REST APIs with Node.js

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ installed
• JavaScript/TypeScript knowledge
• Postman or similar for testing APIs
• MongoDB Atlas or PostgreSQL configured
• Git for version control

Setting up the project

We'll set up a Node.js project with Express, TypeScript and a professional folder structure that scales well as your API grows.

mkdir my-api && cd my-api
npm init -y
npm install express cors dotenv
npm install -D typescript @types/express @types/node ts-node nodemon

Creating routes and controllers

Organizing your API with separate routes and controllers keeps the code clean and easy to maintain. We'll follow the MVC pattern adapted for REST APIs.

// routes/users.ts
import { Router } from 'express'
import { getUsers, createUser } from '../controllers/users'

const router = Router()

router.get('/', getUsers)
router.post('/', createUser)

export default router

Conclusion

You've learned to build a professional REST API with Node.js and Express. These fundamentals will serve you for any backend project. Continue exploring JWT authentication, data validation and automated testing.