The onBeforeRoute() hook provides full control over routing.

It is usually used for internationalization:

export { onBeforeRoute }
 
function onBeforeRoute(pageContext) {
  const { urlWithoutLocale, locale } = extractLocale(pageContext.urlPathname)
  return {
    pageContext: {
      locale,
      urlLogical: urlWithoutLocale
    }
  }
}

We can also use it to implement a custom router.

⚠️
For use cases other than i18n, open a GitHub ticket or reach out on Discord: onBeforeRoute() is purposely limited but the limitations can be lifted in order to unlock new capabilities.

Example:

TypeScript

export { onBeforeRoute }
 
import type { OnBeforeRouteSync } from 'vike/types'
 
const onBeforeRoute: OnBeforeRouteSync = (pageContext): ReturnType<OnBeforeRouteSync> => {
  // ...
}

Don't omit ReturnType<OnBeforeRouteSync> otherwise TypeScript won't strictly check the return type.

See API > pageContext > Typescript for more information on how to extend pageContext with your own extra properties.