How to Setup Node.js with TypeScript in 2023

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  • Опубликовано: 28 ноя 2022
  • Learn how to setup Node.js with TypeScript while supporting native ES modules. Use the new NodeNext option to easily interop between CommonJS and ES modules in the same project.
    Full Lesson and Source Code fireship.io/lessons/typescrip...

Комментарии • 455

  • @chenlim2165
    @chenlim2165 Год назад +288

    Thanks for this! Setting up a new Node project in 2023 is:
    1 hour setting up the build environment
    1 hour setting up linting
    1 hour getting webpack to work
    1 more hour optimizing everything
    3 hours researching Deno / Bun / Vite, then deciding it's not worth it
    1 hour wondering if you're better off with plain JS
    1 hour remembering what you wanted to build

    • @mucookul
      @mucookul Год назад +5

      That’s exactly why I skip half of that stuff

    • @edoardoschnell
      @edoardoschnell Год назад +7

      How is vite not worth it? 90% of use cases is just install boom works

    • @-rate6326
      @-rate6326 Год назад +2

      Ask c++ Devs

    • @kollpotato
      @kollpotato 10 месяцев назад +4

      Just do bun init

    • @JC-fd8ho
      @JC-fd8ho 8 месяцев назад

      about what ?@@-rate6326

  • @iatheman
    @iatheman Год назад +588

    This guy is always reminding me why I
    1. Hate the JS ecosystem with a passion
    2. Admire the JS developers that maintain their sanity and build stuff with it

    • @Caborrrl
      @Caborrrl Год назад +85

      Requiring the .js extension from TS was the most stupid TS idea in long time.

    • @thekwoka4707
      @thekwoka4707 Год назад +11

      @@Caborrrl well, it's technically the spec.
      The TS system is very "what the spec is".
      Having unsuffixed imports is not valid js.

    • @filipmajetic1174
      @filipmajetic1174 Год назад

      @@Caborrrl there's a compiler option "esModuleInterop" that fixes it

    • @Caborrrl
      @Caborrrl Год назад +5

      @@filipmajetic1174 No. The esModulelnterop is not for that or anything related to that. Wtf?

    • @iatheman
      @iatheman Год назад

      @@shapelessed Just realized my handle is the weird generated one. But I've been there with another stack, same pain.

  • @schmidtdisturbr
    @schmidtdisturbr Год назад +5

    A thousand thank-yous for this! I wish this video were linked in the TypeScript official getting started docs. As an infrequent JavaScript developer starting to dig into the TypeScript ecosystem, the legacy module situation is a huge stumbling block to get past. Love your straightforward presentation.

  • @bellabianchi7667
    @bellabianchi7667 Год назад +3

    OMG I literally sat there with this exact issue an hour ago and couldn’t resolve it and this appears in my subscriptions - THANK YOU!!

  • @zyrenth
    @zyrenth Год назад +6

    Amazing tutorial, It's definitely a good tutorial for beginners, keep up the good work!

  • @TheBeastDispenser
    @TheBeastDispenser Год назад +3

    Thank you! This could not come at a better time. For the life of me I could not get TypeScript working with my GraphQL setup but your review of the tsconfig files cleared up my confusion. My main issue was needing to add the .js file extensions to the imports.

  • @codewithguillaume
    @codewithguillaume Год назад

    Yess!!!! I was hoping to see this video one day on your channel :)

  • @zozephh
    @zozephh Год назад +1

    The video I never knew I needed, thanks Jeff :)

  • @MisterNorthernCanuck
    @MisterNorthernCanuck Год назад +1

    I spent 3 hours on fixing this. Thank you so much.

  • @ukaszzbrozek6470
    @ukaszzbrozek6470 Год назад +126

    Why we need to target .js files when they extensions are .ts ? It is so confusing.

    • @stxnw
      @stxnw Год назад +80

      You don't. Jeff just doesn't know about the esModuleInterop option on TypeScript.

    • @18.j
      @18.j Год назад +8

      When you compile you run the .js file and you target the other .js files, typescript won't change your import to ts so you declare it with .js that's why...

    • @stxnw
      @stxnw Год назад +7

      @@18.j Wrong

    • @cyrus01337
      @cyrus01337 Год назад

      @@stxnw How does TS handle this then?

