NestJS Cheat Sheet | Setup, Controllers, Modules

Setup & CLI

Installation

Install the NestJS CLI globally.

Terminal

npm i -g @nestjs/cli

New Project

Create a new NestJS project.

Terminal

nest new project-name

Generate Resource

Generate a new CRUD resource (module, controller, service, etc).

Terminal

nest g resource users

Controllers

Basic Controller

Define a controller with a route prefix.

typescript

import { Controller, Get } from '@nestjs/common';

@Controller('cats')
export class CatsController {
  @Get()
  findAll(): string {
    return 'This action returns all cats';
  }
}

Request Object

Access the request object using the @Req() decorator.

typescript

import { Controller, Get, Req } from '@nestjs/common';
import { Request } from 'express';

@Controller('cats')
export class CatsController {
  @Get()
  findAll(@Req() request: Request): string {
    return 'This action returns all cats';
  }
}

Route Parameters

Access dynamic route parameters.

typescript

import { Controller, Get, Param } from '@nestjs/common';

@Controller('cats')
export class CatsController {
  @Get(':id')
  findOne(@Param('id') id: string): string {
    return `This action returns a #${id} cat`;
  }
}

Providers

Basic Service

Create a simple service.

typescript

import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';

@Injectable()
export class CatsService {
  private readonly cats: Cat[] = [];

  create(cat: Cat) {
    this.cats.push(cat);
  }

  findAll(): Cat[] {
    return this.cats;
  }
}

Dependency Injection

Inject a service into a controller.

typescript

import { Controller, Get } from '@nestjs/common';
import { CatsService } from './cats.service';

@Controller('cats')
export class CatsController {
  constructor(private catsService: CatsService) {}

  @Get()
  async findAll(): Promise<Cat[]> {
    return this.catsService.findAll();
  }
}

Modules

Feature Module

Define a module and register controllers and providers.

typescript

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { CatsController } from './cats.controller';
import { CatsService } from './cats.service';

@Module({
  controllers: [CatsController],
  providers: [CatsService],
  exports: [CatsService],
})
export class CatsModule {}

Middleware

Functional Middleware

Create a simple functional middleware.

typescript

import { Request, Response, NextFunction } from 'express';

export function logger(req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) {
  console.log(`Request...`);
  next();
};