Download the NodeJS installer from https://nodejs.org/en/download and follow the prompts to install NodeJS on Windows. Open VSCode and the node --version command should show the version of NodeJS that was installed.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> node --version
v18.16.0

Create a file named app.js that contains the following console.log.

var msg = "Hello World";
console.log(msg);

In Terminal, run app.js and "Hello World" should be displayed.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> node app.js
Hello World

Let's create a file named package.json that contains the following.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.18.2"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node app.js"
  },
  "type": "commonjs"
}

The npm (Node Package Manager) install command will install the dependencies in package.json. In other words, the npm install command will install the "express" package.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> npm install

The npm list command should now show that express is installed.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> 
node@ C:\Users\JohnDoe\node
├── express@4.18.2

Let's update app.js to have the following. Notice in this example that package.json has "type": "commonjs". WIth CommonJS, you will use require​.

const express = require("express")
const app = express()

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
        console.log('Hello Console')
        res.send('Hello World')
})

app.listen(12345)

If package.json had "type": "module" then app.js would have to use import (not require).

import express from "express";
const app = express()

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
        console.log('Hello Console')
        res.send('Hello World')
})

app.listen(12345)

Then run app.js again. Because we added "script start node app.js" to package.json we can now use npm start to run app.js.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> npm start
> start
> node app.js

Go to http://127.0.0.1:12345 and "Hello World" should be displayed and "Hello Console" should be displayed in the VSCode console.