Node.js Production-Readiness Checklist

What's inside#

• 70+ items in eight areas: structure and config, error handling, performance and the event loop, security, observability, reliability and shutdown, data and migrations, testing and delivery
• Every item marked Must (release blocker) or Should (plan it)
• A guide to handling expected errors, bugs and unknown process state
• A step-by-step graceful shutdown sequence
• A release sign-off block

How to use it#

1. Run through it before a first production deploy, a traffic increase, or when taking over a service.
2. Count unchecked Must items; the goal is zero.
3. Put unchecked Should items on the plan with dates.
4. Re-run it every quarter or major release.

Limitations#

• It's framework-agnostic; adapt items to Express, Fastify, NestJS or your own setup.
• Platform details (containers, serverless, PaaS) change how some items are implemented.
• It doesn't replace a security review for services handling sensitive data.

License

Free to use, share and adapt, including commercially, as long as you credit Letinix and link to this page. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.