🚀 Backend Template Generator

A powerful CLI tool to generate production-ready Node.js backend applications with Express.js. Supports both TypeScript and JavaScript, with monolith and microservice architectures, and optional features like authentication, CORS, rate limiting, and more.

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✨ Features

- 🎯 TypeScript & JavaScript Support - Choose your preferred language
- 🏗️ Dual Architecture - Monolith or Microservice
- 🐳 Docker Ready - Containerized microservices
- ⚡ PM2 Support - Process management for production
- 🔐 JWT Authentication - Built-in auth with MongoDB
- 🛡️ Security First - CORS, Helmet, Rate Limiting
- 📝 Professional Logging - Morgan + Winston
- 🎨 Colored CLI - Beautiful Vite-like terminal output
- 📋 Project Metadata - Description, author, and keywords support

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📦 Installation & Usage

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``bash
npx @ifecodes/backend-template my-project
`

Or install globally:

`bash
npm install -g @ifecodes/backend-template
ifecodes-template my-project
`

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`bash

Create a monolith

npx @ifecodes/backend-template my-api mono

Create a microservice

npx @ifecodes/backend-template my-project micro
`

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🧠 Interactive Setup

When you run the CLI, you'll be prompted to choose:

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- TypeScript (default) - Full type safety and modern tooling
- JavaScript - Transpiled from TypeScript for simplicity

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- Description - Project description for package.json
- Author - Your name or organization
- Keywords - Comma-separated keywords for discoverability

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- Monolith API - Traditional single-server architecture
- Microservice - Distributed services with API Gateway

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- Docker - Container-based deployment with docker-compose
- PM2 - Process manager for Node.js applications

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- ✅ CORS - Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
- ✅ Helmet - Security headers middleware
- ✅ Rate Limiting - API request throttling
- ✅ Morgan - HTTP request logger

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- ✅ JWT Authentication with MongoDB
- Choose between bcrypt (recommended for Windows) or argon2 for password hashing

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🗂 Project Structure

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`
my-backend/
├── src/
│ ├── config/ # Configuration files
│ ├── middlewares/ # Custom middlewares
│ ├── modules/ # Feature modules
│ │ └── v1/ # API version 1
│ │ ├── auth/ # Auth module (if enabled)
│ │ └── health/ # Health check
│ ├── models/ # Database models (if auth)
│ ├── utils/ # Utility functions
│ ├── app.ts # Express app setup
│ ├── routes.ts # Route definitions
│ └── server.ts # Server entry point
├── .husky/ # Git hooks
├── .env # Environment variables
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json
`

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`
my-project/
├── shared/ # Shared utilities across services
│ ├── config/ # Environment configs (db.ts only if auth enabled)
│ └── utils/ # Logger, error handlers
├── services/
│ ├── gateway/ # API Gateway (port 4000)
│ ├── health-service/ # Health checks (port 4001)
│ └── auth-service/ # Authentication (port 4002, if enabled)
├── docker-compose.yml # Docker setup (if selected)
├── pm2.config.js # PM2 setup (if selected)
├── .env # Root environment variables
├── .gitignore # Git ignore (includes .env and node_modules)
├── tsconfig.json # Root TypeScript config with project references
├── .husky/ # Git hooks
└── package.json # Root package.json
`

Note: Each microservice does NOT have its own .env file. Environment variables are managed at the root level through docker-compose.yml or pm2.config.js.

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▶️ Running the Application

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`bash
cd my-backend

Development

npm run dev

Production

npm run build
npm start
`

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`bash
cd my-project

Start all services

docker-compose up

Start in detached mode

docker-compose up -d

View logs

docker-compose logs -f

Stop all services

docker-compose down
`

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`bash
cd my-project

Start all services

pm2 start pm2.config.js

View logs

pm2 logs

Monitor services

pm2 monit

Stop all services

pm2 stop all
`

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🛠 Tech Stack

- Runtime: Node.js (v18+)
- Language: TypeScript or JavaScript
- Framework: Express.js
- Database: MongoDB (with Mongoose, if auth enabled)
- Authentication: JWT + bcrypt/argon2
- Security: Helmet, CORS, Rate Limiting
- Logging: Morgan, Custom Logger
- Git Hooks: Husky
- Deployment: Docker or PM2

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TypeScript vs JavaScript

This CLI generates TypeScript projects by default but also includes explicit JavaScript templates. There is no fragile, on-the-fly TypeScript → JavaScript transform at runtime — the project templates include language-specific variants so the output is predictable and parseable in Node.js.

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- Full type safety and IntelliSense
- Modern ECMAScript features
- Compile-time error checking
- Better tooling and refactoring support

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- Pre-authored JavaScript (CommonJS) templates are included
- No TypeScript annotations remain in generated .js files
- DevDependencies that are TypeScript-only are omitted for JS projects
- Same functionality with simpler runtime setup

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🌟 Features

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- Auto-generates README with project-specific instructions
- Creates .env from .env.example with default values
- Configures TypeScript paths for clean imports (@/config, @/utils)
- Project metadata (description, author, keywords) in package.json

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- API Gateway on port 4000 (single entry point)
- Service Discovery - Automatically routes to correct service
- Shared Folder - Common utilities across all services
- Health Checks - Built-in monitoring endpoints

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- Hot Reload - Development server with nodemon
- ESLint - Code quality enforcement
- Git Hooks - Pre-commit linting with Husky
- Type Safety - Full TypeScript support

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📡 API Endpoints

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`
GET / - API information
GET /api/v1/health - Health check
POST /api/v1/auth/register - Register user (if auth enabled)
POST /api/v1/auth/login - Login user (if auth enabled)
`

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All requests go through the API Gateway at http://localhost:4000

`
GET /health - Gateway health check
GET /api/v1/health - Health service check
POST /api/v1/auth/register - Auth service (if enabled)
POST /api/v1/auth/login - Auth service (if enabled)
`

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🔧 Environment Variables

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`env
PORT=4000
NODE_ENV=development
`

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`env
NODE_ENV=development

Gateway Service

GATEWAY_PORT=4000

Health Service

HEALTH_SERVICE_PORT=4001

Auth Service (if enabled)

AUTH_SERVICE_PORT=4002
`

Note: Microservices use environment variables from docker-compose.yml or pm2.config.js. Individual services don't have .env files.

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`env
ALLOWED_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3000
`

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`env
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/your-database-name
JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key-change-this-in-production
`

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🚀 Adding Services (Microservice)

You can add more services to an existing microservice project:

`bash
cd my-project
npx @ifecodes/backend-template

You'll be prompted to name the new service

Example: user-service, order-service, etc.

`

The CLI will:

- Create the new service
- Update docker-compose.yml or pm2.config.js
- Configure routing in the API Gateway

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

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`bash
git clone https://github.com/ALADETAN-IFE/backend-template.git
cd backend-template
npm install
npm link
``

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📄 License

MIT

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✨ Author

Aladetan Fortune Ifeloju (IfeCodes)
Full Stack Developer & TechPreneur

- GitHub: @ALADETAN-IFE
- Twitter: @IfeCodes

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🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with ❤️ for the developer community to accelerate backend development.