Training course · Windsurf · Node.js Back End

Windsurf for Node.js Back-End Developers

Develop with the Windsurf AI IDE and its Cascade agent: flows, memories, rules, workflows and safe use across the team.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“Windsurf for Node.js Back-End Developers” is a hands-on course for roles such as Back-end developers using Express, Fastify or NestJS, Full-stack developers responsible for API layers and Developers building serverless functions and integration services. Rather than learning Windsurf in the abstract, you work on tasks from your daily routine – with examples, exercises and templates from Node.js Back End.

Windsurf is an AI-powered development environment built around its agent, Cascade. Cascade understands the structure of your project, follows your actions in the editor and terminal, and works with you according to the flow principle: you and the agent take turns on the same task without having to re-explain context over and over. In this two-day course you will learn how to use Cascade effectively for features, debugging and refactoring, and how to make the most of intelligent completion in your daily development work.

To keep results consistent across a team, you steer Cascade with global and workspace rules, rely on memories for lasting project knowledge and automate recurring procedures with workflows that run from a slash command. You will connect external tools through MCP, control how terminal commands are executed and decide which data Cascade is allowed to see. Finally, you will define rules for code review, security and data protection so that Windsurf can be used responsibly within your organisation and its existing processes.

For many teams, Node.js is the backbone of REST and GraphQL APIs, real-time services, serverless functions and integration layers. Typical back-end work follows recurring patterns: routes and validation, database access with Prisma, Drizzle or TypeORM, authentication, error handling, logging and tests against real dependencies. AI coding assistants and agents handle these patterns reliably once they understand the project architecture. They generate endpoints from OpenAPI specifications, migrate Express applications to modular structures, write integration tests with Testcontainers and analyse memory leaks or event-loop-blocking operations. This course teaches you to use agents in a way that keeps security, observability and maintainability firmly intact.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Back-end developers using Express, Fastify or NestJS
  • Full-stack developers responsible for API layers
  • Developers building serverless functions and integration services
  • Software architects designing Node.js-based microservices

Typical challenges we address

  • Organically grown Express apps with no clear layering and scattered error handling
  • Insufficient input validation and weaknesses in authentication and authorisation
  • Performance issues caused by blocking code or memory leaks that are hard to diagnose
  • Missing integration tests against databases, queues and external APIs

What you will be able to do

  • You use Cascade productively in flow for features, debugging and refactoring.
  • You steer Windsurf’s context precisely and keep sensitive content protected.
  • You maintain memories and rules that reliably enforce your project conventions.
  • You automate recurring procedures with workflows and connect external tools via MCP.
  • Have AI agents build endpoints, data layers and integration tests that fit your Node.js architecture.
  • Use AI to analyse performance problems, memory leaks and security weaknesses in the back end.
  • Define guardrails so that generated back-end code meets your standards for validation, logging and error handling.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 Getting to know Windsurf and Cascade
  • Installation, importing existing editor settings and basic configuration
  • Cascade in code and chat mode: when the agent edits and when it only advises
  • The flow principle: how Cascade takes your editor and terminal actions into account
  • Intelligent completion and inline commands in everyday development
Module 2 Steering context
  • Understanding codebase indexing and referencing relevant files or directories
  • Bringing documentation, web sources and terminal output into context
  • Excluding sensitive content from context with ignore files
  • Structuring sessions and starting afresh when the topic changes
Module 3 Memories and rules for consistent results
  • Reviewing and maintaining auto-generated and manually created memories
  • Creating and versioning global and workspace rules
  • Expressing architecture, style and testing guidelines as effective rules
  • Activating rules selectively by file pattern or occasion
Module 4 Workflows and automation
  • Defining recurring procedures as workflows and launching them via slash command
  • Building workflows for release preparation, testing or code maintenance
  • Connecting MCP servers for issue trackers, databases or internal services
  • Controlling terminal command execution with allow and deny lists

Day 2

Module 5 Quality, review and governance
  • Tracing Cascade’s changes, accepting them partially or reverting them
  • Using a test-driven approach and preview features for verification
  • Team settings, data protection options and handling of secrets
  • Defining review processes and accountability for AI-generated code
Module 6 Practice lab: Node.js Back End
  • API endpoints from specifications
  • Database access and migrations
  • Integration tests with Testcontainers
  • Restructuring Express applications
  • Analysing performance and memory leaks
  • Security hardening
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Back ends often process personal data: production data, logs and database dumps should never go into prompts unfiltered, and credentials from environment variables must stay excluded. Vet new npm dependencies for supply-chain risk and licensing, and for critical services take the security requirements of NIS2 into account.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

API endpoints from specifications

From an OpenAPI or GraphQL schema, the agent generates routes or resolvers, validation with Zod or class-validator, service layers and consistent error responses – all matching your existing project structure.

