Basic_Express_with_Typescript.md

Guide to Setup Up a Basic Express Server with TypeScript

This guide provides a step-by-step process for setting up a basic web server using Express.js and TypeScript. Prerequisites Ensure you have the following installed:

Node.js ( Latest LTS recommended ) npm (or yarn/pnpm)

1. Project Initialization

Start by creating a new directory for your project and initializing a new Node.js project.

mkdir server

cd server

npm init -y

2. Install Dependencies

Install Express and the necessary TypeScript-related packages. Production Dependencies

Install Express, the web framework

npm install express cors dotenv

Install TypeScript, the type definitions for Express and Node.js, and tsx for running the server without a pre-compiled step.

npm install -D typescript tsx @types/node ts-node @types/express nodemon @types/cors

3. Configure TypeScript

Create a tsconfig.json file in your project root to configure the TypeScript compiler. You can generate a default file using the following command

npx tsc --init

For a basic setup, ensure your tsconfig.json has at least these settings:

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "target": "ES2020",
        "module": "nodenext",
        "moduleResolution":"nodenext",
        "outDir": "./dist",
        "rootDir": "./",
        "strict": true,
        "esModuleInterop": true,
        "skipLibCheck": true,
        "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true
    },
    "include": [
        "./**/*.ts"
    ],
    "exclude": [
        "node_modules"
    ]
}

4. Create the Server File

Create a main server file, for example server.ts.

Add the following basic Express server code to server.ts:

import "dotenv/config";
import express, { Request, Response } from 'express';
import cors from "cors";

const app = express();

// Middleware
app.use(cors())
app.use(express.json());

const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

app.get('/', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
    res.send('Server is Live!');
});

app.listen(port, () => {
    console.log(`Server is running at http://localhost:${port}`);
});

5. Update package.json Scripts

Modify your package.json file to add scripts for starting the server using tsx

"scripts": {
    "start": "tsx server.ts",
    "server": "nodemon --exec tsx server.ts",
    "build": "tsc"
}

"type": "module"

6. Run the Server

Start your server using the new script:

npm run server

You should see the message: Server is running at http://localhost:3000

Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000 to see the

"Server is Live!" message.