01 Node.js

Node.js development company for fast APIs and real-time apps

Tailwebs is a Node.js development company in Bengaluru that builds backends, APIs and real-time features for web and mobile products. Founded in 2015, we have delivered 200+ projects for 100+ clients. Node.js suits products with many simultaneous connections, such as chat, live tracking or notifications, and teams that want JavaScript or TypeScript across the whole stack.

Talk to us about your Node.js backendAnatomy of a real-time feature
Illustration: a switchboard patching live lines to a chat, a map, a bell, a laptop and a delivery scooter

02 Where it fits

Where Node.js fits

Node.js fits when many users are connected at once and expect live updates, and when most of the work is passing data between services, apps and databases.

Project traits

  1. Many users connect at once and expect live updates. For example, chat, live order or vehicle tracking, and in-app notifications. Vehicle tracking is everyday work in logistics software development.
  2. The work is mostly passing data between services, apps and databases. For example, the API behind a React Native or Flutter app, or a backend-for-frontend layer for a React web app.
  3. You rely on many third-party APIs and webhooks. For example, a hub connecting payments, CRM, email and WhatsApp.
  4. You stream responses to users as they are generated. For example, answers from an LLM feature that appear word by word: see AI and LLM development.
  5. Your front end is JavaScript or TypeScript, and you want one language. For example, a product whose web, mobile and backend developers read each other's code.

03 Real-time anatomy

Anatomy of a real-time feature

A live feature such as order tracking passes through four layers between the user's phone and the database. Each layer has one decision that keeps the feature standing when users pile in.

How we build, not what we built

The user's phone

  1. Connection layer

    A persistent connection carries each update to the phone as it happens.

    What we decide

    How a phone that drops signal reconnects, and resumes from the last update it saw.

  2. Fan-out across servers

    People following the same order may be connected to different server instances.

    What we decide

    A shared message channel, so an update reaches every user, whichever server they are on.

  3. Slow work off the request path

    Payments, notifications and AI calls take time, and must not hold up a live connection.

    What we decide

    A queue and workers for anything slow, so the live path stays responsive.

  4. Delivery rules

    Some users are offline when a message is sent, and a network can deliver the same message twice.

    What we decide

    What happens to a message while its user is offline, and how a duplicate is spotted and dropped.

The database

What we watch in production
  • Open connections
  • Message delay
  • Queue depth

04 Conventions

Node.js development services: our conventions and how we measure performance

Six conventions a CTO checks before shortlisting, ending with how speed is measured.

  1. 01

    Readable server code

    Server code that the rest of your team can read and review. TypeScript by default: typed server code, with types that a TypeScript front end can share.

  2. 02

    A framework chosen by project trait

    A large API with many modules and a changing team suits a structured framework; a small service or a single webhook handler suits a minimal one. We choose between a structured framework such as NestJS and a minimal one such as Express or Fastify, based on the size of the API.

  3. 03

    Queues and workers

    Background work runs on a queue with workers, so a slow job does not hold up a request.

  4. 04

    Retries and idempotency on webhooks

    A webhook can arrive twice or fail once, so each one is retried safely and recognised when it repeats: a payment or a message isn't processed twice.

  5. 05

    Structured logs and tracing

    Logs that can be searched by request, and traces that follow one request across services, so a fault can be followed to its cause.

  6. 06

    Performance, measured

    Load tests before launch against an agreed response-time budget, event-loop delay and response times monitored in production, and profiling when a budget is missed. The budget is agreed with you before launch and set against your expected peak.

Payments, messaging and partner APIs are connected with retries and logging.

Need the whole web product built? See web app development. Building the app on top as well? See mobile app development.

05 API to production

Node.js web application development: from first API to production

A Node.js build covers seven jobs beyond the code, in the order they happen, so you can see the whole of what a backend includes before you pay for one.

  1. API contract first

    Endpoints, payloads and errors are agreed and documented before the app teams build against them, so web and mobile work can start in parallel.

    Our default

    Documented as an OpenAPI file in your repository.

  2. Auth and roles

    Sign-in, tokens, and who can see or change what, including admin and partner access.

  3. Data model and migrations

    The database schema, versioned migrations, and seed data for testing.

  4. Environments

    Development, staging and production, with secrets kept out of the code.

  5. Deployment and hosting

    Containers or managed hosting, with automated builds and rollbacks, in a cloud account you own where possible.

    Our default

    On the cloud provider you already use, in an account you own.

  6. Monitoring and alerts

    Error tracking, logs and uptime checks, wired in before launch.

    Our default

    Alerts go to the channel your team already uses.

  7. Handover

    Source code, API documentation and a walkthrough of the system.

What a whole build costs, package by package, is on our pricing page.

Hiring instead?

Need a Node.js engineer in your team? Hire Node.js developers

06 FAQ

Questions about Node.js development.

What do you build with Node.js?
We use Node.js for APIs, real-time features such as chat and live tracking, integration hubs and the backends of web and mobile apps.
How do you make sure a Node.js backend performs under load?
We load-test against an agreed response-time budget before launch, and monitor response times and event-loop delay in production. The response-time budget is agreed per project, and load tests run at your expected peak.
How much does a Node.js backend cost to build?
It's usually part of a larger build: in our draft bands, an MVP with its backend costs ₹8–15 lakh, and a mid-complexity app with APIs and a web admin ₹15–30 lakh. Every package is on our pricing page.
How long does it take to build a Node.js backend?
The backend is built alongside the app, so it follows the app's timeline: our draft MVP Launch package takes 8–14 weeks, with the API contract agreed in the first weeks so app work can start in parallel.
Can Node.js handle real-time features like chat and live tracking at scale?
Yes, when reconnects, fan-out across servers and slow work on queues are designed in from the start, and the expected peak is load-tested before launch. The load test uses your expected peak number of connections, and we repeat it before major releases.