Nexus API — Native Node.js

A production-oriented REST API built with Node.js + JavaScript only. No Express, Fastify, NestJS, ORM, validation framework, logger framework, authentication framework, or test framework.

Requirements

• Node.js 24+
• npm (only used for scripts; there are zero runtime dependencies)

Run

cp .env.example .env
npm start

Server: http://127.0.0.1:3333

Health:

curl http://127.0.0.1:3333/health

Register:

curl -i -c cookies.txt \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"Ada","email":"ada@example.com","password":"StrongPass123!"}' \
  http://127.0.0.1:3333/auth/register

Login:

curl -i -c cookies.txt \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"email":"ada@example.com","password":"StrongPass123!"}' \
  http://127.0.0.1:3333/auth/login

Create a project:

curl -b cookies.txt \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"Nexus Lab","description":"Native Node project"}' \
  http://127.0.0.1:3333/projects

Architecture

HTTP server → middleware pipeline → router → controller → use case → repository → SQLite.

The core folder contains reusable technical primitives. The modules folder contains business capabilities.

Learning goals

1. Build an HTTP server from node:http.
2. Implement route matching and path parameters.
3. Implement middleware composition.
4. Use AsyncLocalStorage for request context.
5. Hash passwords with crypto.scrypt.
6. Manage secure sessions.
7. Use native SQLite with prepared statements and transactions.
8. Implement RBAC.
9. Add rate limiting, body limits, security headers and request IDs.
10. Add health checks, metrics and graceful shutdown.
11. Test with node:test.
12. Benchmark with the Node runtime.

Deliberate trade-offs

This is a learning-grade production-style implementation, not a replacement for mature frameworks. The point is to expose the mechanisms frameworks hide. For a commercial system, use battle-tested libraries where appropriate.