MEAN Stack Development: 15 tools to use for your project

Introduction

The MEAN stack involves MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, and Node.js; this is a powerful framework designed to build dynamic web applications. To handle the fast-evolving landscape of web development, using various tools shall be necessary to help developers be more productive, improve their workflows, and ensure quality code.

These tools are discussed in detail below, along with their current pricing.

15 tools for MEAN Stack development

1. Visual Studio Code (VSCode)

What gives Visual Studio Code such popularity among developers is its lightness and rich feature sets.

These are some of them.

• IntelliSense: Provides intelligent completions depending on the type of variable, function definition, and modules imported.
• Terminal: It lets developers run commands directly from the editor.
• Extensions: There is a whole library of extensions tailored to JavaScript frameworks and that enhance functionality with tools for debugging, linting, and version control.

Price: Free

2. Postman

Postman is an essential tool for API development and testing.

Key Features:

• Sending Requests: You can send HTTP requests to your Express.js backend with ease.
• Inspecting Responses: See responses from your backend server in various formats from JSON to XML and make sure that everything works like you expect it should.
• Automated Tests: Grab test scripts that auto-run any time a request is sent to prove that the functionality of your API works.

Pricing: Offers free plan; paid plans $12/user/month as a feature for larger features.

3. MongoDB Compass

MongoDB Compass: A graphical user interface for database administration on MongoDB.

Key Features:

• Visual Data Exploration: It is intuitive to navigate the collections and documents.
• Query Performance Insights: Direct analysis of query performance and optimizes the indexes from the interface
• Schema Visualization: Visualize the structure of your data, which goes a long way in helping design better databases

Price: It’s free of cost as well.

4. Angular CLI

Angular Command Line Interface is a powerful tool that streamlines development for Angular applications.

Main Features:

• Project Scaffolding: Bootstrap new projects with a structured structure in a streamlined process.
• Code Generation: Generate most of the components, services, modules, and more to delete boiler-plate code automatically.
• Build Optimisation: You can easily build and deploy apps with automatic production optimisations.

Pricing: Free

5. Node.js Package Manager (npm)

npm is the default package manager for Node.js and any project will have to depend on it.

Key Features:

• Dependency Management: Installation, update, and maintenance of third-party libraries and modules.
• Custom Scripts: Run tests or build your application directly from scripts in the package.json file.
• Version Control: Keep track of versions of packages to ensure compatibility on different environments

Pricing: Free

6. Git and GitHub

Version control is an important part of collaborative software development

Main Features:

• Tracking changes made to the codebase
• Bringing features into your codebase independently of other changes without having an impact on the main codebase until when you are ready to merge.
• Collaboration Tools: Simplify team collaboration with pull requests, code review, and issue tracking.

Pricing: Git is free; GitHub offers free accounts with paid plans starting at $4/user/month for extra features.

7. Docker

Docker enables programmers to develop applications as containers that run consistently in different environments.

Key Features:

• Environment Consistency: Applications will work similarly on development, testing, and even on deployment environments.
• Isolation of Dependencies : Every application runs inside its own container without conflicting dependencies.
• Simplified Deployment: Deploy applications quickly by packaging them with all necessary dependencies.

Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans starting at $5/month for extra features.

8. Webpack

Webpack is a module bundler that optimizes JavaScript files for production use.

Key Features:

• Code Splitting: Take big codebases and break them into smaller chunks to load only on demand, improving performance.
• Asset Management: Manage stylesheets, images, and other assets alongside your JavaScript files.
• Hot Module Replacement (HMR): This module update can take place live with no need to entirely refresh the page when building.

Pricing: It is free.

9. MochaJS

MochaJS is an adaptive testing framework for Node.js application that is specifically designed for asynchronous testing.

Main Features:

• Test Suite Management: Organize tests in suites for easy management
• Rich Reporting: Generate detailed report on results from the test
• Comes with a full suite of assertion libraries; Chai or SinonJS can couple well with it to be able to increase the capabilities of the test.

Pricing: Free

10. Chai

As an assertion library widely used in conjunction with MochaJS, Chai provides:

Key Features

• Flexible Assertion Styles: Multiple styles can be used with developers (should, expect, assert).
• Plugins Support: Extend functionality with plugins, for example, Chai-as-promised for promise testing or Chai-http for HTTP assertions.

