Litestar Lifecycle Hooks

Lifecycle Hooks

Use this skill when the requirement is specifically about the request-handler lifecycle for HTTP handlers, not application bootstrapping or whole-ASGI wrapping.

Execution Workflow

1. Decide which stage matches the requirement: before_request, after_request, or after_response (the exact lifecycle stage needed for behavior injection).
2. Choose the layer intentionally: app, router, controller, or handler (the layer to place the hook in).
3. Keep hook behavior small, deterministic, and clearly cross-cutting.
4. Implement request-state handoff or response mutation explicitly.
5. Test normal flow, short-circuit flow, and layer-precedence behavior explicitly.

Core Rules

• Match the hook to the lifecycle stage instead of forcing one hook to do everything.
• Keep hooks transport-focused and cross-cutting; push domain rules into services or handlers.
• Keep before_request return values deliberate because any non-None response-compatible value bypasses the route handler.
• Keep after_request focused on the resolved Response; it may return the same response or a replacement response.
• Keep after_response side effects safe to run after the response is already sent; it cannot change the response the client received.
• Treat hook placement as behavior: Litestar lifecycle hooks are layered, and the closest layer to the handler takes precedence.
• Use request state or other explicit request-scoped storage when before_request must pass data into the handler.

Decision Guide

• Use before_request when you need request gating, request-state enrichment, or an early HTTP result before the handler runs.
• Use after_request when you need response-object mutation such as reshaping content, adding headers, or swapping the response type.
• Use after_response when you need metrics, counters, audit emission, or third-party notification after the response has already gone out.
• Use litestar-middleware instead when the concern needs raw ASGI scope/receive/send, broad wrapping across route groups, built-in middleware, or WebSocket/lifespan coverage.
• Use litestar-app-setup instead when the concern is before_send, after_exception, on_app_init, startup/shutdown hooks, or lifespan-managed resources.
• Use litestar-events instead when one action should fan out into decoupled in-process side effects rather than inline lifecycle interception.

Reference Files

Read only the sections you need:

• For exact hook semantics, short-circuit behavior, handler-to-response boundaries, and layered precedence, read references/request-response-hooks.md.
• For deciding between lifecycle hooks and middleware, including exception-path and ASGI-boundary differences, read references/hook-vs-middleware.md.

Hook Semantics

before_request

• Runs immediately before the route handler function is called.
• Accepts a Request as its first parameter.
• Returns either None or any value Litestar can use as a response.
• Returning a value bypasses the route handler for that request.
• Best for request enrichment, conditional short-circuiting, and request-scoped flags stored on request.state.

after_request

• Runs after the route handler has returned and Litestar has resolved a Response.
• Accepts a Response as its first parameter.
• Must return a Response.
• May mutate and return the same response or replace it with a different response object.
• Best for response normalization, response metadata, and response-type transformation after handler execution.

after_response

• Runs after the response has been returned by the server.
• Accepts a Request as its first parameter.
• Returns None.
• Cannot affect the response that the client already received.
• Best for post-send metrics, counters, audit trails, and external notifications.

Layering Model

• Lifecycle hooks participate in Litestar's layered architecture.
• You can define them on the application, router, controller, or handler layer.
• If the same lifecycle hook is defined on multiple layers, the layer closest to the handler takes precedence.
• Do not assume hook definitions compose across layers; precedence is override-oriented, not additive.

Recommended Defaults

• Prefer one clear responsibility per hook.
• Store transient per-request data on request.state when before_request needs to communicate with the handler.
• Return None from before_request unless you intentionally want to short-circuit the handler.
• Mutate the existing response in after_request when that is sufficient; replace it only when the response contract truly changes.
• Keep after_response idempotent enough for retries in tests and safe enough that delayed failures do not corrupt request flow assumptions.
• Keep layer overrides narrow and documented by placement rather than comments whenever possible.

Example Pattern

from litestar import Litestar, Request, Response, get
from litestar.status_codes import HTTP_403_FORBIDDEN


async def before_request(request: Request) -> Response | None:
    tenant_id = request.headers.get("x-tenant-id")
    if tenant_id is None:
        return Response({"detail": "missing tenant"}, status_code=HTTP_403_FORBIDDEN)
    request.state.tenant_id = tenant_id
    return None


async def after_request(response: Response) -> Response:
    response.headers["x-service"] = "orders"
    return response


async def after_response(request: Request) -> None:
    request.app.state.setdefault("paths_seen", []).append(request.url.path)


@get("/orders")
async def list_orders(request: Request) -> dict[str, str]:
    return {"tenant_id": request.state.tenant_id}


app = Litestar(
    route_handlers=[list_orders],
    before_request=before_request,
    after_request=after_request,
    after_response=after_response,
)

Anti-Patterns

• Hiding authoritative business rules in hooks instead of the handler or service layer.
• Returning ad hoc shapes from before_request without treating them as real response contracts.
• Doing heavy network or database work in after_request when the concern belongs in after_response, events, or a background mechanism.
• Expecting after_response mutations to show up in the current client response.
• Defining the same hook on multiple layers and expecting all of them to run.
• Using lifecycle hooks as a substitute for startup/shutdown resource management.
• Reaching for middleware when only request or response objects need light interception.

Validation Checklist

• Confirm the chosen hook stage matches the intended timing.
• Confirm before_request short-circuit cases bypass the handler as intended.
• Confirm request-scoped data written by before_request is available where it is later consumed.
• Confirm after_request always returns a valid Response.
• Confirm after_response side effects tolerate the fact that the response is already gone to the client.
• Confirm layer placement is intentional and tested where app/router/controller/handler overrides exist.
• Confirm error-path behavior is tested if hooks must coexist with exception handlers or middleware.
• Confirm the logic still belongs in hooks rather than middleware, events, or app setup.

Cross-Skill Handoffs

• Use litestar-app-setup for startup/shutdown hooks, lifespan, before_send, after_exception, and on_app_init.
• Use litestar-middleware when the concern must wrap the ASGI pipeline rather than request and response objects.
• Use litestar-events for decoupled in-process side effects instead of inline hook fanout.
• Use litestar-testing to verify short-circuit behavior, layer precedence, and post-send side effects.

Litestar References

• https://docs.litestar.dev/latest/usage/lifecycle-hooks.html
• https://docs.litestar.dev/latest/usage/middleware/index.html
• https://docs.litestar.dev/latest/usage/middleware/using-middleware.html