Project Setup

Overview

In this step you create a brand-new NestJS project, add MongoDB support, and confirm everything runs. Every command is followed by a short explanation so you understand what just happened.

1. Create a fresh folder (optional)

Pick a place on your computer to hold the tutorial project. In the terminal:

mkdir nest-mongo-tutorial
cd nest-mongo-tutorial

2. Generate a Nest project

Use the Nest CLI to scaffold the project. The nest new command asks for a project name and installs dependencies.

npx @nestjs/cli new task-api
cd task-api

npx downloads the CLI temporarily so you don’t need it globally.
When prompted for the package manager choose npm.

3. Install dependencies (automatically)

The Nest CLI runs npm install for you. When the command finishes you should see a Successfully created project message. If installation fails (for example because you were offline), run npm install manually inside the project folder.

4. Run the starter app

Check that everything works before adding custom code:

npm run start:dev

start:dev uses the Nest CLI dev server to watch files and restart automatically.
The console should print Nest application successfully started.
Visit http://localhost:3000 to see the default “Hello World” response.

When you’re done, press Ctrl+C (or Cmd+C) in the terminal to stop the server.

5. Initialize Git and push to GitHub

Set up version control before adding custom code:

git init
git status
git add .
git commit -m "chore: bootstrap NestJS project"

Create a new GitHub repository (no template, no README) at github.com/new.

Follow the post-creation instructions to add the remote, for example:

git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-username>/task-api.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

You now have a clean main branch synced with GitHub. Future chapters will build on this starting point.

Next, head to Project Tour to learn what Nest generated for you.