    • @paoloose
      @paoloose Год назад +3

      ​@@stxnw when I dont specify the files extension, "esModuleInterop" set to true gives me:
      Relative import paths need explicit file extensions in EcmaScript imports when '--moduleResolution' is 'node16' or 'nodenext'
      When using .ts files, The vscode hints say:
      "An import path can only end with a '.ts' extension when 'allowImportingTsExtensions' is enabled.ts(5097)"
      When I enable it, all errors are gone, but the typescript compiler throws:
      "error TS5023: Unknown compiler option 'allowImportingTsExtensions'."
      So weird.

  • @ivanb493
    @ivanb493 Год назад +180

    I feel like it might be a good idea to cover the ts-node package next time which is nice during development

    • @lsudo
      @lsudo Год назад +3

      @@vaaski that's basically react my friend

    • @CTSSTC
      @CTSSTC Год назад +1

      @@vaaski tsx is for react components; we don't need that additional weight here if you're just trying to write some non-frontend code.

    • @CTSSTC
      @CTSSTC Год назад

      @@alanbixby I tend to lean into ts-node, but now it's sounding like a nightmare yet again lol; I'll have to look into esbuild kit I guess lol; yet another tool :RIP:
      They used to say to never use ts-node for production, then you could; all the answers are an answer in one point in time and then never again down the road as they become the "wrong answer" lol
      I'm just glad to have node 18 here and the older versions dying off 🎉
      It's all still a pain though.

    • @That_Darned_S
      @That_Darned_S Год назад +1

      @@lsudo No, we're not talking about react or jsx/tsx. Tsx is an npm package, does the same thing as ts-node but it's newer.

    • @danielegvi
      @danielegvi Год назад +2

      @@lsudo tsx is a CLI program, short for typescript execute. it uses esbuild to transpile all imports to js in memory on demand really fast. it also supports jsx/tsx the language extension, which is a bit confusing at first.

  • @user-sq6us6jl5h
    @user-sq6us6jl5h 10 месяцев назад

    Exactly what I needed . Perfect video!

  • @danish7335
    @danish7335 Месяц назад

    you don't know how much you helped me.. thanks mate

  • @CTSSTC
    @CTSSTC Год назад +49

    Every year for advent of code, I spend a majority of my time configuring my baseline JS/TS environment rather than working on the coding problems, which is fun because I get to see how much things have changed just like this video hits on 😆
    Edit: I'm excited to see this full course and how it evolves ;D 🎉

    • @zettca
      @zettca Год назад +1

      Change to Deno. You'll get TS, top-level async, ESM, external modules, linting/formatting with 0 config

    • @codeman99-dev
      @codeman99-dev Год назад +1

      @@zettca No. I can't use Deno at work. I wouldn't learn Zig right now for the same reason. Not worth it. I need to know the node ecosystem.

    • @zettca
      @zettca Год назад +3

      @@codeman99-dev we're talking about AoC, not work.

    • @codeman99-dev
      @codeman99-dev Год назад +1

      @@zettca Yes. It is a great opportunity to catch up and learn what is new. It is hard to do that if you jump ship.

    • @marvinxu2950
      @marvinxu2950 8 месяцев назад

      @@zettca Just curious, what is AoC?

  • @d-landjs
    @d-landjs Год назад

    Excellent tutorial!

  • @HackSoft
    @HackSoft Год назад

    Kudos for the concise & resourceful video 🙌

  • @flatmapper
    @flatmapper Год назад

    Love it! Looking forward to watching your full course. But please do it for experienced developers too

  • @srinivasnahak3473
    @srinivasnahak3473 9 месяцев назад

    You're a magician for sure!!

  • @voychoi9923
    @voychoi9923 Год назад

    Great content as always

  • @joseandkris
    @joseandkris 10 месяцев назад

    This is amazing. Thank you :)

  • @aunimhassan7465
    @aunimhassan7465 Год назад

    life saver video

  • @shobhitsingh6271
    @shobhitsingh6271 4 месяца назад

    Million likes for this video! I spent the entire day debugging until I stumbled upon your video. Turns out, the issue was that I was importing a common JS package without specifying {"type":"module"} in the package.json. Thank you so much! ❤❤❤❤❤

  • @phaZZi6461
    @phaZZi6461 11 месяцев назад

    i was here for the module thing, thanks

  • @fizzdev
    @fizzdev Год назад +11

    top notch video, can't wait for the 2024 guide

    • @nithinrajendran3091
      @nithinrajendran3091 2 месяца назад

      Did the 2024 guide drop yet? bro left us hanging..

