How to properly pass mysql connection to routes with express.js

your solution will work if use db() instead of new db(), which returns an object and not the db connection

var db = require('../dbConnection.js');
//var connection = new db();
var connection = db();

I find it more reliable to use node-mysql's pool object. Here's how I set mine up. I use environment variable for database information. Keeps it out of the repo.

database.js

var mysql = require('mysql');

var pool = mysql.createPool({
  host: process.env.MYSQL_HOST,
  user: process.env.MYSQL_USER,
  password: process.env.MYSQL_PASS,
  database: process.env.MYSQL_DB,
  connectionLimit: 10,
  supportBigNumbers: true
});

// Get records from a city
exports.getRecords = function(city, callback) {
  var sql = "SELECT name FROM users WHERE city=?";
  // get a connection from the pool
  pool.getConnection(function(err, connection) {
    if(err) { console.log(err); callback(true); return; }
    // make the query
    connection.query(sql, [city], function(err, results) {
      connection.release();
      if(err) { console.log(err); callback(true); return; }
      callback(false, results);
    });
  });
};

Route

var db = require('../database');

exports.GET = function(req, res) {
  db.getRecords("San Francisco", function(err, results) {
    if(err) { res.send(500,"Server Error"); return;
    // Respond with results as JSON
    res.send(results);
  });
};