Fresh — Full-Stack Web Framework for Deno

Introduction

Fresh is a full-stack web framework designed for Deno. It sends zero JavaScript to the client by default, using server-side rendering for all pages. Interactive components are loaded selectively through an islands architecture, resulting in fast page loads without a build step.

What Fresh Does

• Renders pages on the server with no client-side JS by default
• Supports islands architecture for selective client-side hydration
• Uses file-system routing (routes/ directory maps to URL paths)
• Provides built-in middleware, error pages, and API route handlers
• Runs on Deno Deploy for edge deployment or any Deno-compatible host

Architecture Overview

Fresh uses Preact as its rendering engine and compiles island components on demand using esbuild. Routes are defined as files in the routes/ directory, where each file exports a handler and/or a component. Static assets are served from a static/ directory. There is no build step during development; TypeScript and JSX are handled natively by Deno.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Requires Deno runtime (v1.35+ or Deno 2)
• Configure via fresh.config.ts for plugins and middleware
• Deploy to Deno Deploy with deployctl deploy
• Self-host on any server with deno run -A main.ts
• Add Tailwind CSS via the official plugin in the project scaffold

Key Features

• Zero-config TypeScript and JSX support through Deno
• No build step required for development or production
• Islands architecture sends JS only for interactive components
• File-system routing with support for dynamic and catch-all routes
• First-class integration with Deno Deploy for edge hosting

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Next.js — React-based with Node.js; Fresh uses Preact on Deno with no build step
• Astro — content-focused with multi-framework islands; Fresh is Preact-only on Deno
• Remix — relies on React and Node; Fresh is lighter with Deno-native tooling
• SvelteKit — uses Svelte compiler; Fresh skips the build step entirely
• Hono — minimal HTTP framework; Fresh is full-stack with routing and rendering

FAQ

Q: Do I need Node.js to use Fresh? A: No. Fresh runs entirely on Deno and does not use npm or Node.js.

Q: Can I use npm packages with Fresh? A: Yes. Deno supports npm specifiers (npm:package-name), so most npm packages work.

Q: What is an island in Fresh? A: An island is a Preact component placed in the islands/ directory that gets hydrated on the client. Everything else remains server-rendered HTML.

Q: Is Fresh production-ready? A: Fresh is used in production by Deno and other companies. It follows semantic versioning with stable releases.

Sources

• https://github.com/denoland/fresh
• https://fresh.deno.dev/