Start Using the Node.js SDK

  • tutorial
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    The Couchbase Node.js SDK enables you to interact with a Couchbase Server or Capella cluster from the Node.js runtime, using TypeScript or JavaScript.

    The Couchbase SDK API 3 (implemented by Node.js SDK 3.x and 4.x) is a complete rewrite of the API, reducing the number of overloads to present a simplified surface area, and adding support for Couchbase Server features like Collections and Scopes (available from Couchbase Server 7.0).

    Node.js SDK 4.x implements the same SDK API 3 bindings, but the internals are completely rewritten — using the Couchbase++ library rather than libcouchbase — to allow upcoming new features such as transactions, and fix some long-standing bugs. Please note any caveats in the migration guide.

    In this guide, you will learn:

    Hello Couchbase

    We will go through the code sample step by step, but for those in a hurry to see it, here it is:

    • Couchbase Capella (JavaScript)

    • Couchbase Capella (TypeScript)

    • Local Couchbase Server

    To connect to Couchbase Capella, be sure to get the correct endpoint as well as user, password and bucket name.

    var couchbase = require('couchbase')
    
    async function main() {
      const clusterConnStr = 'couchbases://cb.<your-endpoint>.cloud.couchbase.com'
      const username = 'username'
      const password = 'Password!123'
      const bucketName = 'travel-sample'
    
      const cluster = await couchbase.connect(clusterConnStr, {
        username: username,
        password: password,
        // Sets a pre-configured profile called "wanDevelopment" to help avoid latency issues
        // when accessing Capella from a different Wide Area Network
        // or Availability Zone (e.g. your laptop).
        configProfile: 'wanDevelopment',
      })
    
      const bucket = cluster.bucket(bucketName)
    
      // Get a reference to the default collection, required only for older Couchbase server versions
      const defaultCollection = bucket.defaultCollection()
    
      const collection = bucket.scope('tenant_agent_00').collection('users')
    
      const user = {
        type: 'user',
        name: 'Michael',
        email: 'michael123@test.com',
        interests: ['Swimming', 'Rowing'],
      }
    
      // Create and store a document
      await collection.upsert('michael123', user)
    
      // Load the Document and print it
      // Prints Content and Metadata of the stored Document
      let getResult = await collection.get('michael123')
      console.log('Get Result: ', getResult)
    
      // Perform a SQL++ (N1QL) Query
      const queryResult = await bucket
        .scope('inventory')
        .query('SELECT name FROM `airline` WHERE country=$1 LIMIT 10', {
          parameters: ['United States'],
        })
      console.log('Query Results:')
      queryResult.rows.forEach((row) => {
        console.log(row)
      })
    }
    
    // Run the main function
    main()
      .catch((err) => {
        console.log('ERR:', err)
        process.exit(1)
      })
      .then(process.exit)

    To connect to Couchbase Capella, be sure to get the correct endpoint as well as user, password and bucket name.

    'use strict'
    
    import {
      Bucket,
      Cluster,
      Collection,
      connect,
      ConnectOptions,
      GetResult,
      QueryResult,
    } from 'couchbase'
    
    async function main() {
      const clusterConnStr: string =
        'couchbases://cb.<your-endpoint>.cloud.couchbase.com'
      const username: string = 'username'
      const password: string = 'Password!123'
      const bucketName: string = 'travel-sample'
    
      const connectOptions: ConnectOptions = {
        username: username,
        password: password,
        // Sets a pre-configured profile called "wanDevelopment" to help avoid latency issues
        // when accessing Capella from a different Wide Area Network
        // or Availability Zone (e.g. your laptop).
        configProfile: 'wanDevelopment'
      }
    
      const cluster: Cluster = await connect(clusterConnStr, connectOptions)
    
      const bucket: Bucket = cluster.bucket(bucketName)
    
      const collection: Collection = bucket
        .scope('tenant_agent_00')
        .collection('users')
    
      // Get a reference to the default collection, required only for older Couchbase server versions
      const collection_default: Collection = bucket.defaultCollection()
    
      interface User {
        type: string
        name: string
        email: string
        interests: string[]
      }
    
      const user: User = {
        type: 'user',
        name: 'Michael',
        email: 'michael123@test.com',
        interests: ['Swimming', 'Rowing'],
      }
    
      await collection.upsert('michael123', user)
    
