Onboarding Basics

10 examples for day-one setup: Node LTS, package manager, Docker, local Postgres/Redis - so a new teammate runs the API before lunch.

Prerequisites

Clone the team repo and confirm the stack contract before installing dependencies.

git clone git@github.com:your-org/your-api.git
cd your-api
node -v   # expect v24.18.0
cat package.json | grep '"engines"'

Target stack for this section:

{
  "engines": { "node": "24.18.0", "npm": ">=10.0.0" },
  "packageManager": "npm@10.8.0"
}

Tooling: Node.js 24.18.0 (Active LTS), TypeScript 5.6+, Fastify 5 or Nest 11 per service ADR.

Basic Examples

1. Node 24 LTS with fnm or nvm

# fnm example
fnm install 24.18.0
fnm use 24.18.0
node -v   # v24.18.0
npm -v    # 10.x

# .nvmrc
24.18.0

• Fix Node version before npm ci - wrong Node causes native module ABI errors
• engines in package.json should match .nvmrc

Related: Installing & Version Management

2. Install Dependencies with npm ci

npm ci

• Use npm ci, not npm install, on fresh clone to match CI exactly
• If the team uses pnpm, run corepack enable && pnpm install --frozen-lockfile instead
• One lockfile policy per repo - see Package Managers Basics

3. Environment Variables

cp .env.example .env

# .env.example (committed)
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=3000
DATABASE_URL=postgres://app:app@localhost:5432/app_dev
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
LOG_LEVEL=debug

• Never commit .env with real secrets
• Production secrets come from platform inject, not files

Related: Configuration Basics

4. Docker Compose for Postgres and Redis

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: app
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: app
      POSTGRES_DB: app_dev
    ports: ["5432:5432"]
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    ports: ["6379:6379"]

docker compose up -d
npm run db:migrate

• Local data stores match production topology (SQL + Redis) even if prod is managed RDS/ElastiCache
• Document docker compose down -v wipes data - warn new hires

5. Start the API and Verify Health

npm run dev
curl -sf http://localhost:3000/health | jq .
curl -sf http://localhost:3000/ready | jq .

• Green path: both return 200 before assigning feature work
• If ready fails, check DATABASE_URL and Postgres container logs

Related: CLI Basics for Node

6. Run the Test Suite

npm test
npm run typecheck
npm run lint

• Same three commands CI runs - learn them day one
• Fix failures locally before opening first PR

7. CONTRIBUTING.md Checklist

Every repo should document:

## Quick start
1. fnm use / nvm use
2. npm ci
3. cp .env.example .env
4. docker compose up -d && npm run db:migrate
5. npm run dev
6. npm test

• Buddy points new hire to CONTRIBUTING.md in first 30 minutes
• Confusion on day one becomes a doc PR by day five

Intermediate Examples

8. Monorepo Bootstrap

cd your-monorepo
npm ci                    # root installs workspaces
npm run build --workspaces --if-present
cd services/orders-api
npm run dev

• Root package.json defines workspaces
• New hire works in one service first, not entire monorepo day one

Related: Workspaces & Monorepos

9. IDE and Debugger Setup

// .vscode/launch.json (excerpt)
{
  "type": "node",
  "request": "launch",
  "name": "Debug API",
  "runtimeArgs": ["--import", "tsx"],
  "args": ["src/server.ts"]
}

• Commit shared VS Code/Cursor launch config
• Breakpoint debugging beats console.log for learning async flow

10. Day-One Buddy Assignment

## New hire: Alex - start 2026-07-09
Buddy: Jordan (backend, 2 years)
Day 1: Machine setup + health green + codebase tour Tier 1
Day 2: Tiny doc PR (fix README path)
Day 3-5: First feature PR with pairing

• Named buddy - not "ask in Slack"
• See Team & Onboarding Best Practices

FAQs

Related

• Frontend → Node Path - week-one learning curve
• Skills Matrix - leveling expectations
• Team & Onboarding Best Practices - 25-item summary

Stack versions: This page was written for Node.js 24.18.0 (Active LTS), npm 10+, TypeScript 5.6+, Express 5, Fastify 5, and NestJS 11.