Getting Started with NestJS: A Beginner's Tutorial

NestJS is a powerful and popular Node.js framework that is built with a focus on developer productivity and scalability. It provides a robust set of tools and architectural patterns to help you build efficient and maintainable server-side applications.
In this tutorial, we will walk you through the process of getting started with NestJS and building your first application.

Prerequisites:

Before we dive into NestJS, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

1. Node.js installed on your machine (version 12 or higher).
2. A basic understanding of JavaScript or TypeScript.
3. Familiarity with Node.js and npm (Node Package Manager).

Let's get started!

Setting up a new NestJS project

1. Open your terminal and install the Nest CLI(Command line interface) globally:

    $ npm i -g @nestjs/cli

1. Run the following command to create a new NestJS project:

   $ nest new my-nest-app

1. Open newly created project folder
   

   $ cd my-nest-app
   

2. Install dependencies:
   

   $ npm install
   

Exploring the project structure

1. Open the project in your preferred code editor. You will see a folder structure similar to the following:

   my-nest-app
   ├── src
   │   ├── app.controller.ts
   │   ├── app.module.ts
   │   └── main.ts
   ├── test
   ├── .eslintrc.js
   ├── nest-cli.json
   ├── package.json
   ├── README.md
   ├── tsconfig.build.json
   └── tsconfig.json

• src/ folder contains the application's source code.
• app.controller.ts is a sample controller file.
• app.module.ts is the root module of the application.
• main.ts is the entry point of the application.

Creating a basic controller and module

1. Open src/app.controller.ts in your code editor and replace the existing code with the following:

   import { Controller, Get } from '@nestjs/common';

   @Controller()
   export class AppController {
     @Get()
     getHello(): string {
       return 'Hello NestJS!';
     }
   }

1. Open src/app.module.ts and replace the existing code with the following:

   import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
   import { AppController } from './app.controller';

   @Module({
     controllers: [AppController],
   })
   export class AppModule {}

Running the NestJS application

1. Open your terminal and navigate to the root directory of your project.
2. Run the following command to start the NestJS application:

   $ npm run start

This command will compile and run the application in development mode.

1. Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000. You should see the message "Hello NestJS!" displayed on the page.

Congratulations!!! You have successfully created and run your first NestJS application.

Conclusion:

In this tutorial, we covered the basics of getting started with NestJS. We set up a new project, explored the project structure, and created a basic controller and module. We also ran the application and saw the result in the browser.

NestJS provides a solid foundation for building scalable and maintainable server-side applications. As you dive deeper into NestJS,


Thank you for reading.

Feel free to reach out to me at smartniggs[a]gmail[.]com