    • @fizzdev
      @fizzdev 2 месяца назад

      @@nithinrajendran3091 sadly not.. we'll have to wait a few more months

  • @user-ck6yl6qb2g
    @user-ck6yl6qb2g Год назад

    Excellent!

  • @flatmapper
    @flatmapper Год назад

    Thank you so much!

  • @dubble_cuppachino
    @dubble_cuppachino Год назад +19

    The module field is pretty much abandoned. It's only really used by bundlers. The correct way to tell node how to import your code is to use the "files" and “exports” fields. Not trying to sound like a stackoverflow comment, just wanted to share a thing I picked up after diving into all this stuff recently. Excited to watch the rest, I love your content!

  • @NareshKumar-vt4sh
    @NareshKumar-vt4sh 8 часов назад

    Thanks a lot.

  • @ThePotatoChronicler
    @ThePotatoChronicler Год назад +2

    Deno NPM compatibility is nearly there! We're so close. Most libraries just work OOTB already. I am running from node with the speed of light my man, at least for my personal projects

  • @danieldosen5260
    @danieldosen5260 Год назад

    Great use of

  • @NoPudieronConGuevara
    @NoPudieronConGuevara Год назад +3

    It's truly a peculiar experience see how this channel's owner is gradually descending into madness by the hand of web technologies mostly.
    I just can't look away... keep the hard work

  • @vinixqasim
    @vinixqasim 6 месяцев назад

    thank you

  • @Alex-lt4kr
    @Alex-lt4kr 7 месяцев назад

    Thank you, i was struggling with the tsconfig trying to get the top level await feature working

  • @michaelmenard8614
    @michaelmenard8614 Год назад +3

    Awesome video! Any chance there is a pt. 2 coming with jest, eslint, prettier, and husky?

  • @nicholaskoffler294
    @nicholaskoffler294 Год назад

    looking forward to that typescript course

  • @nithinraj1428
    @nithinraj1428 Год назад

    Thank You

  • @Grim_Nerd
    @Grim_Nerd Год назад +3

    I always find myself having a mini heart attack when watching your videos because you'll occasionally hear a baby crying in the background and I ALWAYS think it's my baby. I'm literally home alone right now and still paused the video to listen out for him crying :')

  • @Ma1ne2
    @Ma1ne2 Год назад +2

    Looking forward to part two if this video in a month when all of this changed again :D

  • @Novacification
    @Novacification 2 месяца назад

    An hour looking for a minimal typescript setup with clear explanations. I should have known to come here immediately.

  • @stefankracht
    @stefankracht Год назад

    Good timing on that video, since advent of code is around the corner ❤

  • @kklowd
    @kklowd Год назад

    Bruh how did you know I was setting up a project to with both esm and cjs you really are a wizard 👀

  • @0brine
    @0brine Год назад +1

    Lol i needed that exactly 2 days ago xD

  • @SamyarBorder
    @SamyarBorder Год назад

    evey once in a while i come back and watch this video

  • @Novacification
    @Novacification Год назад

    Could you go over some scenarios for building and publishing. For instance, I'm creating a base server implementation (basically an express wrapper with auth middleware) and I would like to publish it to a local npm registry (Verdaccio).
    It publishes everything, not just the dist folder, and I'm not sure how to handle dependencies.
    I have some issues with importing the server package as well, needing to do a second deconstruction of the default export for the dependency.
    A good up to date minimal setup for building and publishing would be really cool! Something with build to dist, publish from dist and importing the package somewhere (maybe even with import instead of require)

  • @shaded4438
    @shaded4438 8 месяцев назад

    the moth really cheered me up i cant lie

  • @steveanthonyluzquinosagama7450

    That's exactly why I created typescript-project-generator. It will handle all the configs for using TS with Node.js. Give it a try :)

  • @radandevist4168
    @radandevist4168 Год назад

    hahaha funny, I just wrote a post about swc setup on backend project as well too on my blog a few days ago😅. Nice timing.

