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nestjs
Jonas
Jonas

Reputation: 7945

NestJS Create Reusable/Publishable Library

I want to create a Nest.js Package, so I can reuse a controller in multiple Nest.js projects.

I have checked out library but that doesn't seem to be what I was looking for because it seems to that it is only possible to import the library within the repo.

What the best way to have a library that could be published via npm so I can install and import it in other Nest Projects?

Upvotes: 23

Views: 26916

Answers (3)

Fcmam5
Fcmam5

Reputation: 6982

Answering this as I needed to do the same before I find your approach.

I also landed on the documentation page where they mentioned that the command:

nest g library my-library

Creates libraries for monorepos:

A Nest library is a Nest project that differs from an application in that it cannot run on its own. A library must be imported into a containing application in order for its code to execute. The built-in support for libraries described in this section is only available for monorepos (standard mode projects can achieve similar functionality using npm packages).

And since we wanted a standalone library, this comment from NestJS's creator might be what we needed:

for standalone libraries (publishable to NPM), you can simply create a new Nest project and remove the main.ts file :)

Which seems to be another easy alternative to take

Upvotes: 3

Jonas
Jonas

Reputation: 7945

This is how I ended up doing it

  1. Create Folder and initialize Node Package
    mkdir PACKAGE_NAME
    cd PACKAGE_NAME
    npm init    // Follow the steps to initialize npm package
  1. install the following dependencies and dev dependencies
    npm install @nest/common rxjs reflect-metadata
    npm install -d @types/node rimraf typescript
  1. Afterwards go to your package.json and change/add main, types, scripts to the following
    "main": "dist/index.js",
    "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
    "scripts": {
        "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
        "build": "rimraf dist && tsc",
        "prepublish": "npm run build"
    },

  1. Run npm install

  2. Create tsconfig.json file in your folder

  3. Add following code to tsconfig.json

    "compilerOptions": {
        "experimentalDecorators": true,
        "target": "es2017",
        "module": "commonjs",
        "lib": ["es2017", "es7", "es6"],
        "declaration": true,
        "declarationMap": true,
        "sourceMap": true,
        "outDir": "./dist",
        "rootDir": "./src",
        "strict": true,
        "noImplicitAny": false,
        "strictNullChecks": false,
        "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
        "esModuleInterop": true,
        "emitDecoratorMetadata": true
    },
    "exclude": [
            "node_modules",
            "dist"
        ]
    }

  1. Create src folder. Add your Nest code in this folder.

  2. Add a index.ts file in your src folder. In this file you export your Nest Code, that you want to use outside of this package. For Example:

    import { CpuUtilizationModule } from "./cpu-utilization-observer.module";
    import { CpuUtilizationService } from "./cpu-utilization.service";

    export { CpuUtilizationModule, CpuUtilizationService }

This exports a Module and a Service, wich you can import/provide in your Nest Project

  1. Run npm run build. This will compile your code to into the dist folder.

Now you can install this package (locally) with npm i PATH_TO_PACKAGE.

Upvotes: 20

Ayoub Touba
Ayoub Touba

Reputation: 3007

one of the best ways to do it is by creating a dynamic module.
this topic will help you with click here.
for publish it via npm, this article will be your guide to do it with a clear way Publishing NestJS Packages with npm

Upvotes: 7

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