Express

Install Required Packages

To set up your Express server with Remult, run the following commands to install the necessary packages:

npm install express remult
npm install --save-dev @types/express tsx

Bootstrap Remult in the Backend

Remult is integrated into your backend as an Express middleware.

1. Create the API File

   Create a new api.ts file in the src/server/ folder with the following code to set up the Remult middleware:

   // src/server/api.ts
   
   import { remultExpress } from 'remult/remult-express'
   
   export const api = remultExpress()

2. Register the Middleware

   Update the index.ts file in your src/server/ folder to include the Remult middleware. Add the following lines:

   // src/server/index.ts
   
   import express from "express"
   import { api } from "./api.js"
   
   const app = express()
   app.use(api)
   
   app.listen(3002, () => console.log("Server started"))

   ESM Configuration

   In this tutorial, we are using ECMAScript modules (esm) for the Node.js server. This means that when importing files, you must include the .js suffix (as shown in the import { api } from "./api.js" statement).

   Additionally, make sure to set "type": "module" in your package.json file.

Create the Server's TypeScript Configuration

In the root folder, create a TypeScript configuration file named tsconfig.server.json to manage the server's settings:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "outDir": "dist",
    "rootDir": "src",
    "module": "nodenext"
  },
  "include": ["src/server/**/*", "src/shared/**/*"]
}

This configuration enables TypeScript decorators, ensures compatibility with ECMAScript modules, and specifies the file paths for the server and shared code.

Create an npm Script to Start the API Server

To simplify the development process, add a new script in your package.json file to start the Express server in development mode:

// package.json

"dev-node": "tsx watch --env-file=.env --tsconfig tsconfig.server.json src/server"

• tsx: A TypeScript Node.js execution environment that watches for file changes and automatically restarts the server on each save.
• --env-file=.env: Ensures environment variables are loaded from the .env file.
• --tsconfig tsconfig.server.json: Specifies the TypeScript configuration file for the server.

Start the Node Server

Finally, open a new terminal and run the following command to start the development server:

npm run dev-node

The server will now run on port 3002. tsx will watch for any file changes, automatically restarting the server whenever updates are made.