      // Load the Document and print it
      // Prints Content and Metadata of the stored document
      const getResult: GetResult = await collection.get('michael123')
      console.log('Get Result:', getResult)
    
      // Perform a N1QL Query
      const queryResult: QueryResult = await bucket
        .scope('inventory')
        .query('SELECT name FROM `airline` WHERE country=$1 LIMIT 10', {
          parameters: ['United States'],
        })
      console.log('Query Results:')
      queryResult.rows.forEach((row) => {
        console.log(row)
      })
    }
    
    // Run the main function
    main()
      .catch((err) => {
        console.log('ERR:', err)
        process.exit(1)
      })
      .then(() => process.exit(0))

    As well as the Node.js SDK, and a running instance of Couchbase Server, you will need to load up the Travel Sample Bucket using either the Web interface or the command line.

    const couchbase = require('couchbase')
    
    async function main() {
      // For a secure cluster connection, use `couchbases://<your-cluster-ip>` instead.
      const clusterConnStr = 'couchbase://localhost'
      const username = 'Administrator'
      const password = 'password'
      const bucketName = 'travel-sample'
    
      const cluster = await couchbase.connect(clusterConnStr, {
        username: username,
        password: password,
      })
    
      const bucket = cluster.bucket(bucketName)
    
      // Get a reference to the default collection, required only for older Couchbase server versions
      const defaultCollection = bucket.defaultCollection()
    
      const collection = bucket.scope('tenant_agent_00').collection('users')
    
      const user = {
        type: 'user',
        name: 'Michael',
        email: 'michael123@test.com',
        interests: ['Swimming', 'Rowing'],
      }
    
      // Create and store a document
      await collection.upsert('michael123', user)
    
      // Load the Document and print it
      // Prints Content and Metadata of the stored Document
      let getResult = await collection.get('michael123')
      console.log('Get Result: ', getResult)
    
      // Perform a N1QL Query
      const queryResult = await bucket
        .scope('inventory')
        .query('SELECT name FROM `airline` WHERE country=$1 LIMIT 10', {
          parameters: ['United States'],
        })
      console.log('Query Results:')
      queryResult.rows.forEach((row) => {
        console.log(row)
      })
    }
    
    // Run the main function
    main()
      .catch((err) => {
        console.log('ERR:', err)
        process.exit(1)
      })
      .then(process.exit)

    The Couchbase Capella free trial version comes with the Travel Sample Bucket, and its Query indexes, loaded and ready.

    Quick Installation

    $ npm install couchbase --save

    This will download the latest Couchbase Node.js SDK, and add a dependency to your package.json.

    Information on new features, fixes, known issues, as well as information on how to install older release versions is in the release notes, and a fuller installation guide can be found here.

    TypeScript Support

    If you intend to use TypeScript instead of JavaScript, then also do the following:

    $ npm install -g typescript ts-node

    Prerequisites

    The following code samples assume:

    • Couchbase Capella

    • Local Couchbase Server

    • You have signed up to Couchbase Capella.

    • You have created your own bucket, or loaded the Travel Sample dataset. Note, the Travel Sample dataset is installed automatically by the Capella free trial.

    • A user is created with permissions to access the cluster (at least Application Access permissions). See the Capella connection page for more details.

    Couchbase Capella uses Roles to control user access to database resources. For the purposes of this guide, you can use the Organization Owner role automatically assigned to your account during installation of the Capella cluster. In a production scenario, we strongly recommend setting up users with more granular access roles as a best practice.
    • Couchbase Server is installed and accessible locally.

    • You have created your own bucket, or loaded the Travel Sample dataset using the Web interface.

    • A user is created with permissions to access your cluster (at least Application Access permissions). See Manage Users, Groups and Roles for more details.

    Couchbase Server uses Role Based Access Control (RBAC) to control access to resources. In this guide we suggest using the Full Admin role created during setup of your local Couchbase Server cluster. For production client code, you will want to use more appropriate, restrictive settings.

