Node Backend Development Guidelines

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Creating a new route, controller and service in an Express API
• Adding Zod validation and Sentry error tracking to an endpoint
• Setting up the structure of a new microservice
• Refactoring a legacy route that holds business logic

Example prompts

• “Add a POST endpoint for invoices with a controller, service and Zod schema.”
• “Refactor this route handler so the business logic moves into a service and repository.”
• “Scaffold a new notifications microservice using our layered structure.”

Requirements

• A Node.js, Express and TypeScript service, ideally with Prisma and Sentry

Workflow steps

7 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Routes Only Route, Controllers Control
2. 2All Controllers Extend BaseController
3. 3All Errors to Sentry
4. 4Use unifiedConfig, NEVER process.env
5. 5Validate All Input with Zod
6. 6Use Repository Pattern for Data Access
7. 7Comprehensive Testing Required

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 07f75ce. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are typescript).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Node Backend Development Guidelines loads about 2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 133 tokens; SKILL.md has 425 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~133

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase at commit 07f75ce, republished under its MIT licence (© diet103). 425 words, ~2,037 tokens.

name

backend-dev-guidelines

description

Comprehensive backend development guide for Node.js/Express/TypeScript microservices. Use when creating routes, controllers, services, repositories, middleware, or working with Express APIs, Prisma database access, Sentry error tracking, Zod validation, unifiedConfig, dependency injection, or async patterns. Covers layered architecture (routes → controllers → services → repositories), BaseController pattern, error handling, performance monitoring, testing strategies, and migration from legacy patterns.

HTTP Request
    ↓
Routes (routing only)
    ↓
Controllers (request handling)
    ↓
Services (business logic)
    ↓
Repositories (data access)
    ↓
Database (Prisma)

service/src/
├── config/              # UnifiedConfig
├── controllers/         # Request handlers
├── services/            # Business logic
├── repositories/        # Data access
├── routes/              # Route definitions
├── middleware/          # Express middleware
├── types/               # TypeScript types
├── validators/          # Zod schemas
├── utils/               # Utilities
├── tests/               # Tests
├── instrument.ts        # Sentry (FIRST IMPORT)
├── app.ts               # Express setup
└── server.ts            # HTTP server

// ❌ NEVER: Business logic in routes
router.post('/submit', async (req, res) => {
    // 200 lines of logic
});

// ✅ ALWAYS: Delegate to controller
router.post('/submit', (req, res) => controller.submit(req, res));

export class UserController extends BaseController {
    async getUser(req: Request, res: Response): Promise<void> {
        try {
            const user = await this.userService.findById(req.params.id);
            this.handleSuccess(res, user);
        } catch (error) {
            this.handleError(error, res, 'getUser');
        }
    }
}

try {
    await operation();
} catch (error) {
    Sentry.captureException(error);
    throw error;
}

// ❌ NEVER
const timeout = process.env.TIMEOUT_MS;

// ✅ ALWAYS
import { config } from './config/unifiedConfig';
const timeout = config.timeouts.default;

const schema = z.object({ email: z.string().email() });
const validated = schema.parse(req.body);

// Service → Repository → Database
const users = await userRepository.findActive();

describe('UserService', () => {
    it('should create user', async () => {
        expect(user).toBeDefined();
    });
});

// Express
import express, { Request, Response, NextFunction, Router } from 'express';

// Validation
import { z } from 'zod';

// Database
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
import type { Prisma } from '@prisma/client';

// Sentry
import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';

// Config
import { config } from './config/unifiedConfig';

// Middleware
import { SSOMiddlewareClient } from './middleware/SSOMiddleware';
import { asyncErrorWrapper } from './middleware/errorBoundary';

© diet103, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 11 other files in .agents/skills/backend-dev-guidelines of diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase.

• SKILL.md
• resources/architecture-overview.md
• resources/async-and-errors.md
• resources/complete-examples.md
• resources/configuration.md
• resources/database-patterns.md
• resources/middleware-guide.md
• resources/routing-and-controllers.md
• resources/sentry-and-monitoring.md
• resources/services-and-repositories.md
• resources/testing-guide.md
• resources/validation-patterns.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 07f75ce

Used in 2 other repositories

We found 5 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 2 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• davila7/claude-code-templatescli-tool/components/skills/development/backend-dev-guidelines
• aiskillstore/marketplaceskills/diet103/backend-dev-guidelinesskills/dimon94/backend-dev-guidelines+1 more