Build Your First Node.js App – Step-by-Step Guide

You said you wanna build a Node.js app?

Perfect. Grab a coffee or chai ☕ and let’s get you started with your first real Node.js application.
This ain’t no boring textbook tutorial — I’ll walk you through step-by-chaotic-step to build a small but working server.

We’ll be making a tiny Notes API — nothing fancy, but enough to flex on your dev friends 💪

Step 1: Initialize the Project 📦

First, make a new folder and open it in your terminal:

mkdir notes-api
cd notes-api
npm init -y

Boom — you just created a Node.js project.

Step 2: Create your main file 🧠

Make a file called index.js:

touch index.js

Open it up and add this:

const http = require("http");

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");

  if (req.url === "/notes" && req.method === "GET") {
    res.end(JSON.stringify([{ id: 1, text: "Learn Node.js" }]));
  } else {
    res.statusCode = 404;
    res.end(JSON.stringify({ message: "Not Found" }));
  }
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log("Server running at http://localhost:3000");
});

Okay, okay. Breathe. You just built a server with Node’s built-in http module — no frameworks. You’re raw like that 🔥

Step 3: Run it like a boss 👑

In your terminal, run:

node index.js

Open your browser and go to http://localhost:3000/notes
You should see this:

[{ "id": 1, "text": "Learn Node.js" }]

Ayoo it’s working! 🎉

Step 4: Add POST request support 📨

Let’s allow users to add new notes.

Update your index.js like this:

let notes = [{ id: 1, text: "Learn Node.js" }];

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");

  if (req.url === "/notes" && req.method === "GET") {
    res.end(JSON.stringify(notes));
  } else if (req.url === "/notes" && req.method === "POST") {
    let body = "";

    req.on("data", (chunk) => {
      body += chunk.toString();
    });

    req.on("end", () => {
      const newNote = JSON.parse(body);
      newNote.id = notes.length + 1;
      notes.push(newNote);

      res.statusCode = 201;
      res.end(JSON.stringify(newNote));
    });
  } else {
    res.statusCode = 404;
    res.end(JSON.stringify({ message: "Not Found" }));
  }
});

Now use something like Postman or curl to send a POST request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/notes \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text": "Learn Express next"}'

And bam — you’ve got a POST API now. You’re officially dangerous 😈

Step 5: Add nodemon for dev speed ⚡

Install nodemon:

npm install --save-dev nodemon

Then in package.json, update scripts:

"scripts": {
  "dev": "nodemon index.js"
}

Now run:

npm run dev

Your server auto-restarts on changes. Sweet.

Step 6: (Optional but cool) Add CORS support 🛡️

If you're connecting from a frontend, you’ll probs need CORS:

npm install cors

(But wait — you're not using Express yet? Oh right. So skip this for now or move to Express when you’re ready.)

Final folder structure 🗂️

notes-api/
├── index.js
├── package.json
└── node_modules/

Simple. Minimal. Noice.

What You Just Did 🎯

• Set up a Node.js project ✅
• Built a working HTTP server ✅
• Made GET and POST endpoints ✅
• Learned to handle JSON manually ✅
• Became slightly cooler than 10 mins ago ✅

Where to Go From Here 🚀

• Add file-based storage with fs module
• Use Express.js to simplify your code
• Hook it up with a frontend (React/Vue)
• Deploy it to a platform like Railway, Vercel, or Render

And yeah — keep playing, keep breaking stuff, and keep learning. You got this.

Peace Out 👋

If this guide helped, go build something wild.
If it broke your brain, good. That means you’re learning 😌
Ping me if you need more chaos-infused tutorials. I gotchu 💯

Stay mad. Stay building. Node gang forever. 🔥