Do I need to choose the tech stack before starting?
Yes. Pick a stack your team knows. For Node.js backends, the common stack is Express, MongoDB/Mongoose, JWT, and dotenv. Switching stacks midway is expensive.
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Understand the goal, list features, pick the stack (Node, Express, MongoDB, JWT), decide monolith vs microservices, plan the folder structure, run npm init, install dependencies, design the database, and write a health check API first.
Yes. Spend time understanding the goal, listing features, and sketching the database. Planning prevents rework. Real projects start with a plan, not code.
A health check at /health that returns a 200 OK. It confirms the server runs, the port is open, and the setup works. Build everything else after that.
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