nodejs-best-practiceslisted

# Node.js Best Practices > Principles and decision-making for modern Node.js development. > **Learn to THINK, not memorize code patterns.** --- ## ⚠️ How to Use This Skill This skill teaches **decision-making principles**, not fixed code to copy. - ASK user for preferences when unclear - Choose framework/pattern based on CONTEXT - Don't default to same solution every time --- ## 1. Framework Selection ### Decision Tree ``` What are you building? │ ├── Edge/Serverless (Cloudflare, Vercel) │ └── Hono (zero-dependency, ultra-fast cold starts) │ ├── High Performance API │ └── Fastify (~5x req/sec of Express in Fastify's own hello-world benchmark; benchmark your own workload) │ ├── Enterprise/Team familiarity │ └── NestJS (structured, DI, decorators) │ ├── Legacy/Stable/Maximum ecosystem │ └── Express (mature, most middleware) │ └── Full-stack with frontend └── Next.js API Routes or tRPC ``` ### Comparison Principles | Factor | Hono | Fastify | Express | |--------|------|---------|---------| | **Best for** | Edge, serverless | Performance | Legacy, learning | | **Cold start** | Fastest | Fast | Moderate | | **Ecosystem** | Growing | Good | Largest | | **TypeScript** | Native | Excellent | Good | | **Learning curve** | Low | Medium | Low | ### Selection Questions to Ask: 1. What's the deployment target? 2. Is cold start time critical? 3. Does team have existing experience? 4. Is there legacy code to maintain? --- ## 2. Runtime Considerations ### Native Ty