Forms & Actions

Forms in @putnami/react use progressive enhancement: they work without JavaScript and become richer with it. Actions handle form submissions on the server.

Basic form

Action handler

// src/app/contact/action.ts
import { action } from '@putnami/react';

export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const data = await ctx.body<{
    name: string;
    email: string;
    message: string;
  }>();

  await sendContactEmail(data);

  return { ok: true, message: 'Message sent!' };
});

Form component

// src/app/contact/page.tsx
import { Form, useActionData, useNavigation } from '@putnami/react';

export default function ContactPage() {
  const actionData = useActionData<{ ok: boolean; message?: string; error?: string }>();
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  const isSubmitting = navigation.state === 'submitting';

  return (
    <Form method="post">
      <input name="name" placeholder="Name" required />
      <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Email" required />
      <textarea name="message" placeholder="Message" required />

      <button type="submit" disabled={isSubmitting}>
        {isSubmitting ? 'Sending...' : 'Send'}
      </button>

      {actionData?.ok && <p className="success">{actionData.message}</p>}
      {actionData?.error && <p className="error">{actionData.error}</p>}
    </Form>
  );
}

Form validation

Server-side validation

// src/app/register/action.ts
import { action } from '@putnami/react';
import { validateSync, IsEmail, MinLength, IsString } from '@putnami/runtime';

class RegisterDto {
  @IsString()
  @MinLength(2)
  name: string;

  @IsEmail()
  email: string;

  @MinLength(8)
  password: string;
}

export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const body = await ctx.body<RegisterDto>();
  const dto = Object.assign(new RegisterDto(), body);

  const errors = validateSync(dto);
  if (errors.length > 0) {
    return {
      ok: false,
      errors: errors.reduce((acc, err) => {
        acc[err.property] = Object.values(err.constraints || {});
        return acc;
      }, {} as Record<string, string[]>),
    };
  }

  // Check if email exists
  const existing = await findUserByEmail(body.email);
  if (existing) {
    return {
      ok: false,
      errors: { email: ['Email already registered'] },
    };
  }

  const user = await createUser(body);
  return { ok: true, userId: user.id };
});

Displaying validation errors

// src/app/register/page.tsx
import { Form, useActionData, useNavigation } from '@putnami/react';

interface ActionResult {
  ok: boolean;
  errors?: Record<string, string[]>;
  userId?: string;
}

export default function RegisterPage() {
  const actionData = useActionData<ActionResult>();
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  const errors = actionData?.errors || {};

  return (
    <Form method="post">
      <div>
        <input name="name" placeholder="Name" />
        {errors.name?.map((err, i) => (
          <span key={i} className="error">{err}</span>
        ))}
      </div>

      <div>
        <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Email" />
        {errors.email?.map((err, i) => (
          <span key={i} className="error">{err}</span>
        ))}
      </div>

      <div>
        <input name="password" type="password" placeholder="Password" />
        {errors.password?.map((err, i) => (
          <span key={i} className="error">{err}</span>
        ))}
      </div>

      <button type="submit" disabled={navigation.state === 'submitting'}>
        Register
      </button>
    </Form>
  );
}

Submission states

Navigation state

import { useNavigation } from '@putnami/react';

function SubmitButton() {
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  // navigation.state can be:
  // - 'idle': No pending navigation
  // - 'submitting': Form is being submitted
  // - 'loading': Navigation is loading

  const isSubmitting = navigation.state === 'submitting';

  return (
    <button type="submit" disabled={isSubmitting}>
      {isSubmitting ? (
        <>
          <Spinner /> Submitting...
        </>
      ) : (
        'Submit'
      )}
    </button>
  );
}

Optimistic UI

import { Form, useNavigation, useActionData } from '@putnami/react';

function TodoItem({ todo }: { todo: Todo }) {
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  // Check if this specific form is submitting
  const isDeleting =
    navigation.state === 'submitting' &&
    navigation.formData?.get('todoId') === todo.id;

  return (
    <div style={{ opacity: isDeleting ? 0.5 : 1 }}>
      <span>{todo.title}</span>
      <Form method="post" action="/todos/delete">
        <input type="hidden" name="todoId" value={todo.id} />
        <button type="submit" disabled={isDeleting}>
          {isDeleting ? 'Deleting...' : 'Delete'}
        </button>
      </Form>
    </div>
  );
}

Fetchers

Use useFetcher for form submissions that don't navigate.

Basic fetcher

import { useFetcher } from '@putnami/react';

function NewsletterSignup() {
  const fetcher = useFetcher<{ ok: boolean; error?: string }>();

  return (
    <fetcher.Form method="post" action="/api/newsletter">
      <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Email" />
      <button type="submit" disabled={fetcher.state === 'submitting'}>
        {fetcher.state === 'submitting' ? 'Subscribing...' : 'Subscribe'}
      </button>

      {fetcher.data?.ok && <p>Thanks for subscribing!</p>}
      {fetcher.data?.error && <p className="error">{fetcher.data.error}</p>}
    </fetcher.Form>
  );
}

Fetcher for data loading

import { useFetcher } from '@putnami/react';
import { useEffect } from 'react';

function UserSearch() {
  const fetcher = useFetcher<{ users: User[] }>();
  const [query, setQuery] = useState('');

  useEffect(() => {
    if (query.length > 2) {
      fetcher.load(`/api/users/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}`);
    }
  }, [query]);

  return (
    <div>
      <input
        value={query}
        onChange={(e) => setQuery(e.target.value)}
        placeholder="Search users..."
      />

