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Lifecycle Hooks

Implementing application lifecycle hooks with the Node.js SDK.

Overview​

Lifecycle hooks allow your application to respond to state changes:

  • onCreate - Process starts (before AppServer connection)
  • onStartUp - AppServer connection established
  • onRegister - App declares manifest
  • onInstall - App is being installed
  • onUninstall - App is being removed
  • onDestroy - Process is shutting down

onCreate​

Called when the application process starts, before connecting to AppServer.

TODO: Add onCreate hook details and examples

Use Cases​

  • Initialize global state
  • Set up logging
  • Validate environment variables

Example​

onCreate: async (context) => {
  console.log('App process starting...');
  // Initialize services
}

onStartUp​

Called after connection to AppServer is established.

TODO: Add onStartUp hook details and examples

Use Cases​

  • Connect to database
  • Initialize caches
  • Start background jobs

onRegister​

Called when the app registers with AppServer. Must return the app manifest.

TODO: Add onRegister hook details and examples

Example​

onRegister: async (context) => {
  return {
    id: 'my-app',
    name: 'My Application',
    version: '1.0.0',
    dependencies: {
      hard: [],
      soft: []
    },
    permissions: {
      required: [],
      exposed: []
    }
  };
}

onInstall​

Called when the app is being installed.

TODO: Add onInstall hook details and examples

Use Cases​

  • Run database migrations
  • Create initial data
  • Set up resources

Example​

onInstall: async (context) => {
  // Run migrations
  await context.db.migrate();

  // Create initial data
  await createDefaultSettings(context);
}

onUninstall​

Called when the app is being removed.

TODO: Add onUninstall hook details and examples

Use Cases​

  • Clean up resources
  • Export data
  • Remove temporary files

onDestroy​

Called when the process is shutting down.

TODO: Add onDestroy hook details and examples

Use Cases​

  • Close database connections
  • Flush logs
  • Clean up gracefully

Error Handling​

TODO: Document error handling in hooks:

  • Throwing errors from hooks
  • Retry behavior
  • Failed state handling

Async Hooks​

All hooks are async and can return promises.

Hook Execution Order​

TODO: Add diagram showing hook execution flow