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DocsNestJS CRUD AutomatorGetting Started

Getting Started

This guide will walk you through the basic setup and usage of NestJS CRUD Automator.

Installation

npm install @elsikora/nestjs-crud-automator

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following dependencies installed in your NestJS project:

  • NestJS (>=11.0.5)
  • TypeORM (>=0.3.20)
  • class-validator (>=0.14.1)
  • class-transformer (>=0.5.1)
  • @nestjs/swagger (>=11.0.3)

Install peer dependencies if they are not already in your project:

npm install @nestjs/common @nestjs/core @nestjs/swagger @nestjs/throttler typeorm class-transformer class-validator reflect-metadata

Basic Usage

Step 1: Define Your Entity

Define your entity with ApiPropertyDescribe decorators to provide metadata for CRUD generation:

user.entity.ts
import { Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column } from "typeorm";
import {
  ApiPropertyDescribe,
  EApiPropertyDescribeType,
  EApiPropertyStringType,
  EApiPropertyDateIdentifier,
  EApiPropertyDateType
} from "@elsikora/nestjs-crud-automator";
 
@Entity("users")
export class UserEntity {
  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn("uuid")
  @ApiPropertyDescribe({
    type: EApiPropertyDescribeType.UUID,
    description: "User unique identifier",
  })
  id: string;
 
  @Column()
  @ApiPropertyDescribe({
    type: EApiPropertyDescribeType.STRING,
    description: "User name",
    format: EApiPropertyStringType.STRING,
    minLength: 3,
    maxLength: 50,
    pattern: "/^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$/",
    exampleValue: "john_doe",
  })
  username: string;
 
  @Column()
  @ApiPropertyDescribe({
    type: EApiPropertyDescribeType.STRING,
    description: "User email",
    format: EApiPropertyStringType.EMAIL,
    minLength: 5,
    maxLength: 255,
    exampleValue: "user@example.com",
  })
  email: string;
 
  @Column({ type: "timestamp", default: () => "CURRENT_TIMESTAMP" })
  @ApiPropertyDescribe({
    type: EApiPropertyDescribeType.DATE,
    identifier: EApiPropertyDateIdentifier.CREATED_AT,
    format: EApiPropertyDateType.DATE_TIME,
  })
  createdAt: Date;
 
  @Column({ type: "timestamp", default: () => "CURRENT_TIMESTAMP", onUpdate: "CURRENT_TIMESTAMP" })
  @ApiPropertyDescribe({
    type: EApiPropertyDescribeType.DATE,
    identifier: EApiPropertyDateIdentifier.UPDATED_AT,
    format: EApiPropertyDateType.DATE_TIME,
  })
  updatedAt: Date;
}

Step 2: Create a Service

Create a service with the ApiService decorator to add CRUD operations:

user.service.ts
import { Injectable } from "@nestjs/common";
import { InjectRepository } from "@nestjs/typeorm";
import { Repository } from "typeorm";
import { ApiService, ApiServiceBase } from "@elsikora/nestjs-crud-automator";
import { UserEntity } from "./user.entity";
 
@Injectable()
@ApiService<UserEntity>({
  entity: UserEntity,
})
export class UserService extends ApiServiceBase<UserEntity> {
  constructor(
    @InjectRepository(UserEntity)
    public repository: Repository<UserEntity>,
  ) {
    super();
  }
 
  // Add custom methods beyond basic CRUD
  async findByEmail(email: string): Promise<UserEntity | undefined> {
    return this.repository.findOne({ where: { email } });
  }
}

Step 3: Create a Controller

Create a controller with the ApiController decorator to generate all CRUD endpoints:

user.controller.ts
import { Controller } from "@nestjs/common";
import { ApiController, EApiRouteType } from "@elsikora/nestjs-crud-automator";
import { UserEntity } from "./user.entity";
import { UserService } from "./user.service";
 
@Controller("users")
@ApiController<UserEntity>({
  entity: UserEntity,
  name: "Users",
  routes: {
    [EApiRouteType.CREATE]: {},
    [EApiRouteType.UPDATE]: {},
    [EApiRouteType.DELETE]: {},
    [EApiRouteType.GET]: {},
    [EApiRouteType.GET_LIST]: {},
  },
})
export class UserController {
  constructor(public service: UserService) {}
}

Step 4: Register in Module

Register the entity, service, and controller in your module:

user.module.ts
import { Module } from "@nestjs/common";
import { TypeOrmModule } from "@nestjs/typeorm";
import { UserEntity } from "./user.entity";
import { UserService } from "./user.service";
import { UserController } from "./user.controller";
 
@Module({
  imports: [TypeOrmModule.forFeature([UserEntity])],
  providers: [UserService],
  controllers: [UserController],
  exports: [UserService],
})
export class UserModule {}

Generated Endpoints

With the above setup, the following endpoints are automatically generated:

  • POST /users - Create a new user
  • GET /users/:id - Get a single user by ID
  • GET /users - Get a paginated list of users with filtering and sorting
  • PATCH /users/:id - Update a user
  • DELETE /users/:id - Delete a user

Swagger Documentation

To enable Swagger documentation in your application:

main.ts
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 config = new DocumentBuilder()
    .setTitle("Your API")
    .setDescription("API description")
    .setVersion("1.0")
    .addBearerAuth()
    .build();
 
  const document = SwaggerModule.createDocument(app, config);
  SwaggerModule.setup("api", app, document);
 
  await app.listen(3000);
}
bootstrap();

Next Steps

Now that you have a basic setup, explore the following sections:

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NestJS CRUD AutomatorAPI Reference