  • @bensas42
    @bensas42 Год назад

    I had to do this last week haha

  • @AnweshAdhikari
    @AnweshAdhikari Год назад

    Time travel is real! Jeff is one month ahead of us!😂❤

  • @resourcelookup8678
    @resourcelookup8678 Год назад +1

    Super

  • @Zagoorland
    @Zagoorland Год назад +3

    You should make a movie about package managers, only few people know about PNPM for example, but for now it's the fastest and most space efficient solution!

    • @LarsRyeJeppesen
      @LarsRyeJeppesen Год назад

      And messy. The amount of time I have spent resolving fcked up symlinks is countless

  • @Steve-Richter
    @Steve-Richter Год назад

    was hoping you would cover how to run the equivalent of nodemon when a change is made to the typescript source code.

  • @Zwiebelgian
    @Zwiebelgian Год назад +208

    Deno now supports npm (atleast that is what their propaganda says) so now may be a good time to switch

    • @brucewayne2480
      @brucewayne2480 Год назад +6

      Why ? I just want to know what will you gain ?

    • @Zwiebelgian
      @Zwiebelgian Год назад +53

      @@brucewayne2480 Built-in Typescript support, better speed, cleaner directories. I don‘t actually know, I am not a backend developer

    • @brucewayne2480
      @brucewayne2480 Год назад +5

      @@Zwiebelgian it's not a lot of work to setup a typescript project , cleaner directories I'm not seeing any problem, speed not sure , I've not seen any benchmarking

    • @jakob7116
      @jakob7116 Год назад +39

      @@Zwiebelgian yeah, it also has better apis under the Deno. namespace and a std library. You also get less config files, lots of built in stuff like linter so you don’t have to do that yourself, more secure, faster http server, better browser compatibility, the apis mostly use promises (and sync versions) instead of callbacks, you can run code directly from a url, even Ts code and so on
      The npm support doesn’t work on all packages perfectly just yet but soon:tm:

    • @Dominik-K
      @Dominik-K Год назад +8

      For me personally the sandboxing capabilities are nice

  • @kalebercanbrack8857
    @kalebercanbrack8857 Год назад +2

    Just yesterday I was dealing with something similar with Fastify and Typescript. I wanted to be using ESM, and went through the whole troubleshooting process to figure out the right tsconfig settings, but due to the way a lot of Fastify packages were exporting their types it broke being able to import the default export from it. I don't know the specifics, but it was just super annoying that this glorified linter was causing such an obnoxious bug for code that worked fine without it.
    However, Typescript in Deno is a beautiful experience. Largely I think because you don't have to worry about commonJS. Makes me wonder if as Deno gets more popular, the TS Node people will move over to it

    • @vaultofmyths
      @vaultofmyths 7 месяцев назад

      Except deno breaks your code in ways you can't imagine because of their weird engine

  • @rign_
    @rign_ Год назад +1

    I need to work with pure javascript to get CommonJS working, because of dynamically use the code and re-import it on runtime is such a blessing as well a curse. But for my project and personal works, it's perfectly fine.

  • @alecdorasandler6690
    @alecdorasandler6690 3 месяца назад +1

    Thanks a shit ton for this! I wasted so much time fixing the imports with .ts ext.

  • @riddixdan5572
    @riddixdan5572 Год назад +16

    I'm still confused as to why we need to specify file extention when we import. Couldn't node/TS resolve it itself based on the actual file it is importing?

    • @mcvgs1780
      @mcvgs1780 Год назад

      I kind of remember Ryan Dahl spoke about this being needlessly complex to implement and (not so sure if I remember this right) hogs resources. If he were given a chance to do Node all over again he would not do it.

    • @dusliangames
      @dusliangames Год назад +3

      I just use tsc-alias to fix the import file extension after compiling. It's easier and cleaner. And handles the path aliasing. I would recommend using nodenext for moduleresolution, but for the module option to use esnext or commonjs

  • @abdulazeem1880
    @abdulazeem1880 Год назад

    Please make a video on pr-commit hooks

  • @developer_hadi
    @developer_hadi Год назад

    Cool

  • @Mauro-K
    @Mauro-K Год назад

    I like the video, I hated the topic, but it was good content

  • @wlockuz4467
    @wlockuz4467 Год назад +1

    Is there an easy way to emit non-js files from src? For instance images or csv.
    I hate using 10 different packages to copy the files after compiling or making a complicated build system for a very simple project.

