What is a RESTful API?

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a communication mechanism between two or more services, acting as a mediator between users/clients and the resources/services they request. RESTful APIs specifically follow REST architecture principles, enabling integration with RESTful web services.

Step 1: Initializing a new Project

Begin by creating an empty folder in your preferred directory. You can do this manually or via Terminal/Bash:

mkdir myProject
cd ./myProject

Then set up a new empty npm package using legacy init (-y flag skips the questions):

npm init -y

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Note: You must have node.js installed on your machine. You can customize the package.json file with your specific information like name, git repo, and description.

Step 2: Installing Dependencies

We'll use a minimal setup with two main packages:

• express: A minimal Node.js framework to simplify our workload
• CORS: Handles Cross-Origin-Resource-Sharing

Install these packages using:

npm i express cors

Also install nodemon for development (automatically restarts the application when detecting file changes):

npm i --save-dev nodemon

Step 3: Creating an Entry Point

Create an index.js file in your project root and modify your package.json:

{
  "name": "project-name",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Add project description here if you want to",
  "main": "index.js",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node index.js",
    "start-dev": "nodemon index.js"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "your-name",
  "license": "ISC"
}

Add the following code to your index.js file:

import express from "express"
import cors from "cors"

const app = express()

app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }))
app.use(express.json())
app.use(cors())

const port = process.env.PORT || 5000

app.get("/", (req, res) => {
    res.send("Welcome to our new custom API!")
})

app.use((req, res, next) => {
    const error = new Error("Something went wrong")
    error.status = 404
    next(error)
})
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
    res.status(error.status || 500)
    res.json({
        error: {
            message: error.message,
        },
    })
})

app.listen(port, (err) => {
    if (err) throw new Error("Error while connecting to the server")
    console.log(`Server is live and running at: http://localhost:${port}`)
})

export default app

Start your development server with:

npm run start-dev

Final Thoughts

We've created a basic RESTful API that serves as a foundation for more complex applications. While this implementation is simple, it demonstrates the core concepts of API development. In the next part, we'll expand the functionality and explore database integration.

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💡 Pro Tip: Consider using environment variables to manage your port numbers and API configurations across different environments (development, staging, production). This makes your API more secure and easier to maintain.