Building REST APIs with Node.js and Express in 2026

Express.js is still the most widely used backend framework in the Node.js ecosystem. Let's build a production-ready API.

Project Setup

npm init -y
npm install express cors helmet morgan dotenv
npm install -D typescript ts-node @types/express nodemon

Basic Server

import express from 'express';
import cors from 'cors';
import helmet from 'helmet';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
app.use(cors());
app.use(helmet());

app.get('/health', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ status: 'ok' });
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

Error Handling Middleware

app.use((err: Error, req, res, next) => {
  console.error(err.message);
  res.status(500).json({ error: err.message });
});

Final Thoughts

Express is simple, flexible, and battle-tested. Combined with TypeScript, it gives you a clean and maintainable backend.

Happy Coding!