Backend Development Guidelines

Purpose

Establish consistency and best practices across backend services using modern Node.js/Express/TypeScript patterns.

Written for Node.js/Express/TypeScript with Prisma and Sentry. Different stack? Adapt the architectural principles - see CLAUDE_INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md in the repo root.

When to Use This Skill

Automatically activates when working on:

• Creating or modifying routes, endpoints, APIs
• Building controllers, services, repositories
• Implementing middleware (auth, validation, error handling)
• Database operations with Prisma
• Error tracking with Sentry
• Input validation with Zod
• Configuration management
• Backend testing and refactoring

Quick Start

New Backend Feature Checklist

• Route: Clean definition, delegate to controller
• Controller: Extend BaseController
• Service: Business logic with DI
• Repository: Database access (if complex)
• Validation: Zod schema
• Sentry: Error tracking
• Tests: Unit + integration tests
• Config: Use unifiedConfig

New Microservice Checklist

• Directory structure (see architecture-overview.md)
• instrument.ts for Sentry
• unifiedConfig setup
• BaseController class
• Middleware stack
• Error boundary
• Testing framework

Architecture Overview

Layered Architecture

HTTP Request
    ↓
Routes (routing only)
    ↓
Controllers (request handling)
    ↓
Services (business logic)
    ↓
Repositories (data access)
    ↓
Database (Prisma)

Key Principle: Each layer has ONE responsibility.

See architecture-overview.md for complete details.

Directory Structure

service/src/
├── config/              # UnifiedConfig
├── controllers/         # Request handlers
├── services/            # Business logic
├── repositories/        # Data access
├── routes/              # Route definitions
├── middleware/          # Express middleware
├── types/               # TypeScript types
├── validators/          # Zod schemas
├── utils/               # Utilities
├── tests/               # Tests
├── instrument.ts        # Sentry (FIRST IMPORT)
├── app.ts               # Express setup
└── server.ts            # HTTP server

Naming Conventions:

• Controllers: PascalCase - UserController.ts
• Services: camelCase - userService.ts
• Routes: camelCase + Routes - userRoutes.ts
• Repositories: PascalCase + Repository - UserRepository.ts

Core Principles (7 Key Rules)

1. Routes Only Route, Controllers Control

// ❌ NEVER: Business logic in routes
router.post('/submit', async (req, res) => {
    // 200 lines of logic
});

// ✅ ALWAYS: Delegate to controller
router.post('/submit', (req, res) => controller.submit(req, res));

2. All Controllers Extend BaseController

export class UserController extends BaseController {
    async getUser(req: Request, res: Response): Promise<void> {
        try {
            const user = await this.userService.findById(req.params.id);
            this.handleSuccess(res, user);
        } catch (error) {
            this.handleError(error, res, 'getUser');
        }
    }
}

3. All Errors to Sentry

try {
    await operation();
} catch (error) {
    Sentry.captureException(error);
    throw error;
}

4. Use unifiedConfig, NEVER process.env

// ❌ NEVER
const timeout = process.env.TIMEOUT_MS;

// ✅ ALWAYS
import { config } from './config/unifiedConfig';
const timeout = config.timeouts.default;

5. Validate All Input with Zod

const schema = z.object({ email: z.string().email() });
const validated = schema.parse(req.body);

6. Use Repository Pattern for Data Access

// Service → Repository → Database
const users = await userRepository.findActive();

7. Comprehensive Testing Required

describe('UserService', () => {
    it('should create user', async () => {
        expect(user).toBeDefined();
    });
});

Common Imports

// Express
import express, { Request, Response, NextFunction, Router } from 'express';

// Validation
import { z } from 'zod';

// Database
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
import type { Prisma } from '@prisma/client';

// Sentry
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

// Config
import { config } from './config/unifiedConfig';

// Middleware
import { SSOMiddlewareClient } from './middleware/SSOMiddleware';
import { asyncErrorWrapper } from './middleware/errorBoundary';

Quick Reference

HTTP Status Codes

Service Templates

Blog API (✅ Mature) - Use as template for REST APIs Auth Service (✅ Mature) - Use as template for authentication patterns

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

❌ Business logic in routes ❌ Direct process.env usage ❌ Missing error handling ❌ No input validation ❌ Direct Prisma everywhere ❌ console.log instead of Sentry

Navigation Guide

Resource Files

architecture-overview.md

Layered architecture, request lifecycle, separation of concerns

routing-and-controllers.md

Route definitions, BaseController, error handling, examples

services-and-repositories.md

Service patterns, DI, repository pattern, caching

validation-patterns.md

Zod schemas, validation, DTO pattern

sentry-and-monitoring.md

Sentry init, error capture, performance monitoring

middleware-guide.md

Auth, audit, error boundaries, AsyncLocalStorage

database-patterns.md

PrismaService, repositories, transactions, optimization

configuration.md

UnifiedConfig, environment configs, secrets

async-and-errors.md

Async patterns, custom errors, asyncErrorWrapper

testing-guide.md

Unit/integration tests, mocking, coverage

complete-examples.md

Full examples, refactoring guide

Related Skills

• database-verification - Verify column names and schema consistency
• error-tracking - Sentry integration patterns
• skill-developer - Meta-skill for creating and managing skills

Skill Status: COMPLETE ✅ Line Count: < 500 ✅ Progressive Disclosure: 11 resource files ✅