Tina4 Node.js

The Intelligent Native Application 4ramework

Zero dependencies. One import, everything works.

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Quick Start

# With the Tina4 CLI (recommended, enables SCSS + live reload)
cargo install tina4    # or grab a binary from https://github.com/tina4stack/tina4/releases
tina4 init nodejs ./my-app
cd my-app && tina4 serve

# Without the Tina4 CLI
npx tina4nodejs init my-app
cd my-app && npx tina4nodejs serve

Open http://localhost:7148

Database drivers and optional services

npm install tina4-nodejs installs exactly one package. SQLite is built in (node:sqlite); every other driver or service client is your app's dependency, installed only when you use it:

You use	Install
PostgreSQL	npm install pg
MySQL / MariaDB	npm install mysql2
MSSQL / SQL Server	npm install tedious
Firebird	npm install node-firebird
ODBC	npm install odbc
MongoDB (database, queue, DocStore, cache)	npm install mongodb
Redis WebSocket backplane	npm install redis
S3 realtime file storage	npm install @aws-sdk/client-s3 @aws-sdk/s3-request-presigner

Select one without its package and Tina4 tells you the exact command, e.g. The 'redis' package is required for RedisBackplane. Install it with: npm install redis. Redis/Valkey/Memcached sessions and caching, and MongoDB sessions, need nothing: they speak the wire protocol directly.

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Code Examples

// src/routes/api/hello/get.ts
export default async function(req: Tina4Request, res: Tina4Response) {
  res.json({ message: "Hello from Tina4!" });
}

// src/models/User.ts
export default class User {
  static tableName = "users";
  static fields = {
    id: { type: "integer" as const, primaryKey: true, autoIncrement: true },
    name: { type: "string" as const, required: true },
    email: { type: "string" as const },
  };
}

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What's Included

Category	Features
Core HTTP (7)	Router with path params ({id:int}, {p:path}), Server, Request/Response, Middleware pipeline, Static file serving, CORS
Database (6)	SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Firebird: unified adapter, connection pooling, query cache, transactions, race-safe ID generation, SQL dialect translation
ORM (7)	Active Record with typed fields, relationships (has_one/has_many/belongs_to), soft delete, QueryBuilder + MongoDB support, Auto-CRUD generator, migrations with rollback
Auth & Security (5)	JWT (HS256/HS384/HS512 standard, RS256 opt-in, all from builtin node:crypto), password hashing (PBKDF2-SHA256), API key validation, rate limiting, CSRF form tokens
Templating (3)	Frond engine (Twig/Jinja2-compatible, pre-compiled 2.8× faster), SCSS auto-compilation, built-in CSS (~24 KB)
API & Integration (5)	HTTP client (zero-dep), GraphQL with ORM auto-schema + GraphiQL IDE, WSDL/SOAP with auto WSDL, WebSocket (RFC 6455) + Redis backplane, MCP server (24 dev tools)
Background (3)	Job queue (File/RabbitMQ/Kafka/MongoDB) with priority, delay, retry, dead letters; service runner; event system (on/emit/once/off)
Data & Storage (4)	Session (File/Redis/Valkey/MongoDB/DB), response cache (LRU, TTL), seeder + 50+ fake data generators, messenger (SMTP/IMAP)
Developer Tools (7)	Dev dashboard (11 tabs), dev toolbar, error overlay (Catppuccin Mocha), dev mailbox, hot reload + CSS hot-reload, code metrics (complexity, coupling, maintainability), AI context installer (7 tools)
Utilities (7)	DI container (transient + singleton), HtmlElement builder, inline testing (@tests decorator), i18n (6 languages), Swagger/OpenAPI auto-generation, CLI scaffolding (generate model/route/migration/middleware), structured logging

2,897 tests. Zero dependencies. Full parity across Python, PHP, Ruby, and Node.js.

AI Client

import { Ai } from "tina4-nodejs";

const reply = await Ai.chat([{ role: "user", content: "Summarise this text" }]);
const text = await Ai.complete("Give me a title");
const vector = await Ai.embed("semantic search text");

for await (const delta of Ai.chat([{ role: "user", content: "Stream this" }], { stream: true })) {
  process.stdout.write(delta);
}

Configure TINA4_AI_PROVIDER as local, openai, or anthropic. Hosted providers require TINA4_AI_KEY; local OpenAI-compatible endpoints do not.

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CLI Reference

npx tina4nodejs init [dir]
npx tina4nodejs serve [--port PORT]
npx tina4nodejs migrate
npx tina4nodejs seed
npx tina4nodejs ai [--all]
npx tina4nodejs generate model <name>

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Performance

Benchmarked with wrk: 5,000 requests, 50 concurrent, median of 3 runs:

Framework	JSON req/s	Deps	Features
Raw node:http	91,110	0	1
Tina4 Node.js	84,771	0	55

Tina4 Node.js runs at 93% of raw Node.js speed while providing 140 cataloged features, a zero-overhead architecture.

Across all 4 Tina4 implementations:

	Python	PHP	Ruby	Node.js
JSON req/s	6,508	29,293	10,243	84,771
Dependencies	0	0	0	0
Features	55	55	55	55

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Cross-Framework Parity

Tina4 ships identical features across four languages: same architecture, same conventions, the same 140 cataloged features:

	Python	PHP	Ruby	Node.js
Package	tina4-python	tina4stack/tina4php	tina4ruby	@tina4/core
Tests (v3.11.12)	2,281	2,073	2,508	2,897
Default port	7146	7145	7147	7148

~9,700 tests across all 4 frameworks. See tina4.com.

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Documentation

Full guides, API reference, and examples at tina4.com.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Code Infinity. Licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. A separate commercial licence is available from Code Infinity; see commercial licensing. Previously published releases retain their original licences.

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