---
author: ["Saurav Dhakal"]
title: "Understanding Separation of Concerns (SoC) in NestJS"
date: "2025-08-19"
summary: "A guide to understanding Separation of Concerns in NestJS using modules, services, and controllers."
tags: ["nestjs", "typescript", "architecture"]
categories: ["Backend Development", "NestJS"]
series: ["NestJS"]
ShowToc: true
TocOpen: false
---

When building applications, one of the most important design principles to keep in mind is **Separation of Concerns (SoC)**. NestJS, with its modular architecture, makes applying SoC almost effortless — but understanding _why_ it matters and _how_ to use it properly will help you write cleaner, testable, and future-proof code.

## What is Separation of Concerns and Why it Matters?

The basic idea is:

> A program should be divided into distinct sections, where each section addresses a single responsibility.

In simpler terms:

- Every part of the code should have **one clear job**.
- This makes the code easier to **understand, test, and maintain**.

Lets take an analogy of a coffee shop to better understand this concept. A coffee shop has multiple employees with distinct roles:

- The **cashier** handles payments.
- The **barista** makes coffee.
- The **inventory manager** tracks beans and supplies.

If one person did everything, the system would collapse into chaos. The same goes for software. Each role has a single responsibility, and no one does everything.

Suppose you’re building an **eCommerce platform**. Without SoC, all the logic might end up in one massive file — authentication, product catalog, payments, inventory, order processing. This quickly becomes **spaghetti code**: hard to read, impossible to test, and dangerous to modify.

With **Separation of Concerns**, you break it down into modules:

- **Auth Module** → Handles user registration, login, JWT tokens.
- **Products Module** → Manages product catalog and search.
- **Checkout Module** → Orchestrates payment and order creation.
- **Inventory Module** → Keeps track of stock levels.

Each module **does one thing**. When you need to upgrade your payment provider or switch databases, you only touch the **Checkout Module** or **Inventory Module** — everything else continues to work.

This approach of programming enhances:

- **Readability:** Developers can understand a piece of code without knowing the whole system.
- **Maintainability:** Changing one part (like authentication) won’t break unrelated features.
- **Testability:** Smaller, focused components are easier to test in isolation.
- **Flexibility:** You can swap implementations (e.g., switch databases or auth providers) without rewriting the whole app.

---

## Separation of Concerns in NestJS

One of the reasons developers love NestJS is that it **bakes Separation of Concerns into its architecture**. By default, NestJS applications are structured around three core building blocks: **modules, services, and controllers**. Each of these naturally maps to a specific concern.

### 1. **Modules** → Group related functionality

- A module acts like a **container** for a specific domain or feature.
- Examples: `UsersModule`, `AuthModule`, `PostsModule`.
- A module owns everything related to its concern and can expose services for other modules to use.

Think of modules as **departments in a company** — each department specializes in one thing but can collaborate with others when needed.

### 2. **Services** → Handle business logic

- Services handle the actual “work” of the application.
- Example: `UsersService` deals only with user data.
- Example: `AuthService` deals only with authentication and tokens.
- Services should **not depend on controllers** or contain HTTP logic.

This makes them **reusable**. A service can be used in REST controllers, GraphQL resolvers, or even a CLI command without modification.

### 3. **Controllers** → Handle HTTP requests

- Controllers act as the **entry point** for requests.
- Their job is to **receive a request, delegate the work to a service, and return a response**.
- They should remain thin, containing no business logic.

This ensures controllers are simple and services stay focused.

---

## Example: Auth and Users in NestJS

Let’s look at a real-world scenario: Implementing **authentication**.

### UserService in UsersModule

```tsx
@Injectable()
export class UsersService {
  constructor(private prisma: PrismaService) {}

  findByEmail(email: string) {
    return this.prisma.user.findUnique({ where: { email } });
  }

  create(data: any) {
    return this.prisma.user.create({ data });
  }
}
```

UserService is only concerned with **managing user data**. It knows nothing about JWTs, passwords, or authentication.

### AuthService in AuthModule

```tsx
@Injectable()
export class AuthService {
  constructor(
    private usersService: UsersService,
    private jwtService: JwtService,
  ) {}

  async validateUser(email: string, password: string) {
    const user = await this.usersService.findByEmail(email);
    // validate password...
    return user;
  }

  login(user: any) {
    return { access_token: this.jwtService.sign({ sub: user.id }) };
  }
}
```

AuthService handles **authentication logic**. It uses `UsersService`, to work with user data (findByEmail) but doesn’t leak authentication concerns back into it.
A clear boundary is maintained: `UsersService` manages user data, `AuthService` manages auth.

---

## Conclusion

Separation of Concerns isn’t just a design principle — it’s a mindset. By keeping each part of your application focused on a single responsibility, you reduce complexity, make testing easier, and keep your codebase flexible as your project grows.

NestJS makes this natural with its **modules, services, and controllers**. If you embrace SoC from the start, you’ll end up with applications that are not only **scalable** but also a joy to maintain.

(Proofread by ChatGPT)