Pricing: Free.

11. ESLint

To ensure code quality and consistency between projects, ESLint-the static code analysis tool-is a must among the list:

Key Features

• Linting Rules Configuration: Configure rules according to team standards or needs of a project.
• Real-time Feedback:Identify issues as you code in your editor.
• Integration with CI/CD Pipelines: Prevent merging of low-quality code into the main branch with automated checks.

Pricing: Free.

12. Swagger

Use Swagger (OpenAPI) for API documentation and testing with these core features:

• Automated generation of interactive documentation: Create interactive API documentation directly from annotations in your code.
• Testing interface for APIs: Test endpoints directly from the documentation interface.
• Client SDK Generation: Generates client libraries in languages of their choice based on the API spec.

Pricing: The free tier; paid plans starting at $75/mo for advanced features.

13. PM2

It is a process manager for Node.js applications. It provides the following key features:

• Process Monitoring and Management: Application processes are automatically restarted in case they crash for continuous running.
• Load Balancing Support: Incoming traffic is spread out over a number of instances of an application.
• Log Management Features: Collates all logs from different instances into one page.

Pricing: Free; paid plans start at $15/month for additional features.

14. Figma

Utilizing Figma for design collaboration in MEAN stack projects encompasses:

Key Features:

• Collaborative Features in Real-Time: It allows designers and developers to collaborate on UI/UX designs.
• Design Prototyping: Interactive prototypes can be created that may be shared for feedback purposes prior to actual implementation.

Pricing: Offers a free plan; paid plans from $12/user/month for access to more advanced functionalities.

15. Robo 3T

Other Gui tools for the management of MongoDB include Robo 3T:

Key Features:

• User-friendly Interface: Makes interactions with the MongoDB database easier with an intuitive Graphical interface.
• Query Building Tools: Features visual query builders that make even complex queries easier to create and are much easier, regardless of knowing the command line.

Pricing: Free

Best Practices for MEAN Stack Development

In addition to utilizing essential tools, following best practices can significantly enhance your MEAN stack development process. Below are some key practices every developer should consider:

• Modular Architecture

  Break down applications into smaller, reusable modules or components.

  Benefits: Enhances maintainability and reusability of code, making it easier to manage and test.

• Environment Configuration

  Use environment variables to manage configuration settings for different environments (development, testing, production).

  Benefits: Improves security and flexibility by keeping sensitive information out of the codebase.

• Version Control

  Utilize Git for version control to track changes and collaborate effectively.

  Benefits: Facilitates collaboration, allows rollback of changes, and maintains a history of the project.

• Code Reviews

  Implement regular code reviews within the team to ensure code quality and adherence to standards.

  Benefits: Helps catch bugs early, promotes knowledge sharing, and maintains coding standards.

• Automated Testing

  Write unit tests and integration tests using frameworks like Mocha and Chai.

  Benefits: Ensures code reliability and reduces the likelihood of introducing bugs during development.

• API Documentation

  Use tools like Swagger to document APIs clearly and interactively.

  Benefits: Enhances collaboration between frontend and backend teams and serves as a reference for users.

• Error Handling

  Implement comprehensive error handling throughout the application.

  Benefits: Improves user experience by providing informative error messages and prevents application crashes.

• Performance Optimization

  Monitor application performance and optimize database queries and server response times.

  Benefits: Enhances user experience by reducing load times and improving responsiveness.

• Security Best Practices

  Follow security best practices such as input validation, sanitization, and using HTTPS.

  Benefits: Protects applications from common vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS attacks.

• Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD)

  Implement CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins or GitHub Actions for automated testing and deployment.

  Benefits: Streamlines the deployment process, reduces manual errors, and ensures consistent delivery of updates.

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Wrapping Up!

Using these tools with best practices in your development will greatly enhance the productivity of the developers, intra-team coordination, and quality of the code being delivered. Leverage this affordably available resource, most of them free to keep your developers up-to-date while easily adapting to changes in project requirements to end up building a robust MEAN stack web application. You are welcome to customize each segment!