nest-crud

A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient and scalable server-side applications.

Description

A NestJS CRUD application demonstrating git-crypt for transparent file encryption in git repositories. This project showcases best practices for managing sensitive environment files, conventional commits workflow, and production-ready NestJS configuration.

Key Features

• NestJS with TypeScript
• Git-crypt integration for encrypted .env files
• Multi-stage environment configuration (.env, .env.stage, .env.production)
• Production-ready setup (validation, CORS, graceful shutdown)
• Conventional commits workflow
• GPG-based encryption for team collaboration

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+)
• npm or yarn
• git-crypt (https://github.com/AGWA/git-crypt)
• GPG with a valid key

Quick Start

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/The-Dave-Stack/nest-crud.git
cd nest-crud

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Unlock Encrypted Files

After cloning, sensitive files appear encrypted. Unlock them using git-crypt:

# If you have GPG configured with an authorized key
git-crypt unlock

# Or with a symmetric key file (if provided)
git-crypt unlock /path/to/git-crypt-key

4. Run the Application

# Development mode (loads .env)
npm run start

# Watch mode
npm run start:dev

# Stage environment (loads .env.stage)
NODE_ENV=stage npm run start

# Production mode (loads .env.production)
NODE_ENV=production npm run start:prod

The application will start on http://localhost:3000

Environment Configuration

This project supports multiple environments with dedicated encrypted .env files:

• .env - Development environment (default)
• .env.stage - Stage environment
• .env.production - Production environment

Environment files are automatically loaded based on NODE_ENV:

• If NODE_ENV is not set or is development → loads .env
• If NODE_ENV=stage → loads .env.stage
• If NODE_ENV=production → loads .env.production

Git-Crypt Setup

Adding a New Team Member

To grant someone access to encrypted files:

# Add a collaborator by email (their GPG key must be in your keyring)
git-crypt add-gpg-user user@example.com

# Commit the changes
git add .git-crypt/keys/default/0/*.gpg
git commit -m "chore: add git-crypt collaborator"
git push

Checking Encryption Status

# Show encrypted/decrypted status of files
git-crypt status

# Show all files with encryption status
git-crypt status -e

Exporting a Backup Key

git-crypt export-key git-crypt-key

⚠️ Never commit the git-crypt-key file to the repository!

Development Workflow

This project follows conventional commits specification:

# Format: <type>: <description>
git commit -m "feat: add new user authentication"
git commit -m "fix: resolve database connection issue"
git commit -m "docs: update README with deployment instructions"
git commit -m "chore: upgrade dependencies to latest versions"

Commit Types

• feat: New feature
• fix: Bug fix
• docs: Documentation changes
• style: Code style changes (formatting, etc.)
• refactor: Code refactoring
• test: Adding or updating tests
• chore: Maintenance tasks

Typical Workflow

# 1. Create a feature branch
git checkout -b feature/your-feature

# 2. Make changes and test
npm run lint
npm run test

# 3. Commit with conventional commit message
git add .
git commit -m "feat: implement user CRUD operations"

# 4. Push and create PR
git push origin feature/your-feature

Running Tests

# Unit tests
npm run test

# E2E tests
npm run test:e2e

# Test coverage
npm run test:cov

# Watch mode
npm run test:watch

Code Quality

# Linting
npm run lint

# Format code
npm run format

Project Structure

nest-crud/
├── src/
│   ├── config/
│   │   ├── configuration.ts      # Configuration schema
│   │   └── env.validation.ts      # Environment validation
│   ├── app.module.ts              # Root module
│   ├── main.ts                    # Application entry point
│   └── ...
├── test/                          # Test files
├── .env                           # Development environment (encrypted)
├── .env.stage                     # Stage environment (encrypted)
├── .env.production                # Production environment (encrypted)
├── .gitattributes                 # Git-crypt encryption rules
├── .git-crypt/                    # Git-crypt keys and config
├── GIT_CRYPT.md                   # Git-crypt documentation
├── CLAUDE.md                      # Project guidelines
└── README.md                      # This file

Production Features

The application includes production-ready configurations:

• ✅ Global validation pipe with automatic DTO transformation
• ✅ CORS enabled with configurable origin
• ✅ Graceful shutdown handling (SIGTERM/SIGINT)
• ✅ Environment-specific configuration loading
• ✅ Structured logging
• ✅ Error handling middleware

Deployment

When deploying to production:

1. Set NODE_ENV=production to load .env.production
2. Ensure git-crypt is unlocked on the server
3. Use npm run build to compile TypeScript
4. Run npm run start:prod to start the production server

Docker Deployment

# Using docker-compose
docker-compose up -d

# Or with Docker
docker build -t nest-crud .
docker run --env-file .env.production -p 3000:3000 nest-crud

Resources

• NestJS Documentation
• Git-Crypt GitHub
• Conventional Commits
• The Dave Stack

Support

For detailed git-crypt setup instructions, see GIT_CRYPT.md.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2026 David López Felguera - The Dave Stack

Author

• David López Felguera - The Dave Stack