Getting started

The first thing I suggest you do is install the Visual Studio F# Nancy Templates (and F# Web Item Templates). Then open Visual Studio, create a new project and choose the F# Nancy Applications template. I pick Empty Self-Host.

Note that the versions of Nancy referenced in packages.config might be out of date - in my case I get Nancy version 0.17 while Nancy is at 1.1. So I suggest you go to the Package Manager Console (Tools >> NuGet Package Manager >> Package Manager Console) and type Update-Package which will update all packages in the project.

The template has a couple of files, but the most interesting one is Program.fs:

module NancyIntro.Program

open System
open Nancy.Hosting.Self

[<EntryPoint>]
let main args =
    let uri = Uri("http://localhost:3579")

    use host = new NancyHost(uri)
    host.Start()

    Console.WriteLine("Your application is running on " + uri.AbsoluteUri)
    Console.WriteLine("Press any [Enter] to close the host.")
    Console.ReadLine() |> ignore
    0

I suggest you try building and running the app immediately. I get a HttpListenerException: permission denied. This is because Nancy by default rewrites localhost URI's to listen on all interfaces, which my system does not allow. This can be fixed by creating a HostConfiguration and setting RewriteLocalhost to false:

module NancyIntro.Program

open System
open Nancy.Hosting.Self

[<EntryPoint>]
let main args =
    let uri = Uri("http://localhost:3579")
    let configuration = HostConfiguration()
    configuration.RewriteLocalhost <- false

    use host = new NancyHost(configuration, uri)
    host.Start()

    Console.WriteLine("Your application is running on " + uri.AbsoluteUri)
    Console.WriteLine("Press any [Enter] to close the host.")
    Console.ReadLine() |> ignore
    0

If you now get a different HttpListenerException (can't access file) I suggest changing the port number in the URI - it's probably because something else is using that port.

Once it builds and runs, the terminal will show you which address you can access it on. Point your browser there - you should get a 404 error, since we haven't defined any routes yet.

Defining a route is pretty easy - you define a type, inherit from NancyModule and then provide the routes for that module. Add below code snippet above the main function (you will also need to open Nancy to get access to NancyModule):

type IndexModule() as x =
    inherit NancyModule()
    do x.Get.["/"] <- fun _ -> box "hello world"

Looks like Get is a property that returns a dictionary-like object! And it stores functions! Here we store a function that simply returns hello world at the route /. You can now build and run your app again and fire up your browser. Go to http://localhost:3579 (or whatever address Nancy listens on) and you should get a plain "hello world" response instead of the 404.

The entire Program.fs file now looks like below. You can also checkout the entire NancyIntro project.

module NancyIntro.Program

open System
open Nancy
open Nancy.Hosting.Self

type IndexModule() as x =
    inherit NancyModule()
    do x.Get.["/"] <- fun _ -> box "hello world"

[<EntryPoint>]
let main args =
    let uri = Uri("http://localhost:3571")
    let configuration = HostConfiguration()
    configuration.RewriteLocalhost <- false

    use host = new NancyHost(configuration, uri)
    host.Start()

    Console.WriteLine("Your application is running on " + uri.AbsoluteUri)
    Console.WriteLine("Press any [Enter] to close the host.")
    Console.ReadLine() |> ignore
    0

This should give you a pretty rough idea of how to use Nancy with F#. I suggest you check out the other Nancy templates as they show show much more functionality. I also recommend the mentioned F# centered introduction. I will also be writing more articles as my StuffExchange project progresses.