7 Production-Ready Node.js Practices You Should Follow in 2023

I’m going to share some tips and tricks that I’ve picked up over the years to make your development process smoother, more efficient, and let’s be real, way cooler!

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Mehul, why should I listen to you?” Well, I’ve been working with Node.js for over 10 years now, and I’ve made some mistakes along the way, but I’ve learned from them and now I want to share my knowledge with you so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did.

So, without further wait, let’s dive into these seven production-ready Node.js practices that you should follow in 2023:

Use the Latest LTS Version of Node.js

First things first, it’s important to always use the latest LTS (Long-Term Support) version of Node.js. This version is thoroughly tested and maintained, ensuring the stability and security of your application. Plus, it also receives security updates and bug fixes for a longer period, so your app will keep running smoothly even in the long run.

To check your current Node.js version, simply run the following command in your terminal:

node -v
Code language: Bash (bash)

And to upgrade to the latest LTS version, use this command:

npm install -g n
n latest
Code language: Bash (bash)

Manage Configurations with Environment Variables

Next up, we have managing your app’s configurations with environment variables. This makes it super easy to switch between different environments, like development, testing, and production, without having to make changes in your code.

To access environment variables in Node.js, you can use the process.env object. For example, you can access the PORT environment variable like this:

const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, the app will use the PORT environment variable if it’s available, otherwise, it will default to 3000. Easy peasy!

Proper Error Handling

Error handling is a crucial aspect of any application, and it’s important to handle errors properly in your Node.js app. Not handling errors correctly can lead to unexpected behavior and compromise the security of your app.

To handle errors in Node.js, you can use the try-catch statement. Check out this example:

try {
  // code that might throw an error
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, if an error occurs in the try block, it will be caught in the catch block, and you can handle it accordingly.

Code Testing and Continuous Integration

Code testing is an important aspect of software development, and it’s crucial to write tests for your Node.js app. Tests help ensure that your app behaves as expected and that changes made to the code don’t break existing functionality.

There are many testing frameworks available for Node.js, like Jest, Mocha, and Chai, so you can choose the one that works best for you and start writing tests for your app.

Continuous integration (CI) is also a crucial aspect of software development. CI is a practice where developers regularly integrate their code into a shared repository and automated tests are run on the code to make sure everything is working as expected.

There are many CI/CD tools available, like Travis CI, CircleCI, and Jenkins, that you can use to automate your testing and deployment process. This will save you time and effort and make sure that your code is always in a releasable state.

Use a Process Manager

Node.js apps are single-threaded, which means they can only handle one request at a time. To handle multiple requests, you need to create multiple instances of your app, and that’s where a process manager comes in handy.

A process manager, like PM2 or Forever, can help you manage your Node.js app, making sure it stays up and running even in case of errors or crashes.

For example, to start your Node.js app with PM2, use this command:

pm2 start app.js
Code language: Bash (bash)

Implement a Logging Library

Logging is an essential aspect of software development, and it’s important to log events in your Node.js app. Logs can help you debug issues and monitor the performance of your app.

There are many logging libraries available for Node.js, like Winston, Bunyan, and Log4js, so you can choose the one that works best for you and start logging events in your app.

For example, using Winston, you can log events like this:

const winston = require("winston");

const logger = winston.createLogger({
  transports: [
    new winston.transports.Console(),
    new winston.transports.File({ filename: "combined.log" })
  ]
});

logger.info("Application started");
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, we’re using the Winston library to log events to the console and a file named combined.log.

Optimize Database Queries with Caching

Last but not least, it’s important to optimize your database queries to make sure your app performs well. One way to do this is by caching database queries, which can significantly reduce the number of requests to the database and improve the performance of your app.

There are many caching libraries available for Node.js, like Redis and Memcached, so you can choose the one that works best for you and start caching your database queries.

For example, using Redis, you can cache database queries like this:

const redis = require("redis");
const client = redis.createClient();

client.get("users", (error, result) => {
  if (error) throw error;

  if (result) {
    console.log("Data from cache:", result);
  } else {
    // fetch data from database
    // ...

    // store data in cache
    client.set("users", JSON.stringify(data), redis.print);
  }
});
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, we’re using the Redis library to cache the results of the users query. If the data is already available in the cache, we’ll retrieve it from there. Otherwise, we’ll fetch it from the database and store it in the cache.

And that’s a wrap!