Building RESTful APIs with Node.js and Express

Express.js remains one of the most popular frameworks for building APIs. Here's how to build one that's production-ready.

Project Structure

src/
??? routes/
??? controllers/
??? models/
??? middleware/
??? utils/
??? app.js

Setting Up Express

const express = require('express');
const helmet = require('helmet');
const app = express();
app.use(helmet());

app.use(express.json({ limit: '10mb' }));
app.use('/api/v1/users', require('./routes/users'));
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {

  console.error(err.stack);

  res.status(500).json({ error: 'Internal Server Error' });

});
module.exports = app;

Rate Limiting

Protect your API from abuse:

const rateLimit = require('express-rate-limit');
const apiLimiter = rateLimit({

  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000,

  max: 100,

  message: { error: 'Too many requests' }

});
app.use('/api/', apiLimiter);

Conclusion

Building a production-ready API requires attention to security, validation, and error handling.