  • @GuildOfCalamity
    @GuildOfCalamity 6 месяцев назад

    Great video.
    This reminded me of the reason I don't like web dev... too many moving parts just to get a simple webpage to run.

  • @marna_li
    @marna_li Год назад

    I went through this a couple of months ago. But there might be some starter templates. At least there should be one.

  • @xDemorn
    @xDemorn Год назад +1

    Can you make a tutorial on how to host a node app on IIS?

  • @salsichalivre5401
    @salsichalivre5401 Год назад

    Great, I only needed 3 minutes to give up on frontend dev.

  • @kumekster
    @kumekster Год назад

    Maybe quick guide here on how to set eslint?

  • @jacops419
    @jacops419 Год назад

    tsc --init works most of the time aswell

  • @abhaynath5833
    @abhaynath5833 Год назад

    Madness....... ?
    THIS IS JavaScript ecosystem 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

  • @thepowerhat
    @thepowerhat Год назад +14

    For developing nodejs backend, I generally use babel with watch mode and nodemon to have very fast server restart on file save. I'll check this out but I'll probably still prefer sticking with a faster transpiler than tsc

    • @double-agent-ly
      @double-agent-ly Год назад +5

      why use babel when u have vite or even the newer tool, rome

    • @thepowerhat
      @thepowerhat Год назад +5

      @@double-agent-ly Vite for backend? Hmm

    • @fred.flintstone4099
      @fred.flintstone4099 Год назад +1

      For developing frontend I use Vite for very fast hot reload on file save.

    • @shubitoxX
      @shubitoxX Год назад +1

      Babel is not fast

    • @thepowerhat
      @thepowerhat Год назад +1

      ​@@shubitoxXSure faster than tsc, because it just ignores the types, it doesn't type validate the AST like tsc does..

  • @Dysfunctional704
    @Dysfunctional704 Год назад +1

    Can you make a video on the T3 Stack from Theo?

  • @themarksmith
    @themarksmith Год назад +1

    How about a demo on how to make a basic PWA?

  • @VideoBunt
    @VideoBunt Год назад +5

    1) ts-node + nodemon could be very helpful
    2) npm i tsconfig@ for certain node version could be helpful, just extends it

    • @stxnw
      @stxnw Год назад

      no. ts-node is trash

    • @VideoBunt
      @VideoBunt Год назад

      @@stxnw why? And what can replace it?

    • @stxnw
      @stxnw Год назад

      @@VideoBunt swc-node

    • @LarsRyeJeppesen
      @LarsRyeJeppesen Год назад

      ts-node is horrible. Do not use it please

    • @LarsRyeJeppesen
      @LarsRyeJeppesen Год назад

      @@VideoBunt tsup (esbuild) in watch mode

  • @ggorg0
    @ggorg0 Год назад +3

    You forgot about strict mode in tsconfig.json!

  • @anubhavbansal8922
    @anubhavbansal8922 5 месяцев назад

    which icon pack you are using for icons in side nav ?

  • @Roman-of9pl
    @Roman-of9pl Год назад

    Every time someone is sharing their project setup I recall that scene from American Psycho.

  • @mmvarma.p
    @mmvarma.p Год назад +6

    Great video as always. From 3.09 secs to 3.28 secs, your voice sounded different. Is it me or has anyone noticed it? R u well bro. Please stay safe and sound. Looking forward to your next video.

  • @Alex-hk3hr
    @Alex-hk3hr Год назад +1

    Thanks for a great tutorial and a perfect argument why not to use JS/TS ; )

  • @djibrilmugisho5874
    @djibrilmugisho5874 Год назад

    I think you should add the watch option for watching new changes instead of compiling everything manualy

  • @rofgar
    @rofgar Год назад

    Very good guide, amazingly frustrating topic.

  • @NomadSWE
    @NomadSWE Год назад

    Do the course in strict:true mode pls.

  • @dusliangames
    @dusliangames Год назад +30

    Importing a js file in typescript that doesn't exist on the file system is really confusing and simply weird. It's way better to use a tool like tsc-alias to fix the imports as a compilation step instead of having to change every import of every source file in every project.

    • @vikingthedude
      @vikingthedude Год назад +1

      Yeah I don’t like it

    • @adam-user
      @adam-user Год назад +1

      Is there a way to resolve this that works both during compile time and in VSCode?

