How do you set HTTP status codes, response headers, and redirects in NestJS without using @Res()?

Q: How do you set HTTP status codes, response headers, and redirects in NestJS without using @Res()?

// Custom status code — 202 Accepted @Post() @HttpCode(HttpStatus.ACCEPTED) create(@Body() dto: CreateUserDto) { return this.usersService.create(dto); } // Custom response header @Get(':id') @Header('Cache-Control', 'max-age=3600, public') findOne(@Param('id', ParseIntPipe) id: number) { return this.usersService.findOne(id); } // Static redirect @Get('legacy-path') @Redirect('https://example.com/new-path', 301) redirect() {} // Dynamic redirect — returned object overrides @Redirect decorator @Get(':id') @Redirect() findAndRedirect(@Param('id') id: string) { const slug = this.service.getSlug(id); return { url: `/posts/${slug}`, statusCode: 302 }; } @HttpCode(status) overrides the default status — NestJS defaults to 200 for GET and 201 for POST. @Header('key', 'value') sets a static response header — cannot be computed at runtime. @Redirect(url, status) performs a redirect — return { url, statusCode } to override dynamically. All three decorators keep the handler in NestJS's pipeline — interceptors still wrap the response. Using @Res() instead switches to library-specific mode — interceptors and serialization stop working.

Difficulty: 5/10

HTTP status codes, response headers, redirects

NestJS provides purpose-built decorators: @HttpCode() for custom status codes, @Header() for response headers, and @Redirect() for redirects. These keep the handler return value in NestJS's pipeline so interceptors and ClassSerializerInterceptor still work. Injecting @Res() bypasses the pipeline and should be avoided.

Status codes, headers, and redirects without @Res()

Response decorator rules:

1
@HttpCode(status) overrides the default status — NestJS defaults to 200 for GET and 201 for POST.
2
@Header('key', 'value') sets a static response header — cannot be computed at runtime.
3

How do you set HTTP status codes, response headers, and redirects in NestJS without using @Res()?

Difficulty: 5/10

HTTP status codes, response headers, redirects

NestJS provides purpose-built decorators: @HttpCode() for custom status codes, @Header() for response headers, and @Redirect() for redirects. These keep the handler return value in NestJS's pipeline so interceptors and ClassSerializerInterceptor still work. Injecting @Res() bypasses the pipeline and should be avoided.

Status codes, headers, and redirects without @Res()

Response decorator rules:

1
@HttpCode(status) overrides the default status — NestJS defaults to 200 for GET and 201 for POST.
2
@Header('key', 'value') sets a static response header — cannot be computed at runtime.
3

How do you set HTTP status codes, response headers, and redirects in NestJS without using @Res()?

How do you set HTTP status codes, response headers, and redirects in NestJS without using @Res()?

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