NestJS is a powerful and opinionated framework for building scalable, maintainable, and testable server-side applications using Node.js. Built with TypeScript and heavily inspired by Angular, NestJS combines the best aspects of object-oriented programming, functional programming, and reactive programming.

In this article, we will walk you through the process of setting up a NestJS project from scratch, including:

• Installation
• Setting up an ORM with Prisma
• Adding security layers (JWT, hashing)
• And additional suggestions to boost your development efficiency

Let’s get started!

🧰 1. Prerequisites

Before setting up a NestJS project, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (v16 or higher recommended)
• npm or yarn (we’ll use npm in this guide, but yarn is also fine)
• Text editor (e.g., VS Code)

🛠️ 2. Installation

NestJS comes with a powerful CLI (Command Line Interface) that helps automate many development tasks like scaffolding components, services, modules, and more.

Step 1: Install NestJS CLI

npm install -g @nestjs/cli

Step 2: Create a new project

nest new your-project-name

You’ll be prompted to choose between npm, yarn, or pnpm. Choose your preferred package manager and wait for the installation to complete.

Step 3: Run the application

cd your-project-name
npm run start

Your NestJS app is now running at http://localhost:3000 🎉

🧭 3. Setting Up Prisma as an ORM

One of the most modern and developer-friendly ORMs for TypeScript/Node.js is Prisma. It replaces traditional ORMs like TypeORM with a clean, type-safe, and easy-to-use interface.

Step 1: Install Prisma CLI and dependencies

npm install prisma --save-dev
npm install @prisma/client

Step 2: Initialize Prisma

npx prisma init

This will:

• Create a prisma/schema.prisma file
• Create a .env file with a database connection string

Update the .env file with your actual database connection (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite).

Step 3: Define a model

Open prisma/schema.prisma and define a sample model:

model User {
  id    Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  email String  @unique
  name  String?
}

Step 4: Generate Prisma client

npx prisma generate

This will generate the Prisma Client inside node_modules/.prisma/client.

Step 5: Integrate with NestJS

Create a Prisma service to inject into your application:

nest generate service prisma

Update prisma.service.ts:

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

@Injectable()
export class PrismaService extends PrismaClient {
  constructor() {
    super();
  }
}

Now you can inject PrismaService into any controller or service to interact with your database.

🔐 4. Security: JWT Authentication and Password Hashing

Security is a critical part of any backend application. We’ll cover two key aspects:

• Password hashing using bcrypt
• JWT-based authentication using @nestjs/passport and passport-jwt

Step 1: Install required packages

npm install bcrypt @nestjs/passport passport passport-jwt
npm install @types/passport-jwt --save-dev

Step 2: Create an Auth module

Generate the necessary files:

nest generate module auth
nest generate service auth
nest generate controller auth

Step 3: Hashing passwords

In your auth.service.ts, use bcrypt to hash passwords:

import * as bcrypt from 'bcrypt';

async hashPassword(password: string): Promise<string> {
  const saltOrRounds = 10;
  return bcrypt.hash(password, saltOrRounds);
}

Step 4: JWT Setup

Create a JWT strategy:

nest generate service jwt

Then create a strategy file:

// jwt.strategy.ts
import { ExtractJwt, Strategy } from 'passport-jwt';
import { PassportStrategy } from '@nestjs/passport';
import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';

@Injectable()
export class JwtStrategy extends PassportStrategy(Strategy) {
  constructor() {
    super({
      jwtFromRequest: ExtractJwt.fromAuthHeaderAsBearerToken(),
      ignoreExpiration: false,
      secretOrKey: 'YOUR_SECRET_KEY',
    });
  }

  async validate(payload: any) {
    return { userId: payload.sub, email: payload.email };
  }
}

Register the strategy in your auth.module.ts and protect your routes using @UseGuards(JwtAuthGuard).

💡 5. Additional Suggestions

Here are some extra tools and best practices to improve your NestJS development experience:

🧪 Testing

• Use Jest (already included in NestJS projects) for unit and E2E testing.
• Use @nestjs/testing package to test modules, controllers, and services.

🧩 Logging

• Use @nestjs/common’s Logger class for consistent logging.
• For advanced logging, integrate winston or pino.

🛡️ Input Validation

• Use class-validator and class-transformer with pipes for validating incoming payloads.

Install them:

npm install class-validator class-transformer

Then enable validation in main.ts:

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
  app.useGlobalPipes(new ValidationPipe({ transform: true }));
  await app.listen(3000);
}

🧱 Project Structure Tips

• Keep your modules clean and focused.
• Use feature modules to separate concerns (e.g., UserModule, AuthModule).
• Use DTOs (Data Transfer Objects) for input/output types.

✅ Summary

Here’s a quick recap of what we covered in this guide:

By following these steps, you’ll have a solid foundation for your NestJS application — secure, scalable, and ready for production.

🧑‍💻 Want to Learn More?

• NestJS Official Documentation
• Prisma Official Documentation
• JWT.io – Learn more about JSON Web Tokens
• NestJS GitHub Examples