Installation

Install the Package

Install @nestbolt/soft-delete using your preferred package manager:

npm install @nestbolt/soft-delete

yarn add @nestbolt/soft-delete

pnpm add @nestbolt/soft-delete

Peer Dependencies

The following packages are required peer dependencies. In a typical NestJS project, most of these are already installed:

Install any missing peer dependencies:

npm install @nestjs/common @nestjs/core typeorm reflect-metadata

Database Setup

@nestbolt/soft-delete does not ship its own table -- it operates on a column you add to each soft-deletable entity. Add a nullable timestamp column called deleted_at (or whatever you configure):

@Column({ name: "deleted_at", type: "datetime", nullable: true, default: null })
deletedAt!: Date | null;

The package never reads or writes created_at / updated_at -- only the deleted-at column it's configured for.

Optional Dependencies

Event Emitter (Soft-Delete Lifecycle Events)

Required if you want to listen to soft-delete.deleted, soft-delete.restored, and soft-delete.force-deleted events.

npm install @nestjs/event-emitter

Supported versions: ^2.0.0 || ^3.0.0

You also need to register the EventEmitterModule in your application:

import { EventEmitterModule } from "@nestjs/event-emitter";

@Module({
  imports: [
    EventEmitterModule.forRoot(),
    // ... other imports
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

If @nestjs/event-emitter is not installed or EventEmitterModule is not registered, the package works normally but no events are emitted. The event emitter is resolved lazily and treated as fully optional.

Verifying the Installation

After installing, verify everything is wired correctly by importing the module in your root AppModule:

import { Module } from "@nestjs/common";
import { TypeOrmModule } from "@nestjs/typeorm";
import { SoftDeleteModule } from "@nestbolt/soft-delete";

@Module({
  imports: [
    TypeOrmModule.forRoot({
      type: "postgres",
      // ... your database config
      autoLoadEntities: true,
      synchronize: true, // development only
    }),
    SoftDeleteModule.forRoot(),
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

If the application starts without errors and you see SoftDeleteService initialized in the logs, the installation is complete. Continue to the Quick Start guide to soft-delete your first record.