Day 2: Create custom middleware for request logging in Node.js | by Dipak Ahirav | December 2024

Improve your application’s monitoring capabilities.

Welcome to Day 2 of our Node.js Daily Challenges! Middleware is one of the most powerful features of Node.js frameworks like Expressallowing you to intercept and process requests before they reach your application logic.

Today we’ll focus on building custom middleware that logs details of incoming HTTP requests, including HTTP method, Request URLAnd Timestamp. This is an essential skill for debugging and monitoring your Node.js applications.

Your task: Create a middleware function in Node.js that logs the following details for each incoming HTTP request:

• HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.)
• Request URL
• Timestamp

We will also integrate this middleware into an Express application.

Step 1: Initialize your project

Start by creating a new project and installing Express:

mkdir node-middleware-challenge
cd node-middleware-challenge
npm init -y
npm install express