Build a Simple CRUD Node.js App with CockroachDB and Knex.js

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This tutorial shows you how build a simple Node.js application with CockroachDB and Knex.js.

Step 1. Start CockroachDB

Create a free cluster

Note:

Organizations without billing information on file can only create one CockroachDB Basic cluster.

If you haven't already, sign up for a CockroachDB Cloud account.
Log in to your CockroachDB Cloud account.
On the Clusters page, click Create cluster.
On the Select a plan page, select Basic.
On the Cloud & Regions page, select a cloud provider (GCP or AWS) in the Cloud provider section.
In the Regions section, select a region for the cluster. Refer to CockroachDB Cloud Regions for the regions where CockroachDB Basic clusters can be deployed. To create a multi-region cluster, click Add region and select additional regions.
Click Next: Capacity.
On the Capacity page, select Start for free. Click Next: Finalize.
On the Finalize page, click Create cluster.

Your cluster will be created in a few seconds and the Create SQL user dialog will display.

Set up your cluster connection

Navigate to the cluster's Overview page, and select Connect.
Under the Connection String tab, download the cluster certificate.
Take note of the connection string provided. You'll use it to connect to the database later in this tutorial.

If you haven't already, download the CockroachDB binary.
Run the cockroach start-single-node command:
```
$ cockroach start-single-node --advertise-addr 'localhost' --insecure
```
This starts an insecure, single-node cluster.

Take note of the following connection information in the SQL shell welcome text:

CockroachDB node starting at 2021-08-30 17:25:30.06524 +0000 UTC (took 4.3s)
build:               CCL v21.1.6 @ 2021/07/20 15:33:43 (go1.15.11)
webui:               http://localhost:8080
sql:                 postgresql://root@localhost:26257?sslmode=disable

You'll use the sql connection string to connect to the cluster later in this tutorial.

Warning:

The --insecure flag used in this tutorial is intended for non-production testing only. To run CockroachDB in production, use a secure cluster instead.

Step 2. Get the code

Clone the code's GitHub repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/cockroachlabs/example-app-node-knex

Step 3. Run the code

To start the app:

Set the DATABASE_URL environment variable to the connection string:
```
$ export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://root@localhost:26257?sslmode=disable"
```
```
$ export DATABASE_URL="<connection-string>"
```
Where <connection-string> is the connection string you obtained from the CockroachDB Cloud Console.
The app uses the connection string saved to the DATABASE_URL environment variable to connect to your cluster and execute the code.
Install the app requirements:
```
$ npm install
```

Run the app:

$ npm run run

The output should look like this:

Initializing accounts table...
New account balances:
{ id: 'bc0f7136-7103-4dc4-88fc-102d5bbd312f', balance: '1000' }
{ id: '35bde7d0-29c9-4277-a117-3eb80c85ae16', balance: '250' }
{ id: '18cc1b2d-be61-4a8d-942c-480f5a6bc207', balance: '0' }
Transferring funds...
New account balances:
{ id: 'bc0f7136-7103-4dc4-88fc-102d5bbd312f', balance: '900' }
{ id: '35bde7d0-29c9-4277-a117-3eb80c85ae16', balance: '350' }
{ id: '18cc1b2d-be61-4a8d-942c-480f5a6bc207', balance: '0' }
Deleting a row...
New account balances:
{ id: 'bc0f7136-7103-4dc4-88fc-102d5bbd312f', balance: '900' }
{ id: '18cc1b2d-be61-4a8d-942c-480f5a6bc207', balance: '0' }

What's next?

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