Tutorial9/9/202515 min read896 views
Building Scalable APIs with Node.js and TypeScript
ABy Azril Aiman
# Building Scalable APIs with Node.js and TypeScript
Creating scalable APIs requires careful planning and the right combination of tools and practices. In this guide, we'll explore how to build robust APIs using Node.js and TypeScript.
## Setting Up the Project
### Initialize the Project
```bash
mkdir my-api
cd my-api
npm init -y
npm install express cors helmet morgan dotenv
npm install -D typescript @types/node @types/express ts-node nodemon
```
### Configure TypeScript
Create `tsconfig.json`:
```json
{
"compilerOptions": {
"target": "ES2020",
"module": "commonjs",
"lib": ["ES2020"],
"outDir": "./dist",
"rootDir": "./src",
"strict": true,
"esModuleInterop": true,
"skipLibCheck": true,
"forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true
}
}
```
## Core Concepts
### 1. Project Structure
```
src/
├── controllers/
├── routes/
├── middleware/
├── services/
├── models/
├── utils/
└── app.ts
```
### 2. Error Handling
Create a centralized error handling system:
```typescript
// src/utils/AppError.ts
export class AppError extends Error {
statusCode: number
isOperational: boolean
constructor(message: string, statusCode: number) {
super(message)
this.statusCode = statusCode
this.isOperational = true
Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor)
}
}
// src/middleware/errorHandler.ts
export const errorHandler = (
err: Error,
req: express.Request,
res: express.Response,
next: express.NextFunction
) => {
if (err instanceof AppError) {
return res.status(err.statusCode).json({
status: 'error',
message: err.message
})
}
// Handle other errors
return res.status(500).json({
status: 'error',
message: 'Internal server error'
})
}
```
### 3. Validation
Use a validation library like Zod:
```typescript
import { z } from 'zod'
export const createUserSchema = z.object({
name: z.string().min(3).max(50),
email: z.string().email(),
password: z.string().min(8)
})
export type CreateUserInput = z.infer
```
## Performance Optimization
### 1. Caching Strategy
Implement caching at multiple levels:
- Response caching
- Database query caching
- Redis for distributed caching
### 2. Database Optimization
- Use connection pooling
- Implement proper indexing
- Consider read replicas
- Use ORMs efficiently
### 3. Load Balancing
- Horizontal scaling
- Container orchestration
- Auto-scaling policies
## Security Best Practices
### 1. Authentication & Authorization
- Use JWT for stateless authentication
- Implement proper middleware
- Rate limiting
- Input validation
### 2. Data Protection
- Encrypt sensitive data
- Use HTTPS everywhere
- Implement CORS properly
- Sanitize user input
## Monitoring and Observability
### 1. Logging
- Structured logging
- Log levels
- Centralized logging
### 2. Metrics
- Response times
- Error rates
- Resource usage
### 3. Tracing
- Request tracing
- Distributed tracing
- Performance monitoring
## Deployment Strategies
### 1. Containerization
- Docker images
- Multi-stage builds
- Security scanning
### 2. CI/CD
- Automated testing
- Blue-green deployments
- Rollback strategies
## Conclusion
Building scalable APIs requires attention to detail across multiple areas. By following these practices and continuously improving your architecture, you can create APIs that handle growth and maintain reliability.
Remember that scalability is not just about handling more requests—it's about maintaining performance, reliability, and security as your application grows.