Life of an ESM in Node.js – and How It's Changing for the Better

Large Language Models (LLMs) are powerful, but they often lack real-time knowledge. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) bridges this gap by fetching relevant information from external sources before generating responses. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to build an efficient RAG pipeline in Node.js using RSS feeds as a data source. We’ll compare different vector databases (FAISS, pgvector, Elasticsearch), embedding methods, and testing strategies. We’ll also cover the crucial role of chunking—splitting and structuring data effectively for better retrieval performance.Prerequisites- Good understanding of JavaScript or TypeScript- Experience with Node.js and API development- Basic knowledge of databases and LLMs is helpful but not required
Agenda📢 Introduction to RAG💻 Demo - Example Application (RAG with RSS Feeds)📕 Vector Databases (FAISS, pgvector, Elasticsearch) & Embeddings🛠️ Chunking Strategies for Better Retrieval🔬 Testing & Evaluating RAG Pipelines (Precision, Recall, Performance)🏊‍♀️ Performance & Optimization Considerations🥟 Summary & Q&A

Have you ever struggled with designing and structuring your Node.js applications? Building applications that are well organised, testable and extendable is not always easy. It can often turn out to be a lot more complicated than you expect it to be. In this live event Matteo will show you how he builds Node.js applications from scratch. You’ll learn how he approaches application design, and the philosophies that he applies to create modular, maintainable and effective applications.

Level: intermediate

Platformatic allows you to rapidly develop GraphQL and REST APIs with minimal effort. The best part is that it also allows you to unleash the full potential of Node.js and Fastify whenever you need to. You can fully customise a Platformatic application by writing your own additional features and plugins. In the workshop, we’ll cover both our Open Source modules and our Cloud offering:- Platformatic OSS (open-source software) — Tools and libraries for rapidly building robust applications with Node.js (https://oss.platformatic.dev/).- Platformatic Cloud (currently in beta) — Our hosting platform that includes features such as preview apps, built-in metrics and integration with your Git flow (https://platformatic.dev/). 
In this workshop you'll learn how to develop APIs with Fastify and deploy them to the Platformatic Cloud.

Deno 1.9 introduced a new web server API that takes advantage of Hyper, a fast and correct HTTP implementation for Rust. Using this API instead of the std/http implementation increases performance and provides support for HTTP2. In this workshop, learn how to create a web server utilizing Hyper under the hood and boost the performance for your web apps.

Passwordless authentication may seem complex, but it is simple to add it to any app using the right tool.
We will enhance a full-stack JS application (Node.JS backend + React frontend) to authenticate users with OAuth (social login) and One Time Passwords (email), including:- User authentication - Managing user interactions, returning session / refresh JWTs- Session management and validation - Storing the session for subsequent client requests, validating / refreshing sessions
At the end of the workshop, we will also touch on another approach to code authentication using frontend Descope Flows (drag-and-drop workflows), while keeping only session validation in the backend. With this, we will also show how easy it is to enable biometrics and other passwordless authentication methods.
Table of contents- A quick intro to core authentication concepts- Coding- Why passwordless matters
Prerequisites- IDE for your choice- Node 18 or higher

How to build a fullstack GraphQL application (Postgres + NestJs + React) in the shortest time possible.
All beginnings are hard. Even harder than choosing the technology is often developing a suitable architecture. Especially when it comes to GraphQL.
In this workshop, you will get a variety of best practices that you would normally have to work through over a number of projects - all in just three hours.
If you've always wanted to participate in a hackathon to get something up and running in the shortest amount of time - then take an active part in this workshop, and participate in the thought processes of the trainer.