Build Your First REST API with Node.js and Express (in 15 Minutes)

#webdev #node #programming #javascript

Learning backend development might seem overwhelming at first — databases, APIs, routing, deployment — where do you even start?

Well, here's some good news: You can build your first backend API using Node.js and Express in just 15 minutes. And by the end of this post, you'll have your own working API ready to go!

Let’s jump right in 👇

🚀 What We're Building

A simple Books API with 3 routes:

GET /books — List all books
POST /books — Add a new book
GET /books/:id — Get a book by ID

🛠️ Step 1: Setup Your Project

mkdir books-api
cd books-api
npm init -y
npm install express

Create a file named index.js.

🧠 Step 2: Create a Simple Express Server

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const port = 3000;

app.use(express.json()); // for parsing JSON

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running on http://localhost:${port}`);
});

Run the server:

node index.js

📚 Step 3: Add Book Routes

let books = [
  { id: 1, title: 'Clean Code' },
  { id: 2, title: 'The Pragmatic Programmer' },
];

// GET all books
app.get('/books', (req, res) => {
  res.json(books);
});

// GET a book by ID
app.get('/books/:id', (req, res) => {
  const book = books.find(b => b.id === parseInt(req.params.id));
  if (!book) return res.status(404).send('Book not found');
  res.json(book);
});

// POST a new book
app.post('/books', (req, res) => {
  const book = {
    id: books.length + 1,
    title: req.body.title,
  };
  books.push(book);
  res.status(201).json(book);
});

Now you can:

Use Postman or Insomnia to send GET, POST requests

Try it out at http://localhost:3000/books

🌱 What You Just Learned

How to set up an Express server
Basic routing in Node.js
Handling JSON input
Working with dynamic route parameters

This is the first step toward building real-world backend applications.

🎓 Want to Go Deeper?

This was just a glimpse into what you can build with Node.js. If you enjoyed this, I've created a full all-in-one backend development course that covers:

✅ Node.js, Express, TypeScript
✅ MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Mongoose
✅ REST & GraphQL APIs
✅ Authentication, Stripe, Docker
✅ GitHub Actions, CI/CD, and more