Build a RESTful API with Node.js and Express

Build a Production-Grade API with Node and PostgreSQL

Hugo Kessler

• Publisher: Chiify
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Computer Science
• eBook ISBN:
  9798259604100
• Subtopic: Databases
• Index: Computer Science

Node.js API development and Express RESTful API. Build a RESTful API with Node.js and Express. Learn Node.js API development. From your first route to a production-ready service, this hands-on guide covers validation, authentication, error handling, and a real database. Whether you're a beginner or aspiring pro, Hugo Kessler walks you through every step. Unlike Web Design with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery Set or JavaScript and jQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development, this book focuses solely on backend API creation with Node.js and Express. Start by setting up your environment and creating a basic Express server. Then add routes, middleware, and request validation. Implement JWT-based authentication and secure endpoints. Integrate MongoDB or PostgreSQL for persistent data storage. Handle errors gracefully with custom error classes and global handlers. Write unit and integration tests with Jest and Supertest. Deploy your API to cloud platforms like Heroku or AWS. By the end, you'll have a production-ready API with logging, rate limiting, and documentation. Each chapter includes practical exercises and real-world scenarios. You'll learn to structure code for scalability, use environment variables, and manage dependencies. The book also covers API versioning, pagination, and caching. No prior Node.js experience required—just basic JavaScript knowledge. Perfect for web developers transitioning to backend, or beginners wanting a solid foundation. Competing books like Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics or A Software Engineer Learns HTML5, JavaScript and jQuery focus on frontend or general web development. This book is laser-focused on building APIs with Node.js and Express. Also compare with JavaScript from Beginner to Professional which covers JavaScript broadly but not API development. Get the targeted guide you need.

Table of contents

• Build a RESTful API with Node.js and Express
• Build a RESTful API with Node.js and Express
• Preface
• Chapter 1 — Project Kickoff and Environment Setup
• Chapter 2 — Designing the Database Schema
• Chapter 3 — SQL Fundamentals for API Developers
• Chapter 4 — Seeding and Managing Sample Data
• Chapter 5 — Connecting Node.js to PostgreSQL
• Chapter 6 — Building the Express Server Foundation
• Chapter 7 — Implementing the First API Endpoints
• Chapter 8 — Modularizing Database Queries with a Model Layer
• Chapter 9 — Adding POST, PUT, and DELETE Endpoints
• Chapter 10 — Error Handling and Input Validation
• Chapter 11 — Testing the API with Postman and Supertest
• Chapter 12 — User Authentication with JWT
• Chapter 13 — Authorization and Role-Based Access
• Chapter 14 — Pagination, Filtering, and Sorting
• Chapter 15 — Rate Limiting and API Security Hardening
• Chapter 16 — Deploying to the Cloud
• Chapter 17 — CI/CD and Monitoring Basics
• Chapter 18 — Next Steps: Real-World Enhancements
• About the Author