How to create and run Node.js project in VS code editor ?

Following are some simple steps in order to create a simple NodeJS project and running it in VS Code editor.

Step 1: Create an empty folder and move it into that folder from your VS Code editor, use the following command.

mkdir demo
cd demo
code .

Step 2: Now create a file app.js file in your folder as shown below.

Step 3: Installing Module: Install the modules using the following command.

npm install express
npm install nodemon

Step 4: Add these two commands which are important for running and dynamically running the code after changes made in your Node.js app respectively in package.json file.

"start": "node app.js",
"dev": "nodemon app.js"

Configuration of package.json File:

{
  "name": "demo",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "node app.js",
    "dev": "nodemon app.js"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "nodemon": "^2.0.12"
  }
}

Step 5: Following will be our project structure:

Step 6: Write down the following code in app.js file.

Javascript

// Requiring module
const express = require('express');

// Creating express object
const app = express();

// Handling GET request
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
    res.send('A simple Node App is '
        + 'running on this server')
    res.end()
})

// Port Number
const PORT = process.env.PORT ||5000;

// Server Setup
app.listen(PORT,console.log(
  `Server started on port ${PORT}`));

Step 7: Run the application using the following command:

npm run dev

Output:

Step 8: Now go to http://localhost:5000/ in your browser, you will see the following output: