NestJS + PostgreSQL

Key Features

• Decorator-based routing and dependency injection system with Guards, Interceptors, and Pipes for request lifecycle management
• TypeORM integration with Entity definitions, Repository patterns, and automatic migration generation from TypeScript classes
• Built-in Swagger documentation generation through decorators that automatically create OpenAPI specifications
• PostgreSQL JSONB column support for hybrid relational-document data models with full TypeScript type inference
• Class-validator integration for automatic DTO validation with custom validation decorators and error formatting
• Modular architecture with lazy-loaded modules, circular dependency resolution, and dynamic module configuration
• Built-in testing utilities with dependency mocking, e2e testing support, and database transaction rollback for tests
• Exception filters and custom error handling with PostgreSQL-specific error code interpretation

Common Use Cases

• 1Enterprise SaaS platforms requiring multi-tenant architecture with complex user permissions and data isolation
• 2E-commerce backends with inventory management, order processing, and payment integration requiring ACID transactions
• 3Content management systems with complex taxonomies, full-text search, and media asset relationships
• 4Financial applications requiring audit trails, transaction integrity, and compliance with regulatory reporting
• 5Real-time collaboration platforms with WebSocket support, event sourcing, and conflict resolution
• 6API-first applications serving mobile apps and SPAs with comprehensive authentication and rate limiting
• 7Data analytics dashboards requiring complex PostgreSQL queries with window functions and aggregations

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed with minimum 2GB RAM available for PostgreSQL operations
• Node.js 18+ knowledge and TypeScript familiarity for understanding decorators and advanced types
• Basic SQL knowledge for writing TypeORM queries and understanding PostgreSQL-specific features
• Understanding of dependency injection patterns and object-oriented programming concepts
• Port 3000 available for NestJS application and port 5432 free for PostgreSQL connections
• Environment variables configured: DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, and DB_NAME in .env file

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  nestjs: 
3    build: .
4    container_name: nestjs
5    environment: 
6      DB_HOST: postgres
7      DB_PORT: 5432
8      DB_USER: ${DB_USER}
9      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
10      DB_NAME: ${DB_NAME}
11    ports: 
12      - "3000:3000"
13    depends_on: 
14      - postgres
15    networks: 
16      - nest-network
17
18  postgres: 
19    image: postgres:16-alpine
20    environment: 
21      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
22      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
23      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
24    volumes: 
25      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
26    networks: 
27      - nest-network
28
29volumes: 
30  postgres_data: 
31
32networks: 
33  nest-network: 
34    driver: bridge

.env Template

1DB_NAME=nestjs
2DB_USER=nestjs
3DB_PASSWORD=changeme

Usage Notes

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

nestjs:
  build: .
  container_name: nestjs
  environment:
    DB_HOST: postgres
    DB_PORT: 5432
    DB_USER: ${DB_USER}
    DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    DB_NAME: ${DB_NAME}
  ports:
    - "3000:3000"
  depends_on:
    - postgres
  networks:
    - nest-network

postgres:
  image: postgres:16-alpine
  environment:
    POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
    POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - nest-network

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  nestjs:
5    build: .
6    container_name: nestjs
7    environment:
8      DB_HOST: postgres
9      DB_PORT: 5432
10      DB_USER: ${DB_USER}
11      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
12      DB_NAME: ${DB_NAME}
13    ports:
14      - "3000:3000"
15    depends_on:
16      - postgres
17    networks:
18      - nest-network
19
20  postgres:
21    image: postgres:16-alpine
22    environment:
23      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
24      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
25      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
26    volumes:
27      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
28    networks:
29      - nest-network
30
31volumes:
32  postgres_data:
33
34networks:
35  nest-network:
36    driver: bridge
37EOF
38
39# 2. Create the .env file
40cat > .env << 'EOF'
41DB_NAME=nestjs
42DB_USER=nestjs
43DB_PASSWORD=changeme
44EOF
45
46# 3. Start the services
47docker compose up -d
48
49# 4. View logs
50docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/nestjs-postgres/run | bash

Troubleshooting