Open ten "Node.js microservices" tutorials and nine start the exact same way: install Express, install an HTTP client, write a docker-compose.yml, stand up a message broker. By the time application code shows up, you've installed six things and still don't know if microservices were even the right call. Node ships with everything two communicating services actually need. node:http is the server. Global fetch is the client. node:test is the runner. --watch is the reloader. No install step, no ...