- tape // testing
- locus // like pry if you know ruby
- babel
- bookshelf // like mongoose for postgresql | mysql
- db-migrate // to do migrations
- mongoose
- q
- async
- passport
- express
- sockjs ( if you say socket.io, Did you try ssl with socket.io ? with nginx ? )
- pm2 // like forever but, IMHO better
- node-bunyan
- body-parser
- agenda
( sorry I don't have time to get links for each one )