Node.js Projects: Building Real-World Web Applications and Backend APIs

Jonathan Wexler

Whether you’re a JavaScript beginner ready to build your first backend app or a self-taught developer looking to grow beyond tutorials, Node.js Projects gives you the hands-on experience you need. Through a series of self-contained projects ranging from content aggregators to secure password managers, web scrapers, ML-backed analysis, and an AI-powered learning assistant, you’ll apply modern tools like Fastify, MongoDB, Redis, JWT, and Google’s Gemini API in practical, job-relevant ways.

With each chapter, author Jonathan Wexler challenges you to think like an engineer, emphasizing architectural thinking, clean coding, and iterative design. You’ll build confidence solving real-world problems while deepening your understanding of asynchronous programming, API design, security practices, and scalable deployment patterns.

• Confidently master async programming with async/await and the Node.js event loop

• Effectively design scalable APIs using Fastify and modular routing patterns

• Reliably manage data with the filesystem, MongoDB, and CSV output

• Securely implement authentication flows with JWTs and environment-based configs

• Seamlessly integrate third-party APIs like OpenAI and Google Gemini

• Efficiently build real-time features with Redis, schedulers, and event-driven logic

• Smoothly transition from prototype to production with modern Node.js workflows