Use Express to Create an API Proxy Server in Node.js

The Node.js framework Express allows us to create web servers and APIs with minimal setup. We will be using Express in a Node.js application to create an API Proxy to request data from another API and return it to a consumer. We can also use Express middleware to help us optimize the API Proxy and improve performance for returning data from the underlying API.

By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to:

• Understand the API Proxy we are creating in Node.js with Express
• Understand the optimizations we will add to our API Proxy

This tutorial is part 1 of 7 tutorials that walk through using Express.js to create an API proxy server. In order to complete the application you'll need to work through the following tutorials:

• Use Express to Create an API Proxy Server in Node.js (you are here)
• How to Set up an Express.js Server in Node.js
• Organize Your Node.js Code into Modules
• Set up Routes for Your API in Node.js
• Optimize an Express Server in Node.js
• Add Compression to Express in Node.js
• Add Response Caching to a Node.js Express Server