            return "Hello, world!"
        }

        /// ...
    }

See Getting Started → Content for more information about what can be returned in a route closure.

## Parameters

Sometimes you may want one of the components of your route path to be dynamic. This is often used when you want to get an item with a supplied identifier, e.g., `GET /users/:id`

    router.get("users", Int.parameter) { req -> String in
        let id = try req.parameter(Int.self)
        return "requested id #\(id)"
    }

Instead of passing a string, pass the type of parameter you expect. In this case, our `User` has an `Int` ID.

Tip

You can define your own custom parameter types as well.

## After registering your routes

After registering your routes you must register the Router as a Getting Started → Services