●Technology Expertise

Node.js & Express
Development.

Expert Node.js & Express development with deep production experience. From architecture decisions to performance optimization, I help teams build systems that scale.

node.js developerexpress.js developerjavascript backend developertypescript backend developernode.js consultantreal-time app developer

●Expertise Level

Node.js developer since v0.12 (2015), witnessed the ES6 revolution, CommonJS to ESM migration, and callback hell to async/await evolution. Built systems handling 100K+ concurrent WebSocket connections, optimized Node.js memory usage for long-running processes, and debugged production memory leaks with V8 heap snapshots.

●When to Use Node.js & Express

Building real-time applications (chat, collaboration, live updates) where WebSocket integration is critical

JavaScript/TypeScript fullstack projects where sharing types and validation logic between frontend and backend reduces bugs

Rapid prototyping where npm's ecosystem provides pre-built solutions for authentication, payments, and integrations

BFF (Backend For Frontend) layers that aggregate multiple microservices into client-specific APIs

Serverless deployments on AWS Lambda, Vercel Edge Functions, or Cloudflare Workers where cold start matters

I/O-heavy applications (file uploads, API proxies, webhooks) that benefit from Node's non-blocking model

Projects with junior teams familiar with JavaScript who need to ship backend features quickly

●Best Practices

Use TypeScript with strict mode—Node.js type errors at runtime are the #1 cause of production incidents

Structure with controllers, services, and repositories layers; avoid fat controllers with business logic

Implement centralized error handling middleware that logs errors and returns consistent API responses

Use helmet.js for security headers, cors for CORS, and express-rate-limit for DDoS protection

Leverage Node 20+ built-in test runner and --experimental-vm-modules for ESM compatibility in tests

Use pino for logging (10x faster than winston) with correlation IDs for distributed tracing

Implement health check endpoints (/health, /ready) that verify database and external service connectivity

●Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Blocking the event loop with synchronous operations—never use fs.readFileSync or heavy JSON parsing in request handlers

Not handling promise rejections properly—unhandled rejections crash Node 15+ by default, use express-async-errors middleware

Memory leaks from unclosed event listeners, database connections, or caching without TTL—use clinic.js for diagnosis

Using callback-based patterns in 2024—async/await is standard, but mixing with callbacks creates 'callback hell 2.0'

Not implementing proper graceful shutdown—SIGTERM handlers must drain connections before exiting

Trusting req.body without validation—always use Zod, Joi, or class-validator before processing input

Running CPU-intensive tasks (image processing, encryption) in the main thread instead of worker_threads

●Ideal Project Types

Real-time collaboration platforms

API gateways and BFF services

Webhook processors and integrations

Rapid MVP prototypes

Serverless functions and edge workers

Internal tools and admin dashboards

●Complementary Technologies

TypeScript (type safety for large codebases)

Socket.io or ws (WebSocket handling)

Prisma or Drizzle (type-safe ORM)

Zod (runtime type validation)

Redis (caching, sessions, pub/sub)

Docker (consistent deployment environments)

●Real-World Example

Case Study

Claude Pilot's tRPC backend demonstrates modern Node.js patterns. The Electron app uses a Node.js backend with 25 tRPC controllers handling session management, memory browsing (PostgreSQL, Memgraph, Qdrant), and MCP server orchestration. I chose tRPC over REST/GraphQL for end-to-end type safety—changing a procedure's return type immediately shows TypeScript errors in the React frontend. The system manages multiple long-running MCP server processes, requiring careful child_process handling with proper stdio piping and graceful shutdown. For the memory browser, I implemented connection pooling across three different databases, with health checks ensuring the UI shows accurate connection status. WebSocket channels provide real-time log streaming from MCP servers to the terminal component. The codebase achieves 80% test coverage using Vitest, with integration tests spinning up actual database containers via testcontainers-node.

●Related Services

Node.js Developer for Logistics | 10M Events/Day

Build real-time logistics systems with Node.js. Fleet tracking, route optimization, event streams. Processing 10M+ event...

VIEW_SERVICE()

AI for Healthcare | HIPAA-Compliant LLM Integration

Deploy AI safely in healthcare. HIPAA-compliant LLMs, clinical decision support, PHI-secure RAG. Zero compliance violati...