Document RESTful APIs with Swagger and NestJS in Node.js

By implementing Swagger API documentation in your NestJS Node.js application, you can ensure that your API documentation is always up-to-date with your code and make it easier for other teams to understand and integrate your API.

In this tutorial, I will guide you through the process of setting up Swagger in your NestJS application with just a few steps.

Let's Start

One popular option is the @nestjs/swagger package, which provides decorators for defining Swagger documentation directly in your NestJS controllers and services.

To use @nestjs/swagger, you can install it via npm:

npm install --save @nestjs/swagger

Then, in your NestJS main.ts file, you can enable Swagger documentation by calling the setup() method on a new DocumentBuilder instance, passing in your API information and any additional options:

import { NestFactory } from '@nestjs/core';
import { DocumentBuilder, SwaggerModule } from '@nestjs/swagger';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);

  const options = new DocumentBuilder()
    .setTitle('My API')
    .setDescription('API description')
    .setVersion('1.0')
    .build();

  const document = SwaggerModule.createDocument(app, options);
  SwaggerModule.setup('api', app, document);

  await app.listen(3000);
}
bootstrap();

With this setup, you can use Swagger UI to view your API documentation by navigating to http://localhost:3000/api/. The Swagger UI will automatically generate documentation based on the decorators you've added to your NestJS controllers and services.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, implementing Swagger API documentation in your NestJS Node.js application can greatly improve your API development process. With Swagger, you can ensure that your API documentation is always up-to-date with your code and make it easier for other teams to understand and integrate your API into their applications.

By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can easily set up Swagger in your NestJS application and start documenting your API endpoints automatically.

Overall, Swagger is a valuable tool for any developer working with APIs, and I encourage you to explore its features and see how it can improve your API development process.