h2o2 VS Hapi

HTTP-based software applications: Hapi has an h2o2 plugin that provides a handler type for proxying HTTP requests to other endpoints

I tend to use hapi (https://hapi.dev) instead of Express if I need to write a quick backend for something these days.

Fastify looks nice too but I haven't used it.

Been burnt by full-stack frameworks in the past (e.g. Meteor) but they can be a good option for some.

Hapi.js commonly referred to as "hapi," is an open-source web application framework for building web and application server systems in Node.js. It was created by Walmart Labs and is designed to provide a flexible and robust foundation for building web applications, APIs, and other networked software.

Restify & Fastify Hapi

Hapi.js: https://hapi.dev/

Hapi – The Simple, Secure Framework Developers Trust

Hapi.js is one of the best Node.js web framework, which is used for developing application program interfaces. Thanks to a strong plugin system Hapi.js, you can fully manage the development process. Hapi.js motivates the devel­oper to focus on the reuse logic instead of spending time building the infrastructure.

does not seem so https://github.com/hapijs/hapi/releases/tag/v21.0.0 (ok, I'm nitpicking on that one)

Joi validator used to be part of hapi but then became a standalone library that you can use everywhere where validation is needed. So for example, here's how username validation can be done: