Node.js is a powerful and flexible tool for developing modern web applications and managing and automating development tasks. Its dual role in the web development ecosystem allows developers to write both server-side and client-side applications using the same language, and to efficiently manage dependencies and development processes.

Below you will learn more about the two main use cases of Node.js.

Node.js for integrated JavaScript applications

When building applications, Node.js is used as the runtime environment to run JavaScript on the server. It allows developers to write the server-side part of web applications in JavaScript, which has traditionally only been possible in the browser. This unifies the language used on both the client and server side, simplifying development and reducing the need for context switching for developers working on both sides of the application.

In this context, Node.js can:

• Serve web pages and static resources.
• Handle API requests for a web application.
• Connect to a database to retrieve and store data.
• Manages user authentication and session states.
• Drives real-time services such as chat applications and live updates.

For example, an application developed in Node.js may use a framework such as Express.js, but also a front-end framework or library such as React or Angular for a complete JavaScript development experience. You can find instructions on how to set up such an application in this article.

Node.js for package management and build tools

Node.js is also the basis for using npm (Node Package Manager), which is often used to manage dependencies and execute scripts for projects – not only in Node.js, but also in other languages such as PHP. In this case, Node.js is not used to serve web pages or handle API requests, but for tasks such as:

• Installing, updating and managing the packages and libraries on which the project depends.
• Running build tools such as Webpack, Yarn and Gulp that reduce the size of JavaScript or convert Sass to CSS.
• Compiling front-end assets or modern JavaScript with tools such as Babel.
• Automating development tasks such as code checking, testing and automatically refreshing the browser when changes are made (often called live-reload).

In a PHP project such as Laravel, Node.js and npm can be used to manage and build front-end assets that are then served through a PHP web server such as Apache, LiteSpeed or Nginx. Laravel Mix, for example, is an elegant abstraction ( wrapper) around Webpack for building and managing assets, using npm for dependency management.

Node.js is extremely versatile: it can power the backbone of a web application or be used as a toolbox in the development process of applications written in other programming languages. The choice of how to use Node.js depends on the specific needs of the project and the expertise of the development team.