Every day, either new frameworks and libraries are released or existing ones are updated with new functionalities. Developers have to stay on top of these trends. Because the quality of your software development depends very much on such tools and technologies. Knowing how to properly leverage them saves much of their time and effort.
One such tool that developers use is NPM packages. Top-rated nodeJS companies use them to simplify the development process and help businesses scale up. NPM packages are becoming popular nowadays as they are suitable for asynchronous frameworks.
In addition to that, NPM packages offer a variety of modules and libraries that can help build websites and web applications. Some of the most important and largely used NPM packages that you should know about are discussed in this article below. Learn and leverage them in your NodeJS development project.
Top 12 NPM packages
1. Async
Being a utility package, Async comes with robust functionalities that help you work with asynchronous JS. integrating your NodeJS project with Async NPM helps improve your code efficiency.
Developers can leverage the Async package to streamline workflows, manage complex functions, and elevate development efforts. The key features of the Async package are as mentioned below:
- Async is adept at handling errors and reporting them.
- The NPM package also supports retry, waterfall, queue, and more such advanced control patterns.
- Integrating NodeJS modules such as child_process, fs and net with ASync is very easy.
- Async allows you to execute the asynchronous tasks in both series and parallel manner.
2. Body-parser
Body Parser aims to simplify the incoming parsing language during NodeJS app development. This robust middleware can help you collect relevant data from incoming requests which you can use in your project.
This saves the valuable time and effort of the developers while allowing them to focus on the critical aspects of NodeJS app development. The essential Body-Parser features include:
- Easy integration with Express.JS
- Provides support for parsing different bodies such as multipart, JSON, and URL encoded.
- This NPM is capable of managing a variety of requests like PUT, HTTP, GET, POST, and so on.
3. Express
Many developers prefer to use the Express NPM package for the creation of web applications. Its offerings include server foundations for single-page, multi-page, and dynamic web applications.
It also provides processing, a speedier app, content negotiation, HTTP support, superior efficiency, and comprehensive routing. Such superior capabilities make Express an ideal easily accessible option currently available in the market.
APIs from Express simplify building any kind of web app you want. Express renders a robust overview of how to develop applications from the ground up. Express features of this NPM are:
- Comes with a robust ecosystem consisting of various plugins and modules
- HTML pages can be rendered quickly using Express’s engine.
- This middleware also supports app functionality’s extensions
- HTTP requests are easy to manage with Express’s routing system
4. Lodash
Being a modern JS library, Lodash has a set of functionalities that help change strings, arrays, and more. Lodash is considered as one of the most robust and reliable tools because of its high usage of JavaScript. It helps improve the efficiency and readability of the app’s code. Features of Lodash include:
- To create easy and concise code, Lodash supports chaining functions
- Strong manipulation string functions
- Comes with functional concepts such as reduce, map, filter, and so on.
- Offers high-performing functions when working with arrays and objects
5. Socket.io
If you are working on a real-time communication app that also runs document streaming concurrently then Socket.io is the right choice for you. Socket.io comes in handy when in a database, a material originates or API from non-dependent features.
Twitter and Facebook use the same strategy for aggregating the latest tweets and news respectively. Various API combinations from Socket.io use real-time data which can be very useful. Popular features of Socket.io are as mentioned below:
- Socket.io uses React and Angular front-end technologies to broadcast notifications to multiple clients all at once.
- The structure for real-time communication is finetuned using the custom config option from Socket.io
- Supports both server-side and client JS
- Supports messaging multiple clients simultaneously
- It is compatible with various communication standards and has cross-browser fallbacks
6. Passport
For node programmers who have to deal with various kinds of malicious codes, Passport NPM provides unique security modules. Its primary objective is to help developers with the authentication of the application. Third-party modules are used to serve the authentication process.
Passport also refers to a few strategies to handle malicious actions and codes. When a query is submitted for identity verification, no matter if it passes or fails, it needs hooks to maintain the process. Passport avails those hooks. The NPM also offers multiple authentication strategies that are useful in authentication.
