Nodes are the core building blocks of your nanoservice-ts applications, encapsulating specific pieces of logic. The nanoctl CLI provides commands to help you create and manage these Nodes efficiently, primarily through the create node command.

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create node

This command is used to scaffold a new Node within your nanoservice-ts project.

Purpose: To generate the boilerplate files for a new Node, including its definition (node.json) and implementation file (e.g., index.ts), placing them in the appropriate directory within your project (usually nodes/).

Usage:

# This command creates a new node and automatically generates a new directory for it.
npx nanoctl@latest create node
# Use this command to create a new node inside the current (empty) directory.
npx nanoctl@latest create node .

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1. Interactive Prompts & Options

You will be prompted to provide the following information:

  1. Node Name
    Enter a unique name for the node (e.g., fetch).

  2. Select Runtime
    Choose between:

    • TypeScript (recommended) (Default)
    • Python3 (Alpha version, MacOS & Linux only)
      (For this guide, select TypeScript.)

  3. Select Nanoservice Type
    Choose between:

    • Module (For npm-published nodes – not needed for this guide)
    • Class (Default, for local nodes)

  4. Select Template
    Choose between:

    • Class (recommended) (Default)
    • UI - EJS - REACTJS - TailwindCSS (not required for this guide)

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2. Navigate to the New Node Directory:

Once the node is created, navigate to its directory:

cd src/nodes/fetch

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3. Update the Node Class Name

Open the index.ts file inside the node directory and update the class name to match your node name (Fetch in this example):

// Original class name
export default class Node extends NanoService {
     ...
}

// Updated class name
export default class Fetch extends NanoService {
     ...
}

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4. Register the Node in the Nodes.ts File

To make your node available in workflows, register it inside src/Nodes.ts:

import ApiCall from "@nanoservice-ts/api-call";
import IfElse from "@nanoservice-ts/if-else";
import type { NodeBase } from "@nanoservice-ts/shared";
import Fetch from "./nodes/fetch";

const nodes: {
     [key: string]: NodeBase;
} = {
     "@nanoservice-ts/api-call": new ApiCall(),
     "@nanoservice-ts/if-else": new IfElse(),
     "fetch": new Fetch()
};

export default nodes;

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5. Validate the Node

To verify that your new node has been registered correctly, run the following command from the root of your project:

npm run dev

If everything works as expected, the node is ready to be used in a workflow. Simply create a workflow and add your node to it.

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Summary

  • ✅ Created a custom node using the CLI.
  • ✅ Configured the node class name correctly.
  • ✅ Registered the node inside Nodes.ts.
  • ✅ Validated the project setup.

Your node is now ready to be used in workflows! 🎉