    Step by Step

    Create an empty file named index.js, or alternatively index.ts for TypeScript, and walk through step by step.

    Here are all the imports that you will need to run the sample code.

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    var couchbase = require('couchbase')
    import {
      Bucket,
      Cluster,
      Collection,
      connect,
      ConnectOptions,
      GetResult,
      QueryResult,
    } from 'couchbase'

    Now, create an empty main() function.

    async function main() {
      // add code here...
    }

    We will update this function as we go along the steps in this guide.

    Connect

    Connect to your cluster by calling the connect() function and pass it your connection details. The basic connection details that you’ll need are given below — for more background information, see Managing Connections.

    • Couchbase Capella (JavaScript)

    • Couchbase Capella (TypeScript)

    • Local Couchbase Server

    From version 4.1, the Node.js SDK includes Capella’s standard certificates by default, so you don’t need any additional configuration. You do need to enable TLS, which can be done by simply using couchbases:// in the connection string as in this example.

    const clusterConnStr = 'couchbases://cb.<your-endpoint>.cloud.couchbase.com'
    const username = 'username'
    const password = 'Password!123'
    const bucketName = 'travel-sample'
    
    const cluster = await couchbase.connect(clusterConnStr, {
      username: username,
      password: password,
      // Sets a pre-configured profile called "wanDevelopment" to help avoid latency issues
      // when accessing Capella from a different Wide Area Network
      // or Availability Zone (e.g. your laptop).
      configProfile: 'wanDevelopment',
    })

    When accessing Capella from a different Wide Area Network or Availability Zone, you may experience latency issues with the default connection settings. SDK 4.2 introduces a wanDevelopment Configuration Profile, which provides pre-configured timeout settings suitable for working in high latency environments. Basic usage is shown in the example above, but if you want to learn more see Constrained Network Environments.

    The Configuration Profiles feature is currently a Volatile API and may be subject to change.

    From version 4.1, the Node.js SDK includes Capella’s standard certificates by default, so you don’t need any additional configuration. You do need to enable TLS, which can be done by simply using couchbases:// in the connection string as in this example.

      const clusterConnStr: string =
        'couchbases://cb.<your-endpoint>.cloud.couchbase.com'
      const username: string = 'username'
      const password: string = 'Password!123'
      const bucketName: string = 'travel-sample'
    
      const connectOptions: ConnectOptions = {
        username: username,
        password: password,
        // Sets a pre-configured profile called "wanDevelopment" to help avoid latency issues
        // when accessing Capella from a different Wide Area Network
        // or Availability Zone (e.g. your laptop).
        configProfile: 'wanDevelopment'
      }
    
      const cluster: Cluster = await connect(clusterConnStr, connectOptions)

    When accessing Capella from a different Wide Area Network or Availability Zone, you may experience latency issues with the default connection settings. SDK 4.2 introduces a wanDevelopment Configuration Profile, which provides pre-configured timeout settings suitable for working in high latency environments. Basic usage is shown in the example above, but if you want to learn more see Constrained Network Environments.

    The Configuration Profiles feature is currently a Volatile API and may be subject to change.
    // For a secure cluster connection, use `couchbases://<your-cluster-ip>` instead.
    const clusterConnStr = 'couchbase://localhost'
    const username = 'Administrator'
    const password = 'password'
    const bucketName = 'travel-sample'
    
    const cluster = await couchbase.connect(clusterConnStr, {
      username: username,
      password: password,
    })

    For developing locally on the same machine as Couchbase Server, your URI can be couchbase://localhost as shown here. For production deployments, you will want to use a secure server, with couchbases://.

    Following successful authentication, add this code snippet to access your Bucket:

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    const bucket = cluster.bucket(bucketName)
    const bucket: Bucket = cluster.bucket(bucketName)

    Add and Retrieve Documents

    The Node.js SDK supports full integration with the Collections feature introduced in Couchbase Server 7.0. Collections allow documents to be grouped by purpose or theme, according to a specified Scope.

    Here we refer to the users collection within the tenant_agent_00 scope from the Travel Sample bucket as an example, but you may replace this with your own data.

