Does nodemcu/arduino require a current limiting resistor when connecting input pin to VCC?
No, it should not. The input for the GPIO pins are high impedance and you can tie them to VCC (3.3V Not 5V) or Gnd without issue. If you are trying to switch the input with a push button though, you need to switch between one state to the other. A pull up or pull down is used to set the default state, while being weak enough that it can be overridden when switching to the second state, and preventing a direct short.

Note that an input is a 3rd state, High-Z, not a direct connect to ground or vcc. This is fairly standard between different micro controllers.