# Backend Nodejs > Node.js backend patterns — Fastify/Express, database access, async patterns, security hardening Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/backend-nodejs` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/backend-nodejs` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/backend-nodejs/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Security - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/backend-nodejs --- # Backend Node.js Skill ## Core Principles - **Create connections once**: DB/Redis pools are singletons — never instantiate per request. - **Validate at boundaries**: All external input validated with Zod/TypeBox before business logic. - **Catch async errors**: Unhandled promise rejections crash Node.js — always handle. - **Fail fast on bad config**: Validate all env vars at startup with Zod — exit(1) if invalid. - **Graceful shutdown**: SIGTERM handler closes connections, drains in-flight requests. ## References - `references/express-fastify.md` — Fastify with TypeBox, Express with Zod, middleware, error handling - `references/database-access.md` — Drizzle, Prisma, Knex, connection pooling, transactions - `references/async-patterns.md` — Promise.all, BullMQ queues, worker threads, streams, backpressure - `references/security.md` — Input validation, rate limiting, CORS, helmet, dependency audit ## Scripts - `scripts/detect-node-stack.sh` — Reads package.json to identify framework, ORM, test runner ## Assets - `assets/tsconfig-recommended.json` — Strict TypeScript configuration for Node.js --- > Source: [rnavarych/alpha-engineer](https://github.com/rnavarych/alpha-engineer) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).