Mongoose is a Node.js module that provides developers with the ability to model objects and save them as MongoDB documents. While MongoDB is a schemaless database, Mongoose offers you the opportunity to enjoy both strict and loose schema approaches when dealing with Mongoose models. As with any other Node.js module, before you can start using it in your application, you will first need to install it. The examples in this chapter will continue directly from those in the previous chapters; so, for this chapter, copy the final example from Chapter 3, Building an Express Web Application, and let's start from there.
Once you've installed and verified that your MongoDB local instance is running, you'll be able to connect it using the Mongoose module. First, you will need to install Mongoose in your node_modules folder, so change your package.json file to look like what is shown in the following code snippet:
{
"name": "MEAN",
"version": "0.0.5",
"dependencies...