Master Express.js
Get Hired.

Express.js is a minimal, fast, and unopinionated web framework for Node.js. It was created by TJ Holowaychuk in 2010 and is maintained under the OpenJS Foundation. In plain terms: Express gives you a clean, structured way to build HTTP servers, REST APIs, and web applications on top of Node.js without writing hundreds of lines of low-level code.

Without Express, building even a simple API in raw Node.js requires manually parsing URLs, reading request bodies, setting response headers, and handling different HTTP methods in a chain of if/else blocks. It's doable — but painful. Express wraps all of that and gives you clean, readable route definitions, a powerful middleware pipeline, and utilities that make the boring parts of backend development disappear.

The problem Express solves is structure. Node.js gives you raw power but no opinions. Express gives you just enough structure — routes, middleware, error handling — without locking you into a rigid framework. That balance is why it's survived over a decade of JavaScript evolution and remains the most downloaded Node.js framework in 2026.