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    const collection = bucket.scope('tenant_agent_00').collection('users')
    const collection: Collection = bucket
      .scope('tenant_agent_00')
      .collection('users')

    The code shows how you would use a named collection and scope. A named or default collection will provide the same functionality as bucket-level operations did in previous versions of Couchbase Server.

    The defaultCollection must be used when connecting to a 6.6 cluster or earlier.
    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    // Get a reference to the default collection, required only for older Couchbase server versions
    const defaultCollection = bucket.defaultCollection()
    // Get a reference to the default collection, required only for older Couchbase server versions
    const collection_default: Collection = bucket.defaultCollection()

    Document operations, such as storing and retrieving documents, can be done using Collection.upsert() and Collection.get().

    Add the following code to create a new document and retrieve it:

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    const user = {
      type: 'user',
      name: 'Michael',
      email: 'michael123@test.com',
      interests: ['Swimming', 'Rowing'],
    }
    
    // Create and store a document
    await collection.upsert('michael123', user)
    
    // Load the Document and print it
    // Prints Content and Metadata of the stored Document
    let getResult = await collection.get('michael123')
    console.log('Get Result: ', getResult)
    interface User {
      type: string
      name: string
      email: string
      interests: string[]
    }
    
    const user: User = {
      type: 'user',
      name: 'Michael',
      email: 'michael123@test.com',
      interests: ['Swimming', 'Rowing'],
    }
    
    await collection.upsert('michael123', user)
    
    // Load the Document and print it
    // Prints Content and Metadata of the stored document
    const getResult: GetResult = await collection.get('michael123')
    console.log('Get Result:', getResult)

    SQL++ Lookup

    Couchbase SQL++ queries can be performed at the Cluster or Scope level by invoking Cluster.query() or Scope.query().

    Cluster level queries require you to specify the fully qualified keyspace each time (e.g. travel-sample.inventory.airline). However, with a Scope level query you only need to specify the Collection name — which in this case is airline:

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    // Perform a SQL++ (N1QL) Query
    const queryResult = await bucket
      .scope('inventory')
      .query('SELECT name FROM `airline` WHERE country=$1 LIMIT 10', {
        parameters: ['United States'],
      })
    console.log('Query Results:')
    queryResult.rows.forEach((row) => {
      console.log(row)
    })
    // Perform a N1QL Query
    const queryResult: QueryResult = await bucket
      .scope('inventory')
      .query('SELECT name FROM `airline` WHERE country=$1 LIMIT 10', {
        parameters: ['United States'],
      })
    console.log('Query Results:')
    queryResult.rows.forEach((row) => {
      console.log(row)
    })

    Execute!

    To ensure that we can run the main function, we add this last line of code:

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    // Run the main function
    main()
      .catch((err) => {
        console.log('ERR:', err)
        process.exit(1)
      })
      .then(process.exit)
    // Run the main function
    main()
      .catch((err) => {
        console.log('ERR:', err)
        process.exit(1)
      })
      .then(() => process.exit(0))

    Now we can run our code:

    • JavaScript

    • TypeScript

    $ node index.js
    $ ts-node index.ts

    The results you should expect are as follows:

    Get Result: GetResult {
      content: {
        type: 'user',
        name: 'Michael',
        email: 'michael123@test.com',
        interests: [ 'Swimming', 'Rowing' ]
      },
      cas: Cas<1665739583483674624>,
      expiryTime: undefined
    }
    Query Results:
    { name: '40-Mile Air' }
    { name: 'Texas Wings' }
    { name: 'Atifly' }
    { name: 'Locair' }
    { name: 'SeaPort Airlines' }
    { name: 'Alaska Central Express' }
    { name: 'AirTran Airways' }
    { name: 'U.S. Air' }
    { name: 'PanAm World Airways' }
    { name: 'Bemidji Airlines' }

    Next Steps

    Now you’re up and running, try one of the following:

    Additional Resources

    The API reference is generated for each release and the latest can be found here.

    Links to each release are to be found in the individual release notes.

    The Migrating from SDK API 2 to 3 page highlights the main differences to be aware of when migrating your code.

    Couchbase welcomes community contributions to the Node.js SDK. The Node.js SDK source code is available on GitHub.

    Troubleshooting