Node.js in a Month 🟢

Learn Node.js the way you actually get good at it: by building. 20 hands-on, test-driven blocks in strict TypeScript, tested with Node's built-in node:test runner — no test framework to install.

A complete, free course for JavaScript/TypeScript developers learning the Node.js runtime — modules, the filesystem, streams, events, HTTP servers, CLIs, and more. You don't read about APIs; you implement functions, make failing tests pass, and keep the compiler happy under strict.

🧩 Pairs with the sibling course TypeScript in a Month — learn the type system there, learn the runtime here.

Why this course

• 🧪 Test-driven — every block ships failing node:test tests; you make them green.
• 🟢 Zero test deps — uses Node's built-in test runner and assert, so you learn the platform, not a framework.
• 🔒 Strict TypeScript — strict, noUncheckedIndexedAccess, and friends, run via tsx (no build step).
• ✅ Verified solutions — every reference answer is itself tested (npm run test:solutions).
• 🛠️ Real-world arc — fundamentals → fs/streams/events → an HTTP API → a CLI capstone.

Use this template

This is a GitHub template repository — click Use this template to get your own copy to commit solutions to.

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Quick start

# 1. Create your copy (Use this template) or clone
git clone https://github.com/Rossoline/node-learn.git
cd node-learn

# 2. Install dev dependencies (Node 22+ required)
npm install

# 3. Run all tests — most fail until you solve the exercises
npm test

# 4. Type-check the whole project
npm run typecheck

Recommended workflow per block

1. Read the block's README.md.
2. Run its src/examples.ts to see the ideas in action:

   npm run play blocks/01-getting-started/src/examples.ts

3. Implement each // TODO in src/exercises.ts.
4. Run that block's tests until green:

   node --import tsx --test "blocks/01-getting-started/tests/*.test.ts"

5. Type-check, then compare with solutions/.

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What's in each block

blocks/NN-topic/
├── README.md          # the topic explained, with examples and the exercise list
├── src/examples.ts    # runnable, worked examples
├── src/exercises.ts   # practice tasks with // TODO stubs — your job
├── tests/             # node:test tests — make them pass
└── solutions/         # reference solutions (try the exercises first!)

Curriculum at a glance

The full day-by-day plan is in PLAN.md. Twenty blocks across four weeks:

Week	Theme	Blocks
1	Node Foundations	01 Getting Started · 02 Modules & npm · 03 Paths & Locations · 04 Async in Node · 05 Errors & the Process
2	System I/O	06 Reading Files · 07 Writing Files · 08 Streams · 09 Events · 10 Buffers & Encoding
3	HTTP Service	11 HTTP Server Basics · 12 Requests & JSON APIs · 13 Router & Middleware · 14 Config & Environment · 15 File-Backed Store
4	Practical Node	16 Child Processes · 17 CLI Tools · 18 Testing in Depth · 19 Packaging & Scripts · 20 Capstone Project

Scripts

Command	What it does
npm test	Run every block's tests (your progress).
npm run typecheck	Type-check the whole project (tsc --noEmit).
npm run test:solutions	Verify the reference solutions all pass.
npm run play <file>	Run any .ts file with tsx.

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How testing works

Each exercise file exports functions; the matching test imports them and asserts behavior with node:test + node:assert/strict. Implement a // TODO correctly and its test goes green — under strict, with the compiler on your side.

If this helped you learn Node, please ⭐ the repo. Happy building! 🛠️