Using MikroORM with AdminJS

Installation

To use MikroORM with AdminJS you need to install:

1. AdminJS Core:

$ yarn add adminjs

2. MikroORM Adapter:

$ yarn add @adminjs/mikroorm
# A MikroORM driver and core package, choose the one which suits you:
$ yarn add @mikro-orm/core @mikro-orm/mongodb     # for mongo
$ yarn add @mikro-orm/core @mikro-orm/mysql       # for mysql
$ yarn add @mikro-orm/core @mikro-orm/mariadb     # for mariadb
$ yarn add @mikro-orm/core @mikro-orm/postgresql  # for postgresql
$ yarn add @mikro-orm/core @mikro-orm/sqlite      # for sqlite

3. A plugin specific to your server's framework:

• Express Plugin:

$ yarn add @adminjs/express
# Peer dependencies
$ yarn add express express-formidable express-session

• Hapi Plugin:

$ yarn add @adminjs/hapi
# Peer dependencies
$ yarn add @hapi/boom @hapi/cookie @hapi/hapi @hapi/inert

---

Setup

Once the installation process is completed, we need to set up AdminJS endpoints and database connection. The process is straightforward but differs based on which plugin you are using. Below you can find examples specific to supported frameworks:

MikroORM + Express Plugin

import AdminJS from 'adminjs';
import { Database, Resource } from '@adminjs/mikroorm';
import AdminJSExpress from '@adminjs/express';
import { MikroORM } from '@mikro-orm/postgresql';
import { validate } from 'class-validator'; // optional

const PORT = process.env.PORT ?? 3000;

const run = async () => {
  /* Initialize MikroORM like you would do normally, you can also import your MikroORM instance from a separate file */
  const orm = await MikroORM.init({
    entities: [User, Car, Seller], // use your own entities
    dbName: process.env.DATABASE_NAME,
    clientUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  });

  /* Optional: if you're using class-validator, assign it to Resource */
  Resource.validate = validate;
  /* Tell AdminJS which adapter to use */
  AdminJS.registerAdapter({ Database, Resource });

  const app = express();

  /* Create AdminJS instance */
  const admin = new AdminJS({
    databases: [orm],
  });

  const router = AdminJSExpress.buildRouter(admin);

  app.use(admin.options.rootPath, router);

  app.listen(PORT, () => {
    console.log(`App listening at http://localhost:${PORT}`);
  });
}

run();

MikroORM + Hapi Plugin

import AdminJS from 'adminjs';
import { Database, Resource } from '@adminjs/mikroorm';
import AdminJSHapi from '@adminjs/hapi';
import { MikroORM } from '@mikro-orm/postgresql';
import { validate } from 'class-validator'; // optional

const PORT = process.env.PORT ?? 3000;

const run = async () => {
  /* Initialize MikroORM like you would do normally, you can also import your MikroORM instance from a separate file */
  const orm = await MikroORM.init({
    entities: [User, Car, Seller], // use your own entities
    dbName: process.env.DATABASE_NAME,
    clientUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  });

  /* Optional: if you're using class-validator, assign it to Resource */
  Resource.validate = validate;
  /* Tell AdminJS which adapter to use */
  AdminJS.registerAdapter({ Database, Resource });

  const server = Hapi.server({ port: PORT })

  /* Configure AdminJS */
  const adminOptions = {
    databases: [orm],
  };

  /* Register AdminJS as a Hapi server's plugin */
  await server.register({
    plugin: AdminJSHapi,
    options: adminOptions,
  });

  await server.start();
  console.log(`App listening at ${server.info.uri}`);
}

run();

You can start your server afterwards and the admin panel will be available at http://localhost:{PORT}/admin. If you followed the example setup thoroughly, you should be able to see all of your entities in the sidebar and you should be able to perform basic CRUD operations on them.

To further customize your AdminJS panel, please refer to the official documentation.

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Authentication

The examples above set up AdminJS with unauthenticated access. To require your users to authenticate before accessing the admin panel, some plugin-specific modifications are required:

Express

You need to use AdminJSExpress.buildAuthenticatedRouter instead of AdminJS.buildRouter:

Before:

  const router = AdminJSExpress.buildRouter(admin);

After:

const ADMIN_EMAIL = 'example@test.com';
const ADMIN_PASSWORD = 'password';

const router = AdminJSExpress.buildAuthenticatedRouter(admin, {
  authenticate: async (email, password) => {
    /* Your code for verifying email & password goes here */
    return email === ADMIN_EMAIL && password === ADMIN_PASSWORD
      ? { email } // the function should return an object containing user's data if authenticated successfully
      : null;
  },
  cookiePassword: process.env.COOKIE_PASSWORD ?? 'makesurepasswordissecure',
});

Hapi

You need to simply add auth property to AdminJS options.

Before:

const adminOptions = {
  databases: [orm],
};

After:

const ADMIN_EMAIL = 'example@test.com';
const ADMIN_PASSWORD = 'password';

const adminOptions = {
  databases: [orm],
  auth: {
    authenticate: async (email, password) => {
      /* Your code for verifying email & password goes here */
      return email === ADMIN_EMAIL && password === ADMIN_PASSWORD
        ? { email } // the function should return an object containing user's data if authenticated successfully
        : null;
    },
    strategy: 'session',
    cookiePassword: process.env.COOKIE_PASSWORD ?? 'makesurepasswordissecure',
    isSecure: false, // only https requests
  },
};

---

Example

An example app using MikroORM with AdminJS can be found here