Nowadays building nodejs API in the browser is so easy with Glitch and you can also be hosted for free. I'm a big fan of this tool and using glitch API into my projects. You don't need to install any tools, you just need a browser with the internet.

Let's start in short.

Create an account here glitch.com.

Create New Project

Select hello-express template.

So, after creating a new express project you will see that view. this has all features in a single window.

Now go to server.js file and replace with this basic code.

const express = require ( "express" ) ; const app = express ( ) ; app . get ( "/" , function ( request , response ) { response . send ( { message : "Glitch is so powerful. 💪" } ) } ) ; const listener = app . listen ( process . env . PORT , function ( ) { console . log ( "Your app is listening on port " + listener . address ( ) . port ) ; } ) ;

There is only one GET route that / and you can use your nodejs APIs with glitch sub-domain url. https://<project_name>.glitch.me/

Let's make an simple POST route where we send some data and will return as JSON. Add this new code snippts into server.js

app . post ( "/say-hello" , function ( request , response ) { const { name , message } = request . query response . send ( { name , message } ) } ) ;

If you send data as query params then you will recive into request.query & if you send into body then you will get through request.body .

Now test POST call into Postman tool. URL: https://<project_name>.glitch.me/say-hello

Here is the complete code URL. https://glitch.com/edit/#!/glitch-nodejs-api

Here I'm listing all the features that will be useful to build and debug your nodejs APIs.

You can:

Make your glitch project private.

Remix your glitch project into a new project.

Invite others to edit your project.

Embed the project into your portfolio website.

Live view your project with a glitch endpoint. Ex: https://<project_name>.glitch.me

Format the files with one click.

View your APIs logs into the browser.

Import/Export into git.

Custom Domain.

Yes, it's all free for you to build your project, learn & experiment. it's really fun to build things with no hassle.

Thanks for reading my noob style tutorial. I hope this will help you to know something new. So, if you have suggestions and feedback about this post then let me know. hello@mohddanish.me