The answer
Parse request.url with the URL module, check request.method, use a switch or if to match routes, handle 404s for unknown routes, and extract route parameters by splitting the path. This is manual routing that Express formalizes.
How to Do Manual Routing in Node.js Without Express
How do I route without Express in Node.js?
More FAQs in How to Do Manual Routing in Node.js Without Express
Because it teaches how HTTP routing works under the hood. Express abstracts this, but understanding it manually makes Express more meaningful and helps you debug routing issues at a deeper level.
Use the URL module: new URL(request.url, 'http://localhost').searchParams gives you a URLSearchParams object with get and getAll methods for query parameters.
Split the path and extract the id manually. For /api/users/123, split by '/' and take the fourth element. Express formalizes this with its router, but with the raw http module you do it yourself.
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