Building High-Throughput REST APIs with Node.js, Express & PostgreSQL

By Backend Engineering Team • Intermediate • 24 min read • Updated 2026-09-13

What You Will Master in This Tutorial

Architect clean modular Express applications with controllers, services, and repository layers
Configure enterprise PostgreSQL connection pooling to handle thousands of concurrent queries
Implement parameterized SQL queries to completely neutralize SQL injection vulnerabilities
Deploy on headless cloud servers with PM2 process management and reverse proxying

JAVASCRIPT

import pg from 'pg';
const { Pool } = pg;

export const pool = new Pool({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  max: 20, // Max concurrent connections in pool
  idleTimeoutMillis: 30000,
  connectionTimeoutMillis: 2000,
});

export async function query(text, params) {
  const start = Date.now();
  const res = await pool.query(text, params);
  const duration = Date.now() - start;
  if (duration > 150) {
    console.warn(`[SLOW QUERY] ${duration}ms: ${text}`);
  }
  return res;
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use an ORM like Prisma or raw SQL?

Raw SQL with parameterized queries provides maximum performance and transparent query plans. For rapid team prototyping, lightweight query builders like Kysely offer type safety without Prisma's engine overhead.