Node.js Development

Build scalable backend systems with JavaScript everywhere

JavaScript for Backend Development

Node.js changed the game by bringing JavaScript to the server. Before Node, JavaScript ran only in browsers: you needed separate languages for frontend (JavaScript) and backend (PHP, Ruby, Python, Java). Node.js lets you write both frontend and backend in JavaScript. Same language, same syntax, same paradigms. For developers this means less context switching. For businesses it means smaller teams can handle full-stack development.

Node.js excels at I/O-heavy workloads: APIs handling thousands of requests, real-time applications with WebSocket connections, microservices architectures, streaming data pipelines. The event-driven, non-blocking I/O model makes Node extremely efficient for concurrent connections. A single Node.js process can handle thousands of simultaneous requests using far less memory than traditional thread-per-request models.

We build production Node.js backends for APIs, microservices, real-time systems, and data processing pipelines. Whether you need RESTful APIs, GraphQL servers, WebSocket services, or serverless functions, Node.js provides the performance and developer productivity for modern backend development.

Our Node.js Expertise

RESTful & GraphQL APIs

Node.js is perfect for building APIs. We develop RESTful APIs with Express.js or Fastify, GraphQL APIs with Apollo Server, and real-time APIs with WebSockets. Properly architected Node APIs handle thousands of requests per second with sub-100ms response times.

API Patterns:

  • β€’ RESTful design
  • β€’ GraphQL schemas
  • β€’ WebSocket servers
  • β€’ Server-Sent Events
  • β€’ Rate limiting & throttling

Security:

  • β€’ JWT authentication
  • β€’ OAuth 2.0 / OIDC
  • β€’ Input validation
  • β€’ CORS configuration
  • β€’ Rate limiting

Performance:

  • β€’ Response caching
  • β€’ Database query optimization
  • β€’ Compression middleware
  • β€’ Connection pooling
  • β€’ Load balancing

Microservices Architecture

Node.js lightweight footprint and fast startup time make it ideal for microservices. We build microservices architectures where each service handles specific business logic, communicates via APIs or message queues, and scales independently. This architectural approach improves maintainability and allows teams to deploy services independently.

Common patterns: API Gateway routing, service discovery, event-driven communication with RabbitMQ or Kafka, distributed tracing, health checks, and graceful shutdown handling.

Real-Time Applications

Node.js event-driven architecture excels at real-time features: chat applications, live notifications, collaborative editing, live dashboards, multiplayer games. WebSocket support provides bi-directional communication where servers push updates to clients instantly instead of polling.

Technologies: Socket.IO for WebSockets, Redis Pub/Sub for scaling across multiple servers, Server-Sent Events for one-way streaming, long polling fallbacks for older browsers.

Serverless Functions

Node.js is the most popular language for serverless functions on AWS Lambda, Vercel, Netlify Functions, and Cloudflare Workers. Fast cold start times and JavaScript's ubiquity make Node perfect for event-driven serverless architectures where functions scale automatically and you only pay for execution time.

Use cases: API endpoints, webhook handlers, scheduled jobs, image processing, data transformation, third-party integrations.

Node.js Frameworks & Tools

Express.js

The most popular Node.js web framework. Minimal, flexible, and battle-tested. Express provides routing, middleware system, and HTTP utilities without forcing architectural decisions. Perfect when you want control over your application structure.

Best For:

  • β€’ RESTful APIs
  • β€’ Traditional web apps
  • β€’ Microservices
  • β€’ Custom architectures

Fastify

High-performance Node.js framework focused on speed and low overhead. Built-in JSON schema validation, logging, and async/await support. Benchmarks show Fastify handling 30% more requests per second than Express in many scenarios.

Best For:

  • β€’ High-throughput APIs
  • β€’ Performance-critical services
  • β€’ Type-safe development
  • β€’ Plugin ecosystems

NestJS

Enterprise-grade Node.js framework with TypeScript, dependency injection, and Angular-inspired architecture. Provides structure for large applications: modules, controllers, services, and decorators. Excellent for teams wanting opinionated architecture.

Best For:

  • β€’ Enterprise applications
  • β€’ Large teams
  • β€’ GraphQL APIs
  • β€’ Microservices

Hono

Ultralight, ultra-fast web framework designed for edge runtimes: Cloudflare Workers, Deno, Bun. Express-like API with exceptional performance. Runs anywhere JavaScript runs with minimal overhead.

Best For:

  • β€’ Edge computing
  • β€’ Serverless functions
  • β€’ Cloudflare Workers
  • β€’ Ultra-low latency

Node.js Best Practices

Async/Await Everywhere

Use async/await for all asynchronous operations. Avoid callback hell. Handle errors with try/catch blocks. Never block the event loop with synchronous operations in request handlers.

Environment Configuration

Store configuration in environment variables, never hardcode. Use dotenv for local development, proper secrets management for production. Different configs for dev/staging/production.

Error Handling

Implement centralized error handling middleware. Log errors properly. Never expose stack traces to clients in production. Handle unhandled rejections and uncaught exceptions.

Security Middleware

Use helmet for security headers, express-rate-limit for rate limiting, express-validator for input sanitization. Keep dependencies updated. Use npm audit to check for vulnerabilities.

Logging & Monitoring

Use structured logging (Winston, Pino). Log important events, not everything. Implement health check endpoints. Monitor memory usage, event loop lag, and response times.

Process Management

Use PM2 or Docker for production deployments. Implement graceful shutdown. Handle SIGTERM signals properly. Use cluster mode to utilize all CPU cores.

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