Creating a Server with Node.js

The web server contains all the information about the application and allows users to access the data. Typically, getting the request and sending the data is done with HTTP(S), and today we will see the ways to create a server using the native Node.js module, 'http', in Node.js

List of Contents

• Installing Node.js
• Creating a Project
• Creating a Server
• Run
  • Using Node.js Command
  • Using Nodemon

Installing Node.js

NPM

Creating a Project

Run the command below to initialize the npm package

npm init

We can add a '-y' option as shown below to mark everything as 'yes' when creating a new project (This can be changed in the package.json later).

npm init -y

Create a .js file to create a server (Conventionally, server.js or app.js are mostly used).

Creating a Server

Import the 'http' in the file we just created

const http = require('http')

Assign a port number

const http = require('http')

const server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
  if(req.url === '/') {
    res.end('server')
  }
})

server.listen(3000)

Run the Node.js with the command shown below

node index.js

You will see the server running on the specified port of your choice.

Run

There are many ways to run the created server from running directly to using third-party libraries.

Using Node.js Command

Run the command shown below in the command line

node index.js

Then you will see the server running

Using Nodemon

NPM - Nodemon

In this writing, we have seen how to create a Node.js server with http module and I hope this was helpful.

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References

Node.js HTTP Module (w3schools.com)

Node.js HTTP Module

HTTP | Node.js v19.6.1 Documentation (nodejs.org)

HTTP | Node.js v19.6.1 Documentation