Nodejs Backend Patterns

# Node.js Backend Patterns

Comprehensive guidance for building scalable, maintainable, and production-ready Node.js backend applications with modern frameworks, architectural patterns, and best practices.

## When to Use This Skill

- Building REST APIs or GraphQL servers
- Creating microservices with Node.js
- Implementing authentication and authorization
- Designing scalable backend architectures
- Setting up middleware and error handling
- Integrating databases (SQL and NoSQL)
- Building real-time applications with WebSockets
- Implementing background job processing

## Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in `references/details.md`. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

## Best Practices

1. **Use TypeScript**: Type safety prevents runtime errors
2. **Implement proper error handling**: Use custom error classes
3. **Validate input**: Use libraries like Zod or Joi
4. **Use environment variables**: Never hardcode secrets
5. **Implement logging**: Use structured logging (Pino, Winston)
6. **Add rate limiting**: Prevent abuse
7. **Use HTTPS**: Always in production
8. **Implement CORS properly**: Don't use `*` in production
9. **Use dependency injection**: Easier testing and maintenance
10. **Write tests**: Unit, integration, and E2E tests
11. **Handle graceful shutdown**: Clean up resources
12. **Use connection pooling**: For databases
13. **Implement health checks**: For monitoring
14. **Use compression**: Reduce response size
15. **Monitor performance**: Use APM tools

## Testing Patterns

See `javascript-testing-patterns` skill for comprehensive testing guidance.


# Node.js Advanced Patterns

Advanced patterns for dependency injection, database integration, authentication, caching, and API response formatting.

## Dependency Injection

### DI Container

```typescript
// di-container.ts
import { Pool } from "pg";
import { UserRepository } from "./repositories/user.repository";
import { UserService } from "./services/user.service";
import { UserController } from "./controllers/user.controller";
import { AuthService } from "./services/auth.service";

class Container {
  private instances = new Map<string, any>();

  register<T>(key: string, factory: () => T): void {
    this.instances.set(key, factory);
  }

  resolve<T>(key: string): T {
    const factory = this.instances.get(key);
    if (!factory) {
      throw new Error(`No factory registered for ${key}`);
    }
    return factory();
  }

  singleton<T>(key: string, factory: () => T): void {
    let instance: T;
    this.instances.set(key, () => {
      if (!instance) {
        instance = factory();
      }
      return instance;
    });
  }
}

export const container = new Container();

// Register dependencies
container.singleton(
  "db",
  () =>
    new Pool({
      host: process.env.DB_HOST,
      port: parseInt(process.env.DB_PORT || "5432"),
      database: process.env.DB_NAME,
      user: process.env.DB_USER,
      password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
      max: 20,
      idleTimeoutMillis: 30000,
      connectionTimeoutMillis: 2000,
    }),
);

container.singleton(
  "userRepository",
  () => new UserRepository(container.resolve("db")),
);

container.singleton(
  "userService",
  () => new UserService(container.resolve("userRepository")),
);

container.register(
  "userController",
  () => new UserController(container.resolve("userService")),
);

container.singleton(
  "authService",
  () => new AuthService(container.resolve("userRepository")),
);
```

## Database Patterns

### PostgreSQL with Connection Pool

```typescript
// config/database.ts
import { Pool, PoolConfig }