backend-dev-guidelines

The recommended architecture for Node.js backend projects follows a routes → controllers → services → repositories pattern, utilizing a BaseController abstraction to standardize request handling and enforce separation of concerns across microservices.

To structure controllers and services in an Express TypeScript application, inherit from a BaseController class for routing logic and delegate business operations to dedicated service layers, injecting repositories for data access to maintain modular separation.

Integrate Sentry and Zod in Node.js by applying Zod schemas at the middleware level to validate incoming API requests, then wrapping controllers with error-handling middleware that captures unhandled exceptions and reports them directly to Sentry.

Yes, you can use Prisma within a layered Express TypeScript service architecture by encapsulating database queries inside repository classes, which are then injected into services to ensure data access logic remains isolated from business rules.

The best way to migrate legacy Node.js backend code is to progressively refactor existing services by introducing TypeScript, adopting the BaseController pattern, and aligning modules with the layered architecture blueprint rather than rewriting everything at once.

Standardizing Express API patterns works effectively for microservice environments by applying unified coding conventions, Sentry error tracking, and Prisma data access rules across distributed services, ensuring consistent structure and maintainable quality at scale.