A free, beginner-friendly course that takes you from your first line of Node.js to a complete, tested REST API.
There are 30 short sessions. Each one is a single page you can read right here on GitHub. You learn one idea at a time, run real code, and build up to a final project: a Task Management API with Node.js, Express and MongoDB.
- Who This Course Is For
- What You Need
- How to Use This Course
- Course Outline
- Final Project
- Tools You Will Learn
- What You Will Be Able to Do
- Repository Structure
- Feedback
- Complete beginners to backend development
- Frontend developers who want to build their own APIs
- Students who want a clear, step-by-step path
No backend experience is needed.
| You need | Details |
|---|---|
| Basic JavaScript | Variables, functions, arrays, objects, if and loops |
| Node.js 24 (LTS) or newer | Session 01 shows how to install it |
| A code editor | VS Code is recommended |
| A terminal | PowerShell or Git Bash on Windows, Terminal on macOS and Linux |
| MongoDB (from Session 17) | A free MongoDB Atlas account or a local install. Session 17 shows both |
1. Open the first session. Read it on GitHub, or download the course to read offline
git clone https://github.com/mohin-sheikh/nodejs-learning-path.git
cd nodejs-learning-path2. Go in order. Every session builds on the ones before it.
3. Type the code yourself. Make a practice folder, type each example (do not copy and paste), run it, and compare your result with the output shown in the session.
4. Practice before moving on. Finish the exercises at the end of each session.
Every session has
- Simple explanations, one idea at a time
- Code examples that were run and tested, with the real output
- Practice exercises
Most sessions also have
- Animated diagrams that show how things work
- Common beginner mistakes, and how to fix them
- Interview questions to check your understanding
Plan for 1 to 2 hours per session. At one session a day, with time for practice, most learners finish in 4 to 6 weeks.
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Introduction to Node.js | What Node.js is, how to install it, and running a file |
| 02 | Project Setup and npm | package.json, installing packages, npm scripts |
| 03 | How Node.js Works | The event loop, callbacks, promises, async/await |
| 04 | Modules and Imports | Splitting code into files with require and module.exports |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 05 | File System Module | Reading and writing files, folders and JSON |
| 06 | Path Module | Building file paths that work on every computer |
| 07 | OS Module | System information and the process object |
| 08 | Events and EventEmitter | Creating and listening to your own events |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 09 | HTTP Module | How the web works, and a server with no framework |
| 10 | Building Your First Server | Routes, JSON responses and status codes |
| 11 | CRUD with Dummy Data | Create, read, update and delete data in memory |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Introduction to Express.js | Your first Express 5 server |
| 13 | Express Routing | URL parameters, query strings and routers |
| 14 | Middleware | Code that runs before your routes |
| 15 | Building REST APIs with Express | REST rules, validation and a clean response format |
| 16 | Environment Variables | Keeping settings and secrets in a .env file |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | MongoDB Introduction | Documents, collections, Atlas, Compass and mongosh |
| 18 | MongoDB CRUD Operations | Saving and finding data with the MongoDB driver |
| 19 | Mongoose | Schemas, models, validation and relationships |
| 20 | Express + MongoDB CRUD API | A complete API with search, filters and pages |
| 21 | MVC Architecture | Organizing code into models, views and controllers |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Authentication with JWT | Register, log in, protected routes and user roles |
| 23 | Password Hashing with bcrypt | Storing passwords safely and changing them |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | Error Handling | Catching errors so the server never crashes |
| 25 | File Uploads with Multer | Uploading and checking files safely |
| 26 | Logging | Useful logs with winston and morgan |
| 27 | API Documentation | Interactive docs with Swagger |
| 28 | Testing APIs | Automated tests with Jest and Supertest |
| 29 | Project Structure Best Practices | A clean folder layout, and request validation with Joi |
| # | Session | You will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Mini Project: Task Management API | Putting everything together in one real project |
In Session 30 you build the backend of a to-do app, step by step, using everything from Sessions 1 to 29.
Users can
- Register and log in
- Create, read, update and delete their own tasks
- Filter tasks by status, page by page
- See statistics, such as how many tasks are overdue
- Upload a profile picture
- Change their password and delete their account
The project also has
- Password hashing, login tokens and user roles
- Request validation with Joi on every route that receives data
- Central error handling and logging
- Interactive API documentation at
/api-docs - 31 automated tests
| Tool | What it is for | Session |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js and npm | Running JavaScript on a server, installing packages | 01, 02 |
| Express | Building web servers and APIs | 12 |
| dotenv | Loading settings from a .env file |
16 |
| MongoDB and Mongoose | Storing data | 17 to 19 |
| EJS | Building HTML pages | 21 |
| jsonwebtoken, bcryptjs | Login and passwords | 22, 23 |
| Multer | File uploads | 25 |
| winston, morgan | Logging | 26 |
| swagger-jsdoc, swagger-ui-express | API documentation | 27 |
| Jest, Supertest, mongodb-memory-server | Testing | 28 |
| Joi | Checking request data | 29, 30 |
| helmet, cors, express-rate-limit | Security | 14, 29 |
All code was tested with Node.js 24, Express 5 and Mongoose 9.
After this course you will be able to
- Explain how Node.js works, including the event loop
- Build REST APIs with Express
- Store and query data in MongoDB
- Add sign-up, login and user roles
- Validate request data, and handle errors, file uploads and logging the right way
- Document and test your APIs
- Organize a project the way professional teams do
nodejs-learning-path/
├── 01-introduction-to-nodejs.md one file per session
├── 02-project-setup-and-npm.md
├── ...
├── 30-mini-project.md
├── images/ animated diagrams, one folder per session
└── README.md
Found a mistake, or a part that is hard to understand? Please open an issue or send a pull request.
The code in this course is written for learning. Before putting an app online, read the security checklist and "Before You Deploy" in Session 30.
Ready? Start with Session 01: Introduction to Node.js.