---
lang: en
title: 'Application'
keywords: LoopBack 4.0, LoopBack 4, Node.js, TypeScript, OpenAPI, Concepts
sidebar: lb4_sidebar
permalink: /doc/en/lb4/Application.html
---

## What is an Application?

In LoopBack 4, the
[`Application`](https://loopback.io/doc/en/lb4/apidocs.core.application.html)
class is the central class for setting up all of your module's components,
controllers, servers and bindings. The `Application` class extends
[Context](Context.md) and provides the controls for starting and stopping itself
and its associated servers.

When using LoopBack 4, we strongly encourage you to create your own subclass of
`Application` to better organize your configuration and setup.

## Making your own application class

By making your own application class, you can perform several additional tasks
as a part of your setup:

- Pass the configuration into the base class constructor
- Perform asynchronous startup functions before starting the application
- Perform graceful cleanup functions when the application stops

{% include code-caption.html content="src/widget.application.ts" %}

```ts
import {Application} from '@loopback/core';
import {RestComponent} from '@loopback/rest';
import {UserController, ShoppingCartController} from './controllers';

export class WidgetApplication extends Application {
  constructor() {
    // This is where you would pass configuration to the base constructor
    // (as well as handle your own!)
    super({
      rest: {
        port: 8080,
      },
    });

    const app = this; // For clarity.
    // You can bind to the Application-level context here.
    // app.bind('foo').to(bar);
    app.component(RestComponent);
    app.controller(UserController);
    app.controller(ShoppingCartController);
  }

  async stop() {
    // This is where you would do whatever is necessary before stopping your
    // app (graceful closing of connections, flushing buffers, etc)
    console.log('Widget application is shutting down...');
    // The superclass stop method will call stop on all servers that are
    // bound to the application.
    await super.stop();
  }
}
```

## Configuring your application

Your application can be configured with constructor arguments, bindings, or a
combination of both.

### Binding configuration

Binding is the most commonly-demonstrated form of application configuration
throughout our examples. Binding is the recommended method for setting up your
application.

In addition to the binding functions provided by [Context](Context.md), the
`Application` class also provides some sugar functions for commonly used
bindings, like `component`, `server` and `controller`:

```ts
export class MyApplication extends Application {
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.component(MagicSuite);
    this.server(RestServer, 'public');
    this.server(RestServer, 'private');

    this.controller(FooController);
    this.controller(BarController);
    this.controller(BazController);
  }
}
```

You can find a complete list of these functions on the
[`Application`](https://loopback.io/doc/en/lb4/apidocs.core.application.html)
API docs page.

Additionally, you can use more advanced forms of binding to fine-tune your
application's configuration:

```ts
export class MyApplication extends Application {
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.server(RestServer);
    this.controller(FooController);
    this.bind('fooCorp.logger').toProvider(LogProvider);
    this.bind('repositories.widget')
      .toClass(WidgetRepository)
      .inScope(BindingScope.SINGLETON);
  }
}
```

In the above example:

- injection calls for `fooCorp.logger` will be handled by the `LogProvider`
  class.
- injection calls for `repositories.widget` will be handled by a singleton
  instance of the `WidgetRepository` class.

#### Components

```ts
app.component(MyComponent);
app.component(RestComponent);
```

The `component` function allows binding of component constructors within your
`Application` instance's context.

For more information on how to make use of components, see
[Using Components](Using-components.md).

#### Controllers

```ts
app.controller(FooController);
app.controller(BarController);
```

Much like the component function, the `controller` function allows binding of
[Controllers](Controllers.md) to the `Application` context.

#### Servers

```ts
app.server(RestServer);
app.servers([MyServer, GrpcServer]);
```

The `server` function is much like the previous functions, but bulk bindings are
possible with [Servers](Server.md) through the function `servers`.

```ts
const app = new Application();
app.server(RestServer, 'public'); // {'public': RestServer}
app.server(RestServer, 'private'); // {'private': RestServer}
```

In the above example, the two server instances would be bound to the Application
context under the keys `servers.public` and `servers.private`, respectively.

### Constructor configuration

The `Application` class constructor also accepts an
[`ApplicationConfig`](https://loopback.io/doc/en/lb4/apidocs.core.applicationconfig.html)
object which contains component-level configurations such as
[`RestServerConfig`](https://loopback.io/doc/en/lb4/apidocs.rest.restserverconfig.html).
It will automatically create bindings for these configurations and later be
injected through dependency injections. Visit
[Dependency Injection](Dependency-injection.md) for more information.

{% include note.html content="
Binding configuration such as component binding,
provider binding, or binding scopes are not possible with the constructor-based
configuration approach.
" %}

```ts
export class MyApplication extends RestApplication {
  constructor() {
    super({
      rest: {
        port: 4000,
        host: 'my-host',
      },
    });
  }
}
```

## Tips for application setup

Here are some tips for application setup to help avoid common pitfalls and
mistakes.

### Extend from `RestApplication` when using `RestServer`

If you want to use `RestServer` from the `@loopback/rest` package, we recommend
extending `RestApplication` in your app instead of manually binding `RestServer`
or `RestComponent`. `RestApplication` already uses `RestComponent` and makes
useful functions in `RestServer` like `handler()` available at the app level.
This means you can call the `RestServer` functions to perform all of your
server-level setups in the app constructor without having to explicitly retrieve
an instance of your server.

### Serve static files

The `RestServer` allows static files to be served. It can be set up by calling
the `static()` API.

```ts
app.static('/html', rootDirForHtml);
```

or

```ts
server.static(['/html', '/public'], rootDirForHtml);
```

Static assets are not allowed to be mounted on `/` to avoid performance penalty
as `/` matches all paths and incurs file system access for each HTTP request.

The static() API delegates to
[serve-static](https://expressjs.com/en/resources/middleware/serve-static.html)
to serve static files. Please see
https://expressjs.com/en/starter/static-files.html and
https://expressjs.com/en/4x/api.html#express.static for details.

**WARNING**:

> The static assets are served before LoopBack sequence of actions. If an error
> is thrown, the `reject` action will NOT be triggered.

### Use unique bindings

Use binding names that are prefixed with a unique string that does not overlap
with LoopBack's bindings. As an example, if your application is built for your
employer FooCorp, you can prefix your bindings with `fooCorp`.

```ts
// This is unlikely to conflict with keys used by other component developers
// or within loopback itself!
app.bind('fooCorp.widgetServer.config').to(widgetServerConfig);
```

### Avoid use of `getSync`

We provide the
[`getSync`](https://loopback.io/doc/en/lb4/apidocs.context.getsync.html)
function for scenarios where you cannot asynchronously retrieve your bindings,
such as in constructor bodies.

However, the number of scenarios in which you must do this are limited, and you
should avoid potential race conditions and retrieve your bindings asynchronously
using the [`get`](https://loopback.io/doc/en/lb4/apidocs.context.get.html)
function whenever possible.

### Use caution with singleton binding scopes

By default, bindings for controllers will instantiate a new instance whenever
they are injected or retrieved from their binding. Your application should only
set singleton binding scopes on controllers when it makes sense to do so.
