Use an ORM

Node.js ORM support for YugabyteDB

TypeORM is an ORM that can run in NodeJS, Browser, Cordova, PhoneGap, Ionic, React Native, NativeScript, Expo, and Electron platforms, and can be used with TypeScript and JavaScript (ES2021). Unlike other current JavaScript ORMs, it supports both Active Record and Data Mapper patterns, which means you can write high-quality, loosely coupled, scalable, maintainable applications in the most productive way.

Because YugabyteDB is PostgreSQL-compatible, TypeORM supports the YugabyteDB YSQL API.

Use this guide to get started using TypeORM for connecting to YugabyteDB.

CRUD operations

The following steps demonstrate how to perform common tasks required for Node.js application development using TypeORM.

Step 1: Create a Node.js project and install TypeORM package

Before proceeding, you need to install Node.js on your machine. Refer to Downloading and installing Node.js and npm in the npm documentation.

To create a basic Node.js project and install the typeorm package, do the following:

Create a new directory and initialize a Node.js project. This creates a package.json file.
```
mkdir nodejs-typeorm-example && cd nodejs-typeorm-example
npm init -y
```
Configure typescript by first creating a tsconfig.json file.
```
npx tsc --init
```

Update the tsconfig.json file.

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2021",
    "module": "CommonJS",
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "rootDir": "./src",
    "strict": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true
    }
}

Install the typeorm package and its related dependency packages, along with typescript and the pg driver.
```
npm install typeorm pg reflect-metadata
npm install --save-dev typescript ts-node @types/node
```

Step 2: Implement ORM mapping for YugabyteDB

To start with TypeORM, in your project directory, create a directory src with the following structure:

mkdir src
touch src/data-source.ts
touch src/index.ts
mkdir src/entity
touch src/entity/User.ts

data-source.ts contains the credentials to connect to your database. Copy the following sample code to the data-source.ts file.

import "reflect-metadata"
import { DataSource } from "typeorm"
import { User } from "./entity/User"
export const AppDataSource = new DataSource({
  type: "postgres",
  host: "localhost",
  port: 5433,
  username: "yugabyte",
  password: "yugabyte",
  database: "yugabyte",
  synchronize: true,
  logging: false,
  entities: [User],
  migrations: [],
  subscribers: [],
  })

Create a new entity, User, by adding the following to the entity/User.ts file.

import { Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column } from "typeorm";

@Entity()
export class User {
  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
  id!: number;

  @Column()
  firstname!: string;

  @Column()
  lastname!: string;

  @Column()
  age!: number;
}

After the setup is done, you can connect to the database and perform the CRUD operation. In the index.ts file, add the following:

import { AppDataSource } from "./data-source"
import { User } from "./entity/User"

AppDataSource.initialize().then(async () => {

  console.log("Inserting a new user into the database...")
  const user = new User()
  user.firstname = "Timber"
  user.lastname = "Saw"
  user.age = 25
  await AppDataSource.manager.save(user)
  console.log("Saved a new user with id: " + user.id)

  console.log("Loading users from the database...")
  const users = await AppDataSource.manager.find(User)
  console.log("Loaded users: ", users)
  console.log("Here you can setup and run express / fastify / any other framework.")
  }).catch(error => console.log(error))

Run the index.ts file:

npx ts-node src/index.ts

The following output is expected:

Inserting a new user into the database...
Saved a new user with id: 1
Loading users from the database...
Loaded users:  [ User { id: 1, firstname: 'Timber', lastname: 'Saw', age: 25 } ]

Learn more

YugabyteDB smart drivers for YSQL