Node.js Backend - Professional Production-Ready Setup

A comprehensive, production-ready Node.js backend application built with modern technologies and best practices. This repository provides a solid foundation for building scalable, secure, and maintainable APIs.

Features

Core Technologies

• Node.js 20+ with TypeScript for type safety and modern JavaScript features
• Fastify framework for high-performance API development
• Prisma ORM with PostgreSQL for robust database management
• Zod for runtime type validation
• Vitest for comprehensive testing

Security & Quality

• JWT Authentication with secure token management
• Role-based Access Control (RBAC) for fine-grained permissions
• API Key Management for external integrations
• Rate Limiting and security headers (Helmet)
• Input validation and sanitization
• SQL injection protection through Prisma

Developer Experience

• Hot reload for development with tsx
• ESLint & Prettier for code quality and formatting
• Husky pre-commit hooks for automated quality checks
• Comprehensive testing (unit, integration, e2e)
• API documentation with Swagger/OpenAPI
• Docker & Docker Compose for consistent environments

Production Ready

• CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions
• Docker containerization with multi-stage builds
• Health checks and monitoring endpoints
• Structured logging with Winston
• Error handling and recovery
• Performance optimization and caching

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ and npm 10+
• Docker & Docker Compose (for database and development)
• Git for version control
• PostgreSQL 15+ (via Docker)

Quick Start

1. Clone and Setup

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env

2. Start Database

npm run docker:up

3. Database Setup

npm run db:generate
npm run db:migrate
npm run db:seed

4. Start Development Server

npm run dev

Server: http://localhost:3000 Docs: http://localhost:3000/docs

5. Run Tests

npm test
npm run test:unit
npm run test:integration
npm run test:e2e
npm run test:coverage

Project Structure

backend/
├── src/
│   ├── config/
│   ├── middleware/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── types/
│   ├── utils/
│   └── server.ts
├── prisma/
│   ├── schema.prisma
│   └── migrations/
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/
│   ├── integration/
│   └── e2e/
├── docker/
├── .github/workflows/
├── commits/
└── docs/

API Endpoints

Health Check

• GET /health
• GET /health/detailed

Authentication

• POST /api/auth/register
• POST /api/auth/login
• POST /api/auth/logout

Users

• GET /api/users
• GET /api/users/:id
• PATCH /api/users/:id
• DELETE /api/users/:id

Documentation

• GET /docs

Development Commands

# Development
npm run dev
npm run build
npm start

# Database
npm run db:generate
npm run db:push
npm run db:migrate
npm run db:studio
npm run db:seed

# Testing
npm test
npm run test:unit
npm run test:integration
npm run test:e2e
npm run test:coverage

# Code Quality
npm run lint
npm run lint:fix
npm run format

# Docker
npm run docker:up
npm run docker:down

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
NODE_ENV	Environment mode	development
PORT	Server port	3000
HOST	Server host	localhost
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection	Required
JWT_SECRET	JWT signing secret	Required
JWT_EXPIRES_IN	Token expiration	24h
CORS_ORIGIN	Allowed origins	http://localhost:3000,http://localhost:5173

Docker Services

• PostgreSQL 15
• Redis 7
• Adminer (port 8080)

Access Adminer at http://localhost:8080 Credentials:

• System: PostgreSQL
• Server: postgres
• Username: postgres
• Password: password
• Database: nodejs_backend

Testing Strategy

Types

1. Unit Tests
2. Integration Tests
3. End-to-End Tests

Coverage Goals

• Branches: 80%
• Functions: 80%
• Lines: 80%
• Statements: 80%

Commands

npm test -- --watch
npm test auth.test.ts
npm run test:coverage
npm run test:coverage -- --reporter=html

Deployment

Docker Production Build

docker build -t nodejs-backend .
docker run -p 3000:3000 --env-file .env nodejs-backend

Steps

1. Set production environment variables
2. Configure PostgreSQL
3. Set up SSL certificates
4. Configure reverse proxy (Nginx)
5. Enable monitoring and logging

Performance & Monitoring

Health Checks

• /health
• /health/detailed

Logging

• Structured JSON logs with Winston
• Request and error tracking
• Performance metrics

Security

• Helmet.js headers
• CORS configuration
• Rate limiting
• Input validation