REST and GraphQL APIs
Back ends for web and mobile apps, written in TypeScript with tests and API documentation.
Node.js development
Node.js development. APIs and real-time back ends.
Node.js runs JavaScript on the server. It is strong at APIs and real-time features, and it is the back end of GMS, our own hotel product.
Choosing Node.js
A good fit when
- The system is mostly input and output: APIs, queues, chat, notifications, live updates.
- Your front end is JavaScript or TypeScript, and one language across the stack helps the team.
- You need many small services or serverless functions.
Think again when
- The work is processor heavy: video, image processing, large calculations. Another runtime copes better. See .NET
- You want a framework with strong conventions built in. Laravel gives more out of the box. See Laravel
01 / What we build
What we build with Node.js.
Real-time services
Chat, live dashboards and notifications over WebSockets.
Integration layers
Services that sit between your product and third-party systems, with retries and logging.
Background jobs
Queues and scheduled work for email, imports, reports and webhooks.
02 / How it connects
What it connects to, and what to plan for.
Typical integrations
- MongoDB, PostgreSQL and MySQL
- Redis
- Express and NestJS
- AWS
- Firebase
- Third-party APIs and webhooks
Often scoped alongside
Plan for these
One thread by default
A single slow calculation blocks every request. Heavy work has to move to a worker or a queue.
Structure is your choice
Node imposes little. We set conventions, TypeScript and linting at the start so the code stays readable.
Dependency hygiene
npm projects pull in many packages. Auditing and updating them is ongoing work, not a one-off.
03 / Proof
Node.js work you can check.
Our own product / Hospitality
GMS: a Node.js back end in production.
The GMS guest platform runs on Node.js, Express and MongoDB behind a Flutter app. It is live at 9 of MKL Hospitality Group’s 10 properties.
Read the GMS case studyAlso in Node.js: The MKL Hospitality rollout
Further reading
Guides that go deeper.
Building Scalable Real-Time Applications with Node.js: Architecture Patterns That Work
Real-time Node.js past the tutorial stage: connection state, backpressure, horizontal scaling, and what breaks first when concurrency climbs.
Read insightA little clarity
Node.js questions, answered plainly.
How does a Node.js project with NSDBytes run, from idea to launch?
We agree what the first release must do and write the API contract before the code, so front-end and mobile work can proceed in parallel. The service is built in TypeScript with automated tests, reviewed on a staging environment, then released with logging and monitoring. Bugs are fixed free for 30 days.
When is Node.js the right choice, and when is it not?
Node.js is our choice for APIs and real-time features, and it runs the back end of GMS. For a conventional business application with many forms and reports, Laravel or .NET gives more structure out of the box, and we recommend those where they fit.
Who owns the code when NSDBytes builds with Node.js?
You own the code, designs and documentation made for you once the final invoice is paid. Servers, databases and third-party accounts are created in your name, so nothing runs on infrastructure only we can reach. Node.js itself is open source.
How should an early-stage Node.js project be scoped and priced?
Define the first few endpoints and the data behind them, and build that as a fixed first release, from $5,000. Back ends tend to grow with the product, so a dedicated developer from $4,000 a month is the usual model once the direction is proven.
How does a product built with Node.js grow from a first release to heavy use?
Services are stateless, so more copies can run behind a load balancer. Slow work goes to queues, frequent reads go to a cache, and the database is indexed for the queries the product really makes. No architecture guarantees scale, so we load test where the expected traffic justifies it, then monitor and adjust.
Start wherever you are
Bring the API, the integration or the service that is struggling.
Tell us what it has to handle and what it connects to. We will say whether Node.js is the right runtime before we quote.