Creating a Node.js Server from Scratch 🚀

Hey there, awesome devs! 👋 Have you ever wondered how web servers work? What if I told you that you can create your own server in just a few lines of JavaScript? 🤯

With Node.js, you don’t need a fancy framework to build a basic server. The built-in HTTP module lets you create a web server that can handle requests and send responses—just like a real web app! 💡

In this blog, we’ll go step by step to build a simple Node.js server. By the end, you’ll understand how servers work and feel like a backend ninja! 🥷🔥

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🌍 What is a Web Server?

A web server is a program that listens for requests from a client (like a browser) and responds with data (like an HTML page or JSON). It acts as the middleman between users and your website.

✅ When you visit example.com, your browser sends a request to a web server.
✅ The server processes the request and sends back a response (HTML, JSON, files, etc.).
✅ Your browser displays the response, and voilà! 🎉

Now, let's build our own server! 🏗️

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🚀 Step 1: Setting Up Your Project

First, make sure you have Node.js installed. You can check by running:

node -v

If Node.js is installed, you'll see a version number. If not, download it from nodejs.org. ✅

Create a new project folder and navigate to it:

mkdir my-node-server && cd my-node-server

Now, let's create our server file:

touch server.js

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🏗️ Step 2: Creating a Basic Node.js Server

Now, open server.js and add the following code:

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
    res.end('Hello, world! 🌍');
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Server running on http://localhost:3000 🚀');
});

✅ How it works:

• We import the http module.
• We use http.createServer() to create a server.
• When a request comes in, we send a plain text response.
• The server listens on port 3000.

Run the server with:

node server.js

Now, open your browser and visit http://localhost:3000—you should see "Hello, world!" 🎉

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📡 Step 3: Handling Different Routes

A real web server should respond differently based on the URL (route). Let's modify our server to handle multiple routes:

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });

    if (req.url === '/') {
        res.end('Welcome to the Home Page! 🏠');
    } else if (req.url === '/about') {
        res.end('About Us Page 📖');
    } else {
        res.writeHead(404);
        res.end('404 Not Found ❌');
    }
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Server running on http://localhost:3000 🚀');
});

✅ Now try:

• http://localhost:3000/ 🏠 (Home page)
• http://localhost:3000/about 📖 (About page)
• http://localhost:3000/contact ❌ (Oops! 404 error)

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🖥️ Step 4: Sending an HTML Response

Instead of plain text, let's send HTML:

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/html' });
    res.end('<h1>Welcome to My Node.js Server! 🚀</h1>');
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Server running on http://localhost:3000 🚀');
});

✅ Now, visiting http://localhost:3000 will display styled HTML content! 🎨

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🔥 Step 5: Serving JSON (for APIs)

Let's modify our server to respond with JSON data instead:

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
    const data = { message: 'Hello, this is JSON data! 🚀' };
    res.end(JSON.stringify(data));
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Server running on http://localhost:3000 🚀');
});

✅ Now, visiting http://localhost:3000 will return JSON data—great for building APIs! 📡

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🎯 Conclusion

Boom! You just built a fully functional Node.js server from scratch! 🎉 Now, you understand how web servers work and can start building real-world applications!

🚀 Recap:

• Created a simple Node.js server with the HTTP module.
• Handled multiple routes (Home, About, 404 errors).
• Sent HTML and JSON responses for different use cases.
• Learned how web servers work under the hood.

In the next article, we’ll explore JSON Response, Stay tuned! 🔥

If you found this blog helpful, make sure to follow me on GitHub 👉 github.com/sovannaro and drop a ⭐. Your support keeps me motivated to create more awesome content! 😍

Happy coding! 💻🔥

Comments

[genix]

This is very good, but you can inherit from Server for Http protocol and handle it better.
(not good for production environment)