NestJS
The user of course only sees the outside, but a truly good experience starts deep under the hood. To keep the technology invisible and faultless we like to use NestJS.
Clear architecture.
Ideal for microservices.
For projects that need to be fast, able to scale, and grow substantially.
What is NestJS?
NestJS is a Glossary · In briefframeworkA framework is a coherent foundation for software development, providing reusable code, a defined structure and conventions for building an application.Read more for building Glossary · In briefscalabilityScalability is the extent to which software, infrastructure or a process can handle more or less work without major rebuilding or unacceptable performance loss.Read more, efficient server-side applications and APIs on Node.js. It runs on JavaScript with TypeScript support and is still one of the clearest examples of a Node framework that combines deliberate structure with full TypeScript support. Its growth has been strong: from about 350K weekly downloads in July 2021 to roughly 1.5 million in July 2022. See this link for the current numbers.
New challenges call for new solutions
Because of the popularity of Node.js, JavaScript has for years been the dominant programming language on the web, on both the front and the Glossary · In briefbackendThe backend is the part of an application that processes data, applies business rules and communicates with other systems on the server. Users usually access it through a frontend or API.Read more. The range of possibilities lifts developer productivity and makes interactive software possible that was barely buildable before.
You can see that same strength in projects built with React, Vue, and Angular. But in plain Node.js projects things often start to creak once Glossary · In briefsoftware architectureSoftware architecture is the main structure of a software system: its components, their relationships and the principles guiding technical choices and changes.Read more becomes a serious concern. Scaling gets harder and new functionality becomes more of a puzzle. NestJS is often the better alternative there. Its architecture makes it relatively easy to build applications that are testable, scale well, stay loosely coupled, and remain easier to maintain.
The pros and cons of freedom
Broadly speaking, and without getting too technical, there are two kinds of frameworks. One gives you a lot of freedom to do whatever seems right at the time. The other keeps you inside a clearer set of rules. That freedom sounds attractive, but it usually comes with a price. A developer has to keep making the right decisions about tools, technologies, and code structure, and that becomes heavy. Fewer rules mean a greater chance of chaos. Once a project grows and multiple developers work on it, you start to feel that friction.
NestJS is what people call a highly opinionated framework. In practice that means you work with clear structures and put code in predictable places, with the tools that fit those places. Someone who already knows Nest can therefore usually step in quickly without reading a long manual about the Glossary · In briefcodebaseA codebase is the collection of source code used to build and maintain a software product or component.Read more first. That makes it easier for multiple developers to work on the same project, improves delivery speed, and keeps maintenance more manageable.
Key takeaways
What makes NestJS applications suited to large enterprise-level web apps is how well they scale.
For an ecommerce website with heavy traffic, NestJS pairs beautifully with frontend frameworks such as React, Angular, and Vue.
NestJS documentation is extremely extensive. That helps enormously when you run into very specific challenges.
Fast, large projects that need to be able to grow? NestJS is particularly interesting there. But once it is about a small application with minimal requirements, Nest only unnecessarily slows down startup speed.