2024 Guide to NestJS, TypeORM, and PostgreSQL integration with Docker

Use PostgreSQL, and TypeORM with Nest JS backend framework. Set up PostgreSQL on Docker with a docker-compose.yml file.

Create Nest App

nest new twitter-app-api

Install dependencies

npm install @nestjs/typeorm typeorm pg


or


yarn add @nestjs/typeorm typeorm pg

Setup PostgreSQL using Docker

Docker Compose setup for NestJS application with TypeORM and PostgreSQL

Create a .env file in the root of the project folder

POSTGRES_DB=twitter_db
POSTGRES_USER=twitter_user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=twitter_password
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_HOST=localhost

docker-compose.yml – Add to the project root folder

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:latest
    container_name: twitter_postgres_db
    ports:
      - '5432:5432'
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
  postgres_data:

Run Docker Command from the project root folder

docker compose up -d

Connect DB using credentials

Create Database Module

nest g module database

//  src/database/database.module.ts

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { TypeOrmModule } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
import { ConfigModule, ConfigService } from '@nestjs/config';

@Module({
  imports: [
    ConfigModule.forRoot(),
    TypeOrmModule.forRootAsync({
      imports: [ConfigModule],
      useFactory: (configService: ConfigService) => ({
        type: 'postgres',
        host: configService.get('POSTGRES_HOST'),
        port: configService.get('POSTGRES_PORT'),
        username: configService.get('POSTGRES_USER'),
        password: configService.get('POSTGRES_PASSWORD'),
        database: configService.get('POSTGRES_DB'),
        entities: [__dirname + '/../**/*.entity{.ts,.js}'],
        synchronize: true, // TODO: set to false in production
      }),
      inject: [ConfigService],
    }),
  ],
})
export class DatabaseModule {}