      {fetcher.state === 'loading' && <p>Searching...</p>}

      {fetcher.data?.users.map((user) => (
        <div key={user.id}>{user.name}</div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

Multiple fetchers

import { useFetcher } from '@putnami/react';

function TodoList({ todos }: { todos: Todo[] }) {
  return (
    <ul>
      {todos.map((todo) => (
        <TodoItem key={todo.id} todo={todo} />
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

function TodoItem({ todo }: { todo: Todo }) {
  const fetcher = useFetcher();

  const isToggling = fetcher.state === 'submitting';
  const optimisticComplete = isToggling
    ? fetcher.formData?.get('completed') === 'true'
    : todo.completed;

  return (
    <li style={{ opacity: isToggling ? 0.7 : 1 }}>
      <fetcher.Form method="post" action="/api/todos/toggle">
        <input type="hidden" name="id" value={todo.id} />
        <input type="hidden" name="completed" value={String(!todo.completed)} />
        <button type="submit">
          {optimisticComplete ? '✓' : '○'}
        </button>
      </fetcher.Form>
      <span>{todo.title}</span>
    </li>
  );
}

File uploads

Form with file input

import { Form, useActionData, useNavigation } from '@putnami/react';

export default function UploadPage() {
  const actionData = useActionData<{ ok: boolean; url?: string }>();
  const navigation = useNavigation();

  return (
    <Form method="post" encType="multipart/form-data">
      <input type="file" name="file" accept="image/*" />
      <button type="submit" disabled={navigation.state === 'submitting'}>
        Upload
      </button>

      {actionData?.ok && (
        <img src={actionData.url} alt="Uploaded" />
      )}
    </Form>
  );
}

File upload action

// src/app/upload/action.ts
import { action } from '@putnami/react';

export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const formData = await ctx.req.formData();
  const file = formData.get('file') as File;

  if (!file || file.size === 0) {
    return { ok: false, error: 'No file provided' };
  }

  // Validate file type
  if (!file.type.startsWith('image/')) {
    return { ok: false, error: 'Only images allowed' };
  }

  // Save file
  const buffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
  const path = `/uploads/${crypto.randomUUID()}-${file.name}`;
  await Bun.write(`public${path}`, buffer);

  return { ok: true, url: path };
});

Programmatic submission

useSubmit

import { useSubmit } from '@putnami/react';

function AutoSaveForm() {
  const submit = useSubmit();
  const formRef = useRef<HTMLFormElement>(null);

  // Auto-save on change
  const handleChange = () => {
    if (formRef.current) {
      submit(formRef.current, { replace: true });
    }
  };

  return (
    <form ref={formRef} method="post" onChange={handleChange}>
      <input name="title" />
      <textarea name="content" />
    </form>
  );
}

Submit with custom data

import { useSubmit } from '@putnami/react';

function DeleteButton({ id }: { id: string }) {
  const submit = useSubmit();

  const handleDelete = () => {
    if (confirm('Are you sure?')) {
      submit(
        { id, action: 'delete' },
        { method: 'post', action: '/api/items' }
      );
    }
  };

  return <button onClick={handleDelete}>Delete</button>;
}

Action patterns

Redirect after action

// action.ts
import { action } from '@putnami/react';
import { HttpResponse } from '@putnami/application';

export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const body = await ctx.body<CreatePostInput>();
  const post = await createPost(body);

  // Redirect to the new post
  return HttpResponse.redirect(`/posts/${post.id}`);
});

Return errors vs throw

import { action } from '@putnami/react';

// Returning errors (for validation)
export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const body = await ctx.body<Input>();

  if (!body.email) {
    return { ok: false, error: 'Email required' };
  }

  return { ok: true };
});

// Throwing errors (for unexpected failures)
export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const body = await ctx.body<Input>();
  const user = await findUser(body.userId);

  if (!user) {
    throw new NotFoundException('User not found');
  }

  return { ok: true };
});

Multiple actions in one route

// action.ts
import { action } from '@putnami/react';

export default action(async (ctx) => {
  const body = await ctx.body<{ intent: string; [key: string]: unknown }>();

  switch (body.intent) {
    case 'create':
      return handleCreate(body);
    case 'update':
      return handleUpdate(body);
    case 'delete':
      return handleDelete(body);
    default:
      return { ok: false, error: 'Unknown intent' };
  }
});

// page.tsx
<Form method="post">
  <input type="hidden" name="intent" value="create" />
  {/* ... */}
</Form>

<Form method="post">
  <input type="hidden" name="intent" value="delete" />
  <input type="hidden" name="id" value={item.id} />
  <button type="submit">Delete</button>
</Form>

CSRF protection

When the server enables CSRF protection via http({ csrf: true }), form actions and the useFetch hook automatically include the CSRF token in the X-CSRF-Token header. No client-side code changes are required.

• <Form> POST submissions — token is read from the _csrf cookie and attached automatically.
• useFetch with POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH — token is injected automatically. GET, HEAD, and OPTIONS are skipped.

For manual fetch() calls, read the token from document.cookie:

const csrfToken = document.cookie
  .split('; ')
  .find(c => c.startsWith('_csrf='))
  ?.split('=')[1];

fetch('/api/submit', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-CSRF-Token': csrfToken },
  body: JSON.stringify(data),
});

See HTTP & Middleware — CSRF protection for server configuration options.

Related guides

• Web
• React Routing
• HTTP & Middleware
• Errors & Responses