New Node project quickstart guide

Setting up a Node project with TS building and basically nothing else. Each header is a step.

Make your directory

mkdir my-project
cd my-project

Initialise for git

git init

Optionally, create a new one or grab an existing .gitignore file from Github

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/gitignore/refs/heads/main/Node.gitignore -O .gitignore

Set up a Nix shell, maybe one from Nix Dev Template

# To accept a bunch of defaults, use:
nix flake init --template "https://flakehub.com/f/the-nix-way/dev-templates/*#node"

# To use something more barebones, use:
nix flake init --template github:nix-community/nix-direnv

From here, it's worth having a look through the .envrc and flake.nix files to ensure you have all the dev tooling you need.

Like maybe, add the nodejs Nix package. Add it to the packages array like pkgs.nodejs Check the Node release schedule to know which Node version to use. Generally latest LTS.

Also, probably add .direnv to your .gitignore:

echo .direnv >> .gitignore

At this point, I like to make a commit.

Set up the npm repository

This is a pretty simple just npm init or npm innit for the British.

Chuck a --yes on the end to skip all the questions and just generate the package.json. Like:

# British version 🫖 (this is a valid alias)
npm innit --yes

Install & initialise TypeScript

npm install -D typescript

npx tsc --init

I like to remove all the comments and empty lines from the templated tsconfig, to keep it minimal.

# Remove all the comments
sed -i 's:/.*$::g' tsconfig.json 

# Remove all the empty lines
sed -i '/^\s*$/d' tsconfig.json 

# Remove all the trailing whitespace
sed -i 's:\s*$::' tsconfig.json

Optionally - Pick a license

See Software Licensing for what to pick here. Realistically - this doesn't really matter. But I reckon it's worth it.

I like the GPLv3 license, paste the contents into either a LICENSE, LICENSE.md, or COPYING file.

Update the license key in the package.json to the same.

Update the TSConfig, add relevant types

Update the TSConfig to output however you like. You'll probably want one of outDir or outFile.

Emission here is what you're looking for. See TypeScript for more info.

For types, you'll need to install their corresponding DefinitelyTyped package, and add them to the TSConfig under compilerOptions.types.

eg. For Node types:

npm install -D @types/node

And in your tsconfig.json:

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "types": [
            "node"
        ]
    }
}

Testing, linting, formatting

If you're looking for a Production Grade™ codebase, you'll want testing, linting and formatting.

See the page on Jest for installing testing. See the page on Zero to linting and formatting to get linting and formatting going.