Technology
Node.js
Node.js runs JavaScript and TypeScript on the server. I use it for APIs, background workers and real-time servers, including an authoritative game server that keeps one shared state for a whole room of players
- Type
- Technology
- Official site
- nodejs.org
- In my work
- Projects 1 · Tools 1 · Services 3
- Published
Where I use it
QRuma: party games on one big screen with phones as gamepads
QRuma runs party games on one big screen. Players scan a QR code and their phones become gamepads, with nothing to install. It grew out of VibeCatter
ToolsQuiz Pack Builder: your own questions for Quiz Battle
Write your own question packs for Quiz Battle and play them on a big screen while players answer from their phones. Use cases, steps and limits
ServicesFrom idea to a working MVP
MVP development for startups: scope, UX, design, frontend, backend, AI and launch, by one senior engineer who has been a founder and a CTO
ServicesA fractional CTO for your startup
Fractional CTO for startups: architecture, team, code review and delivery, from a CTO who also builds. Hours a week, part-time or full-time
ServicesAI agents and LLM apps that work in production
AI agent and LLM development: agents, chatbots on your data, AI features, voice and video pipelines built into a working product, not a demo
What is Node.js and what do I build on it?
Node.js handles many open connections with little overhead, which is exactly what real-time products need. It also lets the server and the interface share one language and one set of types
Key facts
How I use Node.js
- An authoritative game server. In my multiplayer platform, Node.js with Express and Socket.IO is the single source of truth: phones send inputs, the server applies them up to 60 times per second and sends the state to the big screen. A phone cannot decide on its own that it scored. Read the case study.
- APIs and workers. The back ends of my products: sign-in, payments, notifications, analytics and scheduled jobs, such as a weekly report sent to Telegram.
- Operations. On my own server the Node.js processes run under PM2, and a new release has to pass its health checks before it takes traffic.
When I choose Node.js and its limits
Node.js is my default for APIs and real-time servers: it is quick to build with, it handles many idle connections well and it shares types with the front end.
Heavy computation is its weak spot: a long calculation blocks every other request on the same process. Such work goes to a separate worker or to a service in another language. For machine-learning code I use Python, where the libraries are.
Used together with
Sources
- About Node.js — OpenJS Foundation ·
