Communication Protocols

nodejs-quickstart-structure supports three primary communication methods, each optimized for different use cases.

REST APIs (Standard)

Standard RESTful endpoints powered by Express.js.

• Documentation: Automatically generates a Swagger UI at http://localhost:3000/api-docs.
• Error Handling: Centralized middleware with standard HTTP status codes.
• Security: Rate-limiting and Helmet headers pre-configured.

GraphQL (Modern)

Powerful API query language powered by Apollo Server v4.

• Playground: Fully embedded Apollo Sandbox available at http://localhost:3000/graphql.
• Schema: Strongly typed with typeDefs and resolvers.
• Integration: Seamlessly maps to MVC or Clean Architecture models.

Kafka (Event-Driven)

High-performance messaging for asynchronous microservices.

• Kafka KRaft Mode: No Zookeeper dependency; modernized setup in docker-compose.yml.
• Pattern: Uses a Singleton Kafka Service for resilience and performance.
• BaseConsumer: Standardized abstract class for creating custom consumers with built-in error handling.
• Worker-only Mode: If only Kafka is selected, the generator removes unnecessary HTTP routes, creating a pure worker service.

Authentication & Authorization

Across all communication protocols, security is handled via a Pluggable JWT System.

• REST: Middleware based authorization (authMiddleware.ts).
• GraphQL: context-based authorization and guarded resolvers.
• Tokens: Supports secure Access/Refresh Token Rotation and Blacklisting via Redis/Memory Cache.

For a deep dive into the security implementation, see the Authentication Blueprint.