Building REST APIs with Node.js and Express

Creating robust APIs is essential for modern web applications. Let's build one step by step.

Project Setup

mkdir api-project
cd api-project
npm init -y
npm install express cors helmet
npm install -D typescript @types/express @types/node

Basic Express Server

import express from 'express';
import cors from 'cors';
import helmet from 'helmet';

const app = express();

app.use(helmet());
app.use(cors());
app.use(express.json());

app.get('/api/health', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ status: 'ok' });
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server running on port 3000');
});

Creating Routes

// routes/users.ts
import { Router } from 'express';

const router = Router();

router.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  const users = await getUsers();
  res.json(users);
});

router.post('/', async (req, res) => {
  const user = await createUser(req.body);
  res.status(201).json(user);
});

export default router;

Error Handling

Always implement proper error handling middleware for production APIs.

Next Steps

• Add authentication with JWT
• Implement rate limiting
• Add request validation
• Set up logging