Passport’s features are as mentioned below:
- Easy to use and easy to configure
- Easy integration with various authentication methods like OAuth, OpenID, and more
- It authenticates the workflow to suit your requirements
7. Redux-Saga
This powerful middleware library was developed to work with Redux. It allows the developers to supervise async actions and their side effects easily. This makes managing async actions efficient and predictable. Moreover, the quality and stability of the NodeJS code of your system is maintained.
Soi, if you are looking for a simple way to handle async requests or a way to work with complex data files, then Redux-Saga can help you out. Redux-Saga offers the following features:
- Predictable APIs
- Simple testing
- Easy integration with Angular, React, and other front-end frameworks
- Maintains side effects by supporting declarative effects
- Integrates with Redux seamlessly to manage app state
- Can easily manage huge async workflows
8. Mongoose
Designed for MongoDB and NodeJS, Mongoose is a powerful ODM model. It interacts with MongoDB intuitively and straightforwardly. NodeJS developers can successfully build a database structure that can easily organize and manage the data with the help of Mongoose.
Mongoose’s features include:
- Supporting population, aggregation, and more advanced functions
- Its middleware supports hooks which can be executed before or after certain database operations
- Powerful query building and execution
- Built-in features for validating and casting data
- Defines and models data usage schemas
9. Cloudinary
Cloudinary offers a variety of cloud service features. It helps you handle images in your web app. It provides you options for everything from uploading visual content to editing and cropping pictures. Both experts and beginners can benefit from it as it is easy to use.
It is easy to integrate Cloudinary with your project and apps using its APIs. But you have to create an account on Cloudinary first. Don't worry, it's free. If you have any queries related to Cloudinary’s usage, configuration, setup, or anything else, you can just look it up at its official website. It offers tutorials and necessary information for the same.
Cloudinary features:
- Provides free addons
- Provides support through email, tickets, and forums
- Uses CDM for high-performance delivery
- Adaptive streaming
- Video transcoding
- Visual (videos and images) transformations
- Revision tracking
- Auto backup
- Remote fetch
10. Axios
The next NPM package on our list is also an HTTP client API framework. It enables the developers to make requests and promises simultaneously. After the request communicates with the server, the promise is sent by Axios to let you know whether the request was refused or fulfilled.
Because of the robust third-party addons like Axios-VCR, Axios-API versioning, Axios mock adapter, Axios debug log, and Axios fetch, the NPM package is gaining traction among developers.
Axios can easily manage requests like DELETE, GET, POST, and PUT. Axios offers the following features:
- Supports HTTP requests for NodeJS apps and from browsers
- Have the ability to transform requests and responses to interceptions and JSON data.
- Supports promised base requests
- Enables the developers to make multiple requests simultaneously
11. Babel
Convert your most recent JS code into a backward-compatible code using the JavaScript compiler called Babel. If you wish to leverage modern programming languages and their new features but have to support conventional browsers and platforms too then Babel can help you out.
Babel can accommodate a number of presets and plugins as it comes with various configuration options. Its code optimization and debugging capabilities make it one of the ideal options for web development.
Key features of Babel NPM:
- Seamless code optimization
- Easy debugging
- Uses plugins and presets to provide customization
- Converts JS code into backward-compatible code
12. Bluebird
Bluebird is a JavaScript-based NPM package offering a popular asynchronous programming style that enables developers to have an effective and sophisticated implementation of promises. Cancellation, error handling, quick promise implementation, and many more features as well as performance improvements are available in Bluebird.
Because Bluebird is compatible with JS-based frameworks and libraries, it works seamlessly with them. Under production situations, many large Node JS apps are empowered by Bluebird. Bluebird provides the following features:
- Helpful in production environments
- Compatible with JS-based libraries and frameworks
- Offers performance improvements and other features
- Offers robust promises of implementation
Conclusion
A wide array of NPM packages are available in the market that can empower NodJS development. They act as a robust solution that helps developers enhance the functionality of the application, and maintain its workflows.
The NPM packages we discussed in this post are just a fraction of a large ecosystem. Leveraging these packages for NodeJS development allows you to stay on top of the ever-changing technological landscape.
Choosing the right NPM package can help push the limitations of the framework and create innovative, efficient, and scalable applications.