  • @xoutaku7600
    @xoutaku7600 Год назад +1

    get well bro

  • @michalbilinski4168
    @michalbilinski4168 Год назад

    The moment when you insert a voice over from another recording session x)

  • @ertagon
    @ertagon Год назад +1

    Do Babel next.

  • @Disorrder
    @Disorrder Год назад +1

    Or simply install nest or another boilerplate starter

  •  Год назад +3

    Don't forget to add the "--enable-source-maps" flag when running your compiled code with node, otherwise the sourcemaps will be ignored.

  • @zvrk
    @zvrk Год назад +6

    For those that want nodemon to watch over file changes:
    add
    "ts-node": {
    "esm": true
    }
    to tsconfig.json
    And if your shell complains like mine did use ( npx nodemon src/index.ts ) this should work
    Also add ts-node globally with ( npm i -g ts-node ) really not sure if this is needed but I did it anyway

  • @xrr-1
    @xrr-1 Год назад +2

    0:45 javascript at its peak

  • @LarsRyeJeppesen
    @LarsRyeJeppesen Год назад +1

    tsc? What about Turbo, EsBuild etc? Why use npm when we have pnpm?

  • @himanshukapoor5586
    @himanshukapoor5586 2 месяца назад

    "noEmit": true,
    "allowImportingTsExtensions": true,
    adding these two will allow you to import ts files as .ts files only.

  • @MikeMitterer
    @MikeMitterer Год назад

    Oh man, how I hate those .js imports inside of a TS file. Hope MS or node comes out with something better ASAP. If not - then DENO could really be the next move for me. Thanks for the video!

  • @kishiue
    @kishiue Год назад +3

    I'd advise using a runner like TSX or Esbuild runner. This strips the types and makes it much less painful to develop. Type checking is gradually moving in the direction of being a CI step rather than part of the build step.

  • @crystalcortexx
    @crystalcortexx 9 месяцев назад

    Hello, I am using node JS and I am trying to use ECMA script with both js and TS files. I have set in my package.json "type: module", but when it fails to build with the output: "unknown file extension TS"

  • @martinzen
    @martinzen Год назад

    I have trouble deciding if the best thing about your videos are the software parts of the meme parts...

  • @SirBalls
    @SirBalls Год назад +3

    As someone in 2023, I can confirm this is how you setup Node.js with TypeScript

    • @SirBalls
      @SirBalls Год назад

      @@minorikoaki No, other way around

    • @LarsRyeJeppesen
      @LarsRyeJeppesen Год назад

      No no no, don't use tsc, and don't use ts-node.

    • @SirBalls
      @SirBalls Год назад

      @@LarsRyeJeppesen Sorry, in 2023, we still use tsc for some reason... I don't make the rules

  • @grzegorzt3755
    @grzegorzt3755 Год назад

    but if you import module with '.js' postfix - don't you then the ability for type checking by typescript, cause imported code is treated as js code?

  • @endrihoxha8911
    @endrihoxha8911 Год назад

    so im not alone in the ts js node configuration hell

  • @grantdoyle1259
    @grantdoyle1259 Год назад +4

    2023? Getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we?

  • @tacticalassaultanteater9678
    @tacticalassaultanteater9678 Год назад +21

    It's important to highlight that this is only one way to set up Typescript with Node in 2023. I have different priorities, revolving more around minimizing surprises than around efficiency, so I do almost everything differently, and I don't expect my values to turn around completely next year either.
    This tutorial is valuable because it's a complete description of an error-free setup, not because the statements within are universally optimal.

    • @DemPilafian
      @DemPilafian Год назад +7

      It feels like this message is trying to tell us something without actually saying what it is. Or maybe I'm just missing something obvious. Can someone express the "different priorities" in more blunt terms?

    • @asiraky
      @asiraky Год назад

      Or just use ts-node

  • @irun_mon
    @irun_mon Год назад

    I just started learning coding (JS) and i found these channels of yours, I usually just watch to see what will I learn in the future but damn this one looks complicated, you do this everytime to build a project??

    • @niton6474
      @niton6474 Год назад

      That's the neat part: it's even worse. Depending on the frameworks, libraries that you use you might need to use a completely different tool chain. Or maybe you need to include a frontend framework - much luck without the init of that framework.
      But! If you just use a "plain" server side express app this setup should be fine every time