Functional Programming with fp-ts in Node.js

Introduction

Functional programming (FP) has gained popularity for its composability, testability, and robustness. In the JavaScript ecosystem, libraries like fp-ts bring powerful FP concepts to TypeScript, allowing you to write cleaner and more reliable code.

This article explores fp-ts concepts like Option, Either, Task, Reader, and ReaderTaskEither. We’ll build a basic CRUD app using fp-ts, pg (PostgreSQL client), and Express.js to see how these abstractions shine in real-world applications.

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Key Concepts

Before diving into the app, let’s briefly discuss the main concepts:

1. Option: Models the presence or absence of a value (Some or None).
2. Either: Represents computations that can succeed (Right) or fail (Left).
3. Task: Represents lazy asynchronous computations.
4. Reader: Injects dependencies into computations.
5. ReaderTaskEither: Combines Reader, Task, and Either for async operations with dependencies and error handling.

---

Setting Up the Project

Initialize the Project

mkdir fp-ts-crud && cd fp-ts-crud
npm init -y
npm install express pg fp-ts io-ts
npm install --save-dev typescript @types/express ts-node-dev jest @types/jest ts-jest

Setup TypeScript

Create a tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "module": "CommonJS",
    "outDir": "dist",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"]
}

Project Structure

src/
  index.ts        # Entry point
  db.ts           # Database setup
  models/         # Data models and validation
  services/       # Business logic
  controllers/    # CRUD operations
  utils/          # fp-ts utilities
  errors/         # Custom error classes

---

Implementing the CRUD App

Database Setup (db.ts)

import { Pool } from 'pg';

export const pool = new Pool({
  user: 'postgres',
  host: 'localhost',
  database: 'fp_ts_crud',
  password: 'password',
  port: 5432,
});

Define Models and Validation (models/User.ts)

import * as t from 'io-ts';
import { isRight } from 'fp-ts/Either';

export const User = t.type({
  id: t.number,
  name: t.string,
  email: t.string,
});

export const validateUser = (data: unknown): t.TypeOf<typeof User> | null => {
  const result = User.decode(data);
  return isRight(result) ? result.right : null;
};

Custom Error Handling (errors/AppError.ts)

export class AppError extends Error {
  constructor(public statusCode: number, public code: string, public message: string) {
    super(message);
    this.name = 'AppError';
  }
}

export const createAppError = (statusCode: number, code: string, message: string): AppError => {
  return new AppError(statusCode, code, message);
};

Service Layer (services/UserService.ts)

import { pool } from '../db';
import { ReaderTaskEither, right, left } from 'fp-ts/ReaderTaskEither';
import { pipe } from 'fp-ts/function';
import { createAppError, AppError } from '../errors/AppError';

type Dependencies = { db: typeof pool };
type User = { name: string; email: string };

export const createUser = (
  user: User
): ReaderTaskEither<Dependencies, AppError, string> => (deps) => async () => {
  try {
    const result = await deps.db.query(
      'INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (, ) RETURNING id',
      [user.name, user.email]
    );
    return right(`User created with ID: ${result.rows[0].id}`);
  } catch (error) {
    return left(createAppError(500, 'USER_CREATION_FAILED', 'Failed to create user'));
  }
};

export const getUser = (
  id: number
): ReaderTaskEither<Dependencies, AppError, { id: number; name: string; email: string }> => (deps) => async () => {
  try {
    const result = await deps.db.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ', [id]);
    return result.rows[0]
      ? right(result.rows[0])
      : left(createAppError(404, 'USER_NOT_FOUND', 'User not found'));
  } catch {
    return left(createAppError(500, 'USER_FETCH_FAILED', 'Failed to fetch user'));
  }
};

CRUD Operations (controllers/UserController.ts)

import { pipe } from 'fp-ts/function';
import { createUser, getUser } from '../services/UserService';
import { pool } from '../db';
import { AppError } from '../errors/AppError';

const errorHandler = (err: unknown, res: express.Response): void => {
  if (err instanceof AppError) {
    res.status(err.statusCode).json({ error: { code: err.code, message: err.message } });
  } else {
    res.status(500).json({ error: { code: 'UNKNOWN_ERROR', message: 'An unexpected error occurred' } });
  }
};

export const createUserHandler = (req: express.Request, res: express.Response): void => {
  pipe(
    createUser(req.body),
    (task) => task({ db: pool }),
    (promise) =>
      promise.then((result) =>
        result._tag === 'Left'
          ? errorHandler(result.left, res)
          : res.json({ message: result.right })
      )
  );
};

export const getUserHandler = (req: express.Request, res: express.Response): void => {
  pipe(
    getUser(parseInt(req.params.id, 10)),
    (task) => task({ db: pool }),
    (promise) =>
      promise.then((result) =>
        result._tag === 'Left'
          ? errorHandler(result.left, res)
          : res.json(result.right)
      )
  );
};

Express API (index.ts)

import express from 'express';
import { createUserHandler, getUserHandler } from './controllers/UserController';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

// Routes
app.post('/users', createUserHandler);
app.get('/users/:id', getUserHandler);

// Start Server
app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server running on http://localhost:3000');
});

---

Running the App with Docker and Docker Compose

Dockerfile

# Stage 1: Build
FROM node:22 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json .
RUN npm install
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Stage 2: Run
FROM node:22
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install --production
CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:15
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
      POSTGRES_DB: fp_ts_crud
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
  db_data:

Run the App - Development Mode

# Start the database
docker-compose up -d

# Run the app
npx ts-node-dev src/index.ts

Run the App - Production Mode

# Build the docker image
docker build -t fp-ts-crud-app .

# Start the database
docker-compose up -d

# Run the container
docker run -p 3000:3000 fp-ts-crud-app

---

Writing Tests

Setup Jest

Update package.json scripts:

mkdir fp-ts-crud && cd fp-ts-crud
npm init -y
npm install express pg fp-ts io-ts
npm install --save-dev typescript @types/express ts-node-dev jest @types/jest ts-jest

Example Test (__tests__/UserService.test.ts)

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "module": "CommonJS",
    "outDir": "dist",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"]
}

---

Conclusion

By leveraging fp-ts, Docker, and robust error handling, we built a functional, scalable, and maintainable Node.js CRUD application. Using functional programming patterns makes your code more predictable and reliable, especially when handling asynchronous workflows.

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