Getting Started

Getting a NestJS project running takes less than a minute thanks to the official CLI. This guide walks through installing the tooling, scaffolding a project, understanding what the CLI generates, and using code generators to stay productive.

Prerequisites

You need Node.js 18 or later and a package manager (npm, pnpm, or yarn). Verify your environment first:

node --version
npm --version

Installing the Nest CLI

The @nestjs/cli package provides the nest command used to scaffold, generate, and build projects. Install it globally:

npm install -g @nestjs/cli
nest --version

Prefer not to install globally? Use npx @nestjs/cli new my-app and the CLI runs without a global install.

Scaffolding a new project

nest new generates a fully wired starter with TypeScript, testing, linting, and formatting already configured.

nest new my-app

The CLI prompts you to pick a package manager, then installs dependencies. When it finishes you have a runnable application.

cd my-app
npm run start:dev

Output:

[Nest] LOG [NestFactory] Starting Nest application...
[Nest] LOG [NestApplication] Nest application successfully started
Application is running on: http://localhost:3000

Project structure

The generated layout is intentionally minimal. Everything lives under src/, with tests colocated and tooling configs at the root.

my-app/
├── src/
│   ├── app.controller.ts        # A basic controller
│   ├── app.controller.spec.ts   # Unit test for the controller
│   ├── app.service.ts           # A basic provider (service)
│   ├── app.module.ts            # The root module
│   └── main.ts                  # Entry point — bootstraps the app
├── test/                        # End-to-end tests
├── nest-cli.json                # CLI configuration
├── tsconfig.json
└── package.json

The entry point, main.ts, creates the application instance from the root module and starts listening:

import { NestFactory } from '@nestjs/core';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
  await app.listen(process.env.PORT ?? 3000);
}
bootstrap();

Generating code with the CLI

Hand-writing boilerplate is error-prone. The nest generate command (aliased nest g) scaffolds components and automatically registers them in the nearest module.

# Generate a feature module
nest g module users

# Generate a controller and service in that module
nest g controller users
nest g service users

The CLI updates users.module.ts for you, adding the controller and provider to the metadata. To scaffold a complete CRUD resource, module, controller, service, DTOs, and entity, in one command, use the resource schematic:

nest g resource users

Command	Alias	Creates
nest g module <name>	nest g mo	A module
nest g controller <name>	nest g co	A controller + spec
nest g service <name>	nest g s	A service + spec
nest g resource <name>	nest g res	Full CRUD scaffold

Pass --dry-run (or -d) to preview the files a generator will create and modify without touching disk. It is the safest way to learn what a schematic does.

Running in development

Use the watch-mode script during development, it recompiles and restarts on every file change:

npm run start:dev

For production builds, compile ahead of time and run the JavaScript output:

npm run build
npm run start:prod

With the project scaffolded and running, you are ready to build out controllers, providers, and modules, the three core building blocks covered next.