Useful Node Packages

List of useful node packages

Express

A Node Web framework

Usage:

npm i express --save

const express = require('express')
const app = express()

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Hello World')
})

app.listen(3000)

Lodash

A modern JavaScript utility library delivering modularity, performance & extras

Usage:

npm i -g npm
npm i --save lodash

Mongoose

MongoDB object modeling tool designed to work in an asynchronous environment

Usage:

npm i mongoose

Slugify

Create friendly url names

Node-geocoder

Add geocodes from address provided

Express fileupload

Middleware for handling file uploads

Usage:

npm i express-fileupload

app.post('/upload', function(req, res) {
  console.log(req.files.foo); // the uploaded file object
});

Colors

Styling node.js console logs

Usage:

npm i colors

const colors = require('colors');
console.log('test'.green.inverse);

jsonwebtoken

Usage:

npm i jsonwebtoken

const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');

UserSchema.methods.getSignedJwtToken = function() {
  return jwt.sign(
    { id: this._id,},
    'theosdasdnadaf',
    { expiresIn: 30d }
  );
};

bcryptjs

Password hashing

Usage:

npm i bcryptjs

const bcrypt = require('bcryptjs');

UserSchema.pre('save', async function(next) {
  const salt = await bcrypt.genSalt(10);
  this.password = await bcrypt.hash(this.password, salt);
});

cookie-parser

Storing/set tokens on cookies

npm i cookie-parser

// Cookie parser in Server.js file
const express = require('express')
const cookieParser = require('cookie-parser')

const app = express()
app.use(cookieParser())

nodemailer

Sending emails

npm i nodemailer

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');

const sendEmail = async (options) => {
  const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
    host: process.env.SMTP_HOST,
    port: process.env.SMTP_PORT,
    auth: {
      user: process.env.SMTP_EMAIL,
      pass: process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD,
    },
  });

  const message = {
    from: `${process.env.FROM_NAME} <${process.env.FROM_EMAIL}>`,
    to: options.email,
    subject: options.subject,
    text: options.message,
  };

  const info = await transporter.sendMail(message);

  console.log('Message sent: %s', info.messageId);
};

module.exports = sendEmail;

crypto

Standard node module for cryptographic functionality (Password resets, tokens)

const crypto = require('crypto');

const resetPasswordToken = crypto
 .createHash('sha256')
 .update(req.params.resettoken)
 .digest('hex');

passport

Authentication middleware which support username & password, Facebook and Google

npm install passport

passport.authenticate('facebook')

react-chart.js

Most popular chart javascript library for bar charts, scatter charts etc

npm install react-chartjs-2 chart.js

import { Bar } from 'react-chartjs-2';

<Bar
  data={data}
  width={100}
  height={50}
  options={{ maintainAspectRatio: false }}
/>

clipboard.js

A modern approach to copy text to clipboard

npm install clipboard

puppeteer

Headless Chrome Node.js API which can be used to control Chrome or Chromium

// Downloads recent version of chromium (~170mb)
npm i puppeteer

//Light version which doesn't download chromium
npm i puppeteer-core

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  await page.screenshot({path: 'example.png'});

  await browser.close();
})();

depcheck

Check for unused npm dependencies

npm install -g depcheck

depcheck [directory] [arguments]

express-mongo-sanitize (Security)

Sanitizes user-supplied data to prevent MongoDB Operator Injection

npm i express-mongo-sanitize

// Example Vulneralbility
{
    "email":{"$gt":""},
    "password": "123456"
}

//Usage
 mongoSanitize = require('express-mongo-sanitize');
 app.use(mongoSanitize());

helmet (Security)

Secure your Express apps by setting various HTTP headers

npm i helmet

//Usage
const helmet = require('helmet')
app.use(helmet())

xss-clean (Security)

Middleware to sanitize user input coming from POST body, GET queries, and url params

npm i xss-clean

//Usage
const xss = require('xss-clean')
app.use(xss())

express-rate-limit (Security)

Basic rate-limiting middleware for Express. Used to limit repeated requests to public APIs

npm i express-rate-limit

//Usage
const rateLimit = require("express-rate-limit");
  
const limiter = rateLimit({
  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000, // 15 minutes
  max: 100 // limit each IP to 100 requests per windowMs
});
 
//  apply to all requests
app.use(limiter);

hpp (Security)

Middleware to protect against HTTP Parameter Pollution attacks

npm i hpp

//Usage
const hpp = require('hpp');
app.use(hpp());

cors

middleware that can be used to enable CORS with various options

npm i cors

//Usage
const cors = require('cors');
app.use(cors());