How to build a REST API with TypeScript & MongoDB

Building a REST API with TypeScript and MongoDB can be a powerful combination for creating scalable and efficient web applications. In this article, we will guide you through the process of building a REST API using these technologies.

Setup

First, you will need to install Node.js and npm on your machine. Once you have Node.js and npm installed, you can create a new directory for your project and initialize it with npm.

    mkdir rest-api
    cd rest-api
    npm init -y
  

Next, you will need to install TypeScript and Express by running the following commands:

    npm install typescript @types/node @types/express ts-node
  

Creating the API

Now that your project is set up, you can start writing your API code. Create a new file called server.ts and add the following code:

    import express, { Application, Request, Response } from 'express';
    import mongoose from 'mongoose';

    const app: Application = express();
    const PORT: number = 3000;

    app.get('/', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
      res.send('Hello, World!');
    });

    app.listen(PORT, () => {
      console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`);
    });
  

This code sets up a basic Express server and listens on port 3000. It also creates a simple route that responds with “Hello, World!”

Connecting to MongoDB

To connect to MongoDB, you will need to install the mongoose package and configure the connection in your server.ts file:

    import mongoose, { ConnectOptions } from 'mongoose';

    const MONGO_URI: string = 'mongodb://localhost:27017/rest-api';

    const options: ConnectOptions = {
      useNewUrlParser: true,
      useUnifiedTopology: true
    };

    mongoose.connect(MONGO_URI, options)
      .then(() => {
        console.log('Connected to MongoDB');
      })
      .catch((error) => {
        console.error('Error connecting to MongoDB: ', error);
      });
  

With this code, you are now connected to your MongoDB database. You can now create models for your data and define routes for your API endpoints.

Conclusion

Building a REST API with TypeScript and MongoDB is a powerful combination that can help you create scalable and efficient web applications. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can start building your own REST API using these technologies.