NodeJS

First install ts-node-dev:

npm i --save-dev ts-node-dev

Then add

"start": "./node_modules/.bin/tsnd --respawn app.ts"

to package.json in the scripts section, example:

{
  "name": "myapp-backend",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "To make it easy for you to get started with GitLab, here's a list of recommended next steps.",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "./node_modules/.bin/tsc -b tsconfig.json",
    "start": "./node_modules/.bin/tsnd --respawn app.ts"
  }
  /* ... */
}

Install argparse using

npm i --save argparse

Optional argument:

const ArgumentParser = require('argparse').ArgumentParser;
const parser = new ArgumentParser({});
parser.addArgument(['-u', '--url'], {help: "The URL to use"});
const args = parser.parseArgs();

// Example usage
console.log(args.url) // null if no such argument

If you want to make an argument mandatory, use required: true:

const ArgumentParser = require('argparse').ArgumentParser;
const parser = new ArgumentParser({});
parser.addArgument(['-u', '--url'], {help: "The URL to use", required: true});
const args = parser.parseArgs();

// Example usage
console.log(args.url)

In case the user does not provide the argument, it will print

usage: CLI.js [-h] -u URL
CLI.js: error: Argument "-u/--url" is required

Positional arguments

This positional argument will always be required:

const ArgumentParser = require('argparse').ArgumentParser;
const parser = new ArgumentParser({});
parser.addArgument(['url'], {help: "The URL to use"});
const args = parser.parseArgs();

// Example usage
console.log(args.url)

Use this function to determine if the current NodeJS process is being run by the root user:

function isCurrentUserRoot() {
    return process.getuid() == 0; // UID 0 is always root
}

Usage example:

if(isCurrentUserRoot()) {
    // TODO Your code for root user goes here
} else {
    // TODO Your code for NON-root user goes here!
}

This works since the UID of the root user is always 0 on Linux/Unix systems.

Note: You don’t need to

const process = require("process");

since the process object is automatically imported in any NodeJS environment

You can use process.env.NODE_ENV to check the value of the NODE_ENV environment variable in Node.JS:

if(process.env.NODE_ENV == "development") {
    // TODO your code goes here
}

or

if(process.env.NODE_ENV == "production") {
    // TODO your code goes here
}

Note that by default NODE_ENV is undefined so remember to handle that case appropriately.

This is the minimal Koa.JS application which I use as a template for new NodeJS webserver applications.

#!/usr/bin/env node
const router = require('koa-router')();
const koaBody = require('koa-body');
const Koa = require('koa');
const app = new Koa();

app.use(koaBody());

router.get('/', async ctx => {
    ctx.body = "Hello world";
});

app.use(router.routes());

if (!module.parent) app.listen(3000);

Install the requirements using

npm i --save koa koa-router koa-body

and run using

node index.js

assuming you have saved our code from above in index.js.

Now (with the node index.js command still running) go to http://localhost:3000 . You should see Hello world there. Now it’s your turn to continue on your endeavour to develop the world’s greatest webservers 🙂

In NodeJS applications you often see code like

if (!module.parent) {
    app.listen(3000);
}

This means: Run app.listen(3000) only if you are running the file

Suppose this code is in index.js. In this case, the code will only be executed if you run index.js directly (i.e. using node index.js) and not if index.js is required from another file (by require('./index.js');).

If index.js is required from another Javascript module (i.e. file), module.parent will be set to that module.