NodeExpress

Guidelines for building Node.js backend applications with Express, including module systems, package settings, and modern ESM usage.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use them when creating or reviewing Express services, configuring package.json, choosing file extensions, and writing imports between modules.
Why use it?
They help avoid confusing differences between ESM and CommonJS, such as how files are imported and how modules are exported.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/thesethrose/devrules/nodeexpress
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/TheSethRose/DevRules

Made for: Cursor.

Per session 0 Nothing until a file matches its globs; then the whole rule loads.
When invoked 1,492 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.01492
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00746
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00298
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00149

Measured yesterday against content hash baf50b6cab3c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

NodeExpress scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.cursor/rules/technologies/NodeExpress.mdc · 102 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 102 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Node.js and Express.js Best Practices

Module System (ESM vs CommonJS)

  • Prefer ES Modules (ESM) for new projects (import/export). Set "type": "module" in package.json.
  • Use .mjs extension for ESM files if package.json lacks "type": "module" or is set to "commonjs".
  • Use .cjs extension for CommonJS files if package.json is set to "type": "module".
  • Be explicit: Always include the "type" field in package.json ("module" or "commonjs").
  • Use full file paths with extensions in import statements (e.g., import { func } from './utils.js';). Directory imports (e.g., ./utils) might behave differently between CJS and ESM.
  • Understand differences: ESM does not have require, module.exports, __filename, or __dirname. Use import.meta.url, import.meta.resolve, and utilities like path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)) instead.
  • For interoperability:
    • You can import CommonJS modules from ESM.
    • You cannot directly require() ES Modules from CommonJS. Use dynamic import() instead.

package.json Configuration

  • Define package entry points using the "exports" field (Node.js 12+). This offers more control than "main" and allows defining subpath exports and conditional exports (e.g., different entries for require vs import).
    • Example: { "exports": { ".": "./index.js", "./utils": "./lib/utils.js" } }
    • Conditional Example: { "exports": { "import": "./index.mjs", "require": "./index.cjs" } }
  • All paths in "exports" must start with ./.
  • Use "imports" (Node.js 14.6+) for internal package mappings (e.g., #utils -> ./lib/utils.js).
  • Keep dependencies (dependencies, devDependencies) up-to-date and remove unused ones.
  • Specify the Node.js engine version(s) required: "engines": { "node": ">=18.0.0" }.

Project Structure

  • Organize code logically by feature or domain (e.g., /src/users, /src/products).
  • Separate routes, controllers/services, models, utilities, and configuration.
  • Example Structure:
    • /src
      • /api (or /routes): Express route definitions
      • /controllers (or /services): Business logic
      • /models: Data access layer / schemas
      • /middleware: Express middleware
      • /config: Application configuration
      • /utils: Shared utility functions
    • /tests
    • server.js (or index.js, app.js): Main application entry point
    • package.json
    • .env
    • Dockerfile (if applicable)

Read the full file on GitHub · 102 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 102 lines · 1,492 tokens per session scan A baf50b6cab3c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

NodeExpress is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository TheSethRose/DevRules (25 stars, last pushed 1y ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 1,492 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.