Database access and migrations

The AI models schemas for Prisma, Drizzle or TypeORM, writes migrations, optimises queries with indexes and transactions and explains the impact on existing data before rollout.

Integration tests with Testcontainers

The assistant writes tests that spin up real databases, Redis or message brokers in containers, seed data and exercise API endpoints end to end with Supertest against realistic dependencies.

Restructuring Express applications

Monolithic Express projects are split into modules with controllers, services and repositories, middleware is standardised and callback code moved to async/await – backed by existing and new tests.

Analysing performance and memory leaks

The AI interprets heap snapshots, profiler output and logs, identifies operations blocking the event loop and proposes fixes such as streams, worker threads or caching.

Security hardening

The agent reviews authentication flows using JWTs or sessions, adds rate limiting, secure HTTP headers and input validation and checks the code against the OWASP API security risks.

Possible hands-on projects

Webhook relay service

A Fastify service that receives webhooks from various SaaS providers, verifies signatures, queues events and forwards them to internal systems with retry logic.

Job queue with dashboard

A background-processing service built on BullMQ and Redis, with retry strategies, a monitoring UI and integration tests. Failed jobs can be inspected and retried directly from the UI.

API gateway prototype

A lean gateway service with authentication, rate limiting, request logging and routing to several back-end services, developed entirely by an AI agent.

Prerequisites

You program regularly in at least one language and are familiar with Git and a modern IDE. Back-end development experience with Node.js and JavaScript or TypeScript, plus a working knowledge of databases, HTTP and Git.

Technical requirements

Your own laptop with the Windsurf editor, Git and your usual toolchain installed; a Windsurf account with access to Cascade is required.

Data protection & compliance

Back ends often process personal data: production data, logs and database dumps should never go into prompts unfiltered, and credentials from environment variables must stay excluded. Vet new npm dependencies for supply-chain risk and licensing, and for critical services take the security requirements of NIS2 into account.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Thu, 26 November 2026 – Fri, 27 November 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 10 December 2026 – Fri, 11 December 2026 Berlin Request
  • Mon, 14 December 2026 – Tue, 15 December 2026 Online Request
  • Wed, 13 January 2027 – Thu, 14 January 2027 Stuttgart Request
  • Thu, 21 January 2027 – Fri, 22 January 2027 Online Request
  • Tue, 2 February 2027 – Wed, 3 February 2027 Hanover Request

Frequently asked questions

What does Windsurf mean by flows?

Flows describe the close collaboration between you and Cascade. The agent observes what you do in the editor and terminal and takes those actions into account in its next steps. As a result you do not have to keep explaining where you are, and you can move smoothly between doing the work yourself and delegating it to the agent.

How do memories, rules and workflows differ?

Memories store knowledge that Cascade has gathered while working or that you have explicitly recorded. Rules are guidelines you write that shape the agent’s behaviour permanently. Workflows are reusable sequences of steps for recurring tasks, launched with a slash command. Together they keep results consistent across the whole team.

Can I use Windsurf with my existing projects and languages?

Yes. Windsurf is language-agnostic and works with your existing toolchain, including build tools, package managers and test frameworks. Whether you work on back end, front end, data processing or infrastructure code, what matters is giving Cascade good rules and clear context. Each course variant adds the specific focus for your field.

Is the course suitable for both NestJS and Express?

Yes. We work with framework-neutral principles such as layering, validation and testability, and show with examples how to capture the conventions of Express, Fastify or NestJS in instruction files. That way the assistant generates code that fits your framework and your project structure rather than generic boilerplate.

How do I stop the AI from producing insecure back-end code?

Through clear rules, automated checks and critical review. On the course you define security rules for validation, authentication and data access, plug in static analysis and dependency scanning, and learn to spot typical weaknesses in generated code, such as missing authorisation checks or unsafe queries.

How much does “Windsurf for Node.js Back-End Developers” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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