Route Visualizer

Route Visualizer Skill

When to Use This Skill

Load this skill when:

• Debugging route registration and handler mapping in a ColdBox application
• Verifying that REST API routes are correctly defined and ordered
• Checking which HTTP methods, patterns, and actions are registered
• Onboarding new developers to understand the application's URL structure

Installation

Install as a development-only dependency:

box install route-visualizer --saveDev

Accessing the Route Visualizer

Once installed, navigate to:

http://localhost:8500/route-visualizer

The visualizer displays all registered routes including:

• HTTP method(s) allowed
• URL pattern
• Handler and action target
• Route name
• Module (if applicable)
• Middleware assigned

Module-Specific Routes

To view routes for a specific module:

http://localhost:8500/route-visualizer?module=api

Filtering Routes

The UI supports text-based filtering. Use the search box to filter by path, handler, or name.

Best Practices

• Install with --saveDev — should never be present in production environments
• Restrict to development only — confirm the module is listed under devDependencies in box.json, not dependencies
• Verify route ordering — ColdBox routes are first-match-wins; use the visualizer to catch shadowing
• Use before deploying to confirm all expected API routes are registered after router changes
• Do not commit --savedev installs to shared production boxes — use box.json environment scoping

box.json Example

{
    "devDependencies": {
        "route-visualizer": "^1.0.0"
    }
}

Documentation

• route-visualizer: https://github.com/coldbox-modules/route-visualizer