@nrwl/nest

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Nest.js is a framework designed for building scalable server-side applications. In many ways, Nest is familiar to Angular developers:

  • It has excellent TypeScript support.
  • Its dependency injection system is similar to the one in Angular.
  • It emphasises testability.
  • Its configuration APIs are similar to Angular as well.

Many conventions and best practices used in Angular applications can be also be used in Nest.

Setting Up Nest

To create a new workspace with Nest, run the following command:

npx create-nx-workspace my-workspace --preset=nest

Yarn users can use the following command instead:

yarn create nx-workspace my-workspace --preset=nest

To add the Nest plugin to an existing workspace, run one the following commands:

npm install -D @nrwl/nest

yarn add -D @nrwl/nest

Create Applications

You can add a new Nest application with the following command:

nx g @nrwl/nest:app my-nest-app

Application Proxies

Generating Nest applications has an option to configure other projects in the workspace to proxy API requests. This can be done by passing the --frontendProject with the project name you wish to enable proxy support for.

nx g @nrwl/nest:app my-nest-app --frontendProject my-angular-app

Create Libraries

You can add a new Nest library with the following command:

nx g @nrwl/nest:lib my-nest-lib

To make the library buildable, use the following command:

nx g @nrwl/nest:lib my-nest-lib --buildable

To make the library publishable, use the following command:

nx g @nrwl/nest:lib my-nest-lib --publishable --importPath=@my-workspace/my-nest-lib

Read more about building and publishing libraries here.

Nest Generators

The Nest plugin for Nx extends the generators provided by Nest. Any commands that can be used with the Nest CLI can also be used with the nx command. The --project flag should be used for all Nest generators.

--project is used to infer the root of the project where the generators will generate the files.

Using Nest

Build

You can build an application with the following command:

nx build my-nest-app

This applies to buildable libraries as well

nx build my-nest-lib

Waiting for other builds

Setting the waitUntilTargets option with an array of projects (with the following format: "project:architect") will execute those commands before serving the Nest application.

Serve

You can serve an application with the following command:

nx serve my-nest-app

The serve command runs the build target, and executes the application.

By default, the serve command will run in watch mode. This allows code to be changed, and the Nest application to be rebuilt automatically.

Debugging

Nest applications also have the inspect flag set, so you can attach your debugger to the running instance.

Debugging is set to use a random port that is available on the system. The port can be changed by setting the port option in the serve architect in the workspace.json. Or by running the serve command with --port <number>.

For additional information on how to debug Node applications, see the Node.js debugging getting started guide.

Lint

You can lint an application with the following command:

nx lint my-nest-app

You can lint a library with the following command:

nx lint my-nest-lib

Unit Test

You can run unit test for an application with the following command:

nx test my-nest-app

You can run unit test for a library with the following command:

nx test my-nest-lib

More Documentation

Package reference

Here is a list of all the executors and generators available from this package.

Executors

Generators

  • application

    Create a NestJS application.

  • convert-tslint-to-eslint

    Convert a project from TSLint to ESLint.

  • init

    Initialize the @nrwl/nest plugin.

  • library

    Create a new NestJS library.

  • class

    Run the class NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • controller

    Run the controller NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • decorator

    Run the decorator NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • filter

    Run the filter NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • gateway

    Run the gateway NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • guard

    Run the guard NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • interceptor

    Run the interceptor NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • interface

    Run the interface NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • middleware

    Run the middleware NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • module

    Run the module NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • pipe

    Run the pipe NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • provider

    Run the provider NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • resolver

    Run the resolver NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • resource

    Run the resource NestJS generator with Nx project support.

  • service

    Run the service NestJS generator with Nx project support.