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Prerequisites

Before installing NestJS CRUD, ensure you have:
  • Node.js 14.x or higher
  • An existing NestJS project (v9.x or higher recommended)
  • TypeScript 4.6 or higher
If you don’t have a NestJS project yet, create one using:
npm i -g @nestjs/cli
nest new my-project

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Install core packages

NestJS CRUD requires the core package along with class-transformer and class-validator for request validation. 
npm install @nestjsx/crud class-transformer class-validator

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Install TypeORM integration

To use NestJS CRUD with TypeORM (recommended), install the TypeORM packages: 
npm install @nestjsx/crud-typeorm @nestjs/typeorm typeorm

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Install database driver

Install the appropriate database driver for your database: 
npm install pg

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Configure TypeORM

Create or update your TypeORM configuration in your app module:
app.module.ts
import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { TypeOrmModule } from '@nestjs/typeorm';

@Module({
  imports: [
    TypeOrmModule.forRoot({
      type: 'postgres',
      host: 'localhost',
      port: 5432,
      username: 'your_username',
      password: 'your_password',
      database: 'your_database',
      entities: [__dirname + '/**/*.entity{.ts,.js}'],
      synchronize: true, // Set to false in production
    }),
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}
Set synchronize: false in production environments. Use migrations instead to manage database schema changes.

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Optional: Install request builder

If you’re building a frontend application and want type-safe query building, install the request builder package: 
npm install @nestjsx/crud-request
The request builder allows you to construct API queries in your client code:
frontend-example.ts
import { RequestQueryBuilder } from '@nestjsx/crud-request';

const query = RequestQueryBuilder.create()
  .setFilter({ field: 'name', operator: '$cont', value: 'Tech' })
  .setLimit(10)
  .sortBy({ field: 'name', order: 'ASC' })
  .query();

// Result: filter=name||$cont||Tech&limit=10&sort=name,ASC
fetch(`/api/companies?${query}`);

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Verify installation

Verify that all packages are installed correctly: 
npm list @nestjsx/crud @nestjsx/crud-typeorm
You should see output similar to: 
my-project@1.0.0 /path/to/my-project
├── @nestjsx/crud@5.0.0-alpha.3
└── @nestjsx/crud-typeorm@5.0.0-alpha.3

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TypeScript configuration

Ensure your tsconfig.json has the following compiler options enabled:
tsconfig.json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true
  }
}
These options are required for decorators and metadata reflection to work properly.

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Next steps

Quickstart

Now that you have NestJS CRUD installed, follow the quickstart guide to build your first CRUD API in minutes.