@nx/node

The Node Plugin contains generators and executors to manage Node applications within an Nx workspace. It provides:

Setting Up @nx/node

Installation

Keep Nx Package Versions In Sync

Make sure to install the @nx/node version that matches the version of nx in your repository. If the version numbers get out of sync, you can encounter some difficult to debug errors. You can fix Nx version mismatches with this recipe.

In any Nx workspace, you can install @nx/node by running the following command:

❯

nx add @nx/node

This will install the correct version of @nx/node.

Using the @nx/node Plugin

Creating Applications

You can add a new application with the following:

❯

nx g @nx/node:application apps/my-new-app

You can run your application with nx serve my-new-app, which starts it in watch mode.

Creating Libraries

Node libraries are a good way to separate features within your organization. To create a Node library run the following command:

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nx g @nx/node:lib libs/my-new-lib

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# If you want the library to be buildable or publishable to npm

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nx g @nx/node:lib libs/my-new-lib --buildable

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nx g @nx/node:lib libs/my-new-lib \

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--publishable \

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--importPath=@myorg/my-new-lib

Using Node

Testing Projects

You can run unit tests with:

❯

nx test my-new-app

❯

nx test my-new-lib

Replace my-new-app with the name or your project. This command works for both applications and libraries.

Building Projects

Node applications can be build with:

❯

nx build my-new-app

And if you generated a library with --buildable, then you can build a library as well:

❯

nx build my-new-lib

The output is in the dist folder. You can customize the output folder by setting outputPath in the project's project.json file.

Application Proxies

Generating Node applications has an option to configure other projects in the workspace to proxy API requests. This can be done by passing the --frontendProject with the project name you wish to enable proxy support for.

❯

nx g @nx/node:application apps/my-new-app \

❯

--frontendProject my-react-app

Debugging

VSCode Integration

When generating Node applications, Nx automatically creates a VSCode debugging configuration for seamless development experience:

  • Automatic setup: A .vscode/launch.json file is created with pre-configured debugging settings.
  • Smart port allocation: Debug ports are automatically assigned starting from 9229, preventing conflicts between multiple applications.
  • Source map support: Webpack configurations include devtoolModuleFilenameTemplate for accurate source mapping.
  • Multi-format support: Supports debugging .js, .mjs, and .cjs output files.

To debug your Node application in VSCode:

  1. Open your workspace in VSCode.
  2. Set breakpoints in your TypeScript source files.
  3. Go to the Debug panel (Ctrl+Shift+D).
  4. Select "Debug {your-app-name} with Nx" from the dropdown.
  5. Click the play button or press F5.

The debugger will automatically:

  • Start your application with nx serve.
  • Attach to the Node.js debugger on the allocated port.
  • Map compiled JavaScript back to your TypeScript source files.

Manual Debugging

For advanced debugging scenarios, you can manually configure the debug port by setting the port option in the serve target in the project.json, or by running the serve command with --port <number>.

For additional information on Node.js debugging, see the Node.js debugging getting started guide.

More Documentation