Lad is the best Node.js framework. Made by a former Express TC and Koa team member.
npm install lad
* Features
* Microservices
* Front-end
* Back-end
* Translation
* Email Engine
* Error Handling
* Performance
* Security
* Get Started
* Requirements
* Install
* Usage
* Configuration
* Tutorials
* Community
* Architecture
* Principles
* Related
* Contributing
* Contributors
* Trademark Notice
* License
Lad boasts dozens of features and is extremely configurable.
These microservices are preconfigured for security, performance, and graceful reloading.
* Webapp server → web.js
* API server → api.js
* Job scheduler → bree.js
* Proxy server → proxy.js
* Browser linting using [eslint-plugin-compat][] and [browserslist][] (see .browserslistrc for the default config)
* [Pug][] template engine (you can easily use [Moon][], [Vue][], [React][], or [Angular][], though typically [you aren't going to need it][yagni])
* [Gulp][] (latest version 4.x)
* [Sass][]
* [PostCSS][] (with [font-magician][], [import-url][], [font-grabber][], [base64][], and [cssnext][] pre-configured)
* [Bootstrap][]
* [Font Awesome][font-awesome]
* [SpinKit][]
* [SweetAlert2][]
* [Dense][]
* [Waypoints][]
* [LiveReload][]
* …
* Redis, sessions, and flash toast and modal [SweetAlert2][] messages (uses [ioredis][] which has support for [Cluster][redis-cluster], [Sentinel][redis-sentinel], and more)
* Koa-based webapp and API servers (uses HTTP/2 for production!)
* Pagination built-in (using [ctx-paginate][])
* RESTful API with BasicAuth and versioning
* Automated job scheduler with cron and human-readable syntax (backed by [Mongoose][] and [Bree][])
* Passport-based authentication and group-based (Unix-like) permissioning
* Stripe-inspired error handling
* Mongoose and MongoDB with common database plugins
* Email template engine with [Nodemailer][] and local rendering
* Proxy eliminates need for Nginx reverse-proxy or Apache virtual hosts
* Multilingual through built-in i18n translation support (see configuration)
* Automatic phrase translation with Google Translate
* Sitemap generator for simple SEO
* …
Finally a framework that solves i18n everywhere; complete with automatic translation.
* Translation constants built-in so you [don't repeat yourself][dry]
* Webapp error messages and templates are translated
* Emails are translated
* API responses are translated
* Database errors are translated
* Authentication errors are translated
* …
Our beautiful email engine uses [email-templates][] (which is also made by the creator of Lad)!
* Test your emails locally with automatic browser-rendering on the fly
* Automatically inlines CSS for cross-browser and cross-platform email client support
* Use [Bootstrap][] in your email template designs
* Reuse your existing CSS and webapp styling
* Use any template engine (defaults to Pug)
* [Render custom fonts in emails with code][custom-fonts-in-emails]
* [Add icons with Font Awesome with code][font-awesome-assets]
* [Automatically avoid email client caching][nodemailer-base64-to-s3]
* Include any image you want and it will be properly rendered
* Rids the need for awkward embedded image CID attachments
* …
We've spent a lot of time designing a beautiful error handler.
* Supports text/html, application/json, and text response types
* User-friendly responses
* HTML error lists
* …
See [koa-better-error-handler][] for a complete reference.
* Compression and zero-bloat approach
* Stream-based file uploading
* Graceful reloading, shutdown, and reconnection handling
* Manifest asset revisioning
* Amazon S3 and CloudFront ready
* …
* Database security plugins and helpers
* Automated tests and code coverage
* CORS, SameSite set to "lax" ([an alternative to CSRF][csrf-alternative]), CSRF (since [not all browsers][csrf-caniuse] support SameSite yet) XSS, and rate limited protection
* Dotenv support for environment-based configurations
* App, user, and request-based logging
* SSL-ready (see instructions below)
* …
We strictly support Mac and Ubuntu-based operating systems (we do not support Windows).
Please ensure your operating system has the following software installed:
* [Git][] - see [GitHub's tutorial][github-git] for installation
* [Node.js][node] (v10+) - use [nvm][] to install it on any OS
* After installing nvm you will need to run nvm install node
* We also recommend you install [yarn][], which is an alternative to [npm][]
* [MongoDB][] (v3.x+):
* Mac (via [brew][]): brew tap mongodb/brew && brew install mongodb-community && brew services start mongodb-community.
* Ubuntu:
``sh`
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 0C49F3730359A14518585931BC711F9BA15703C6
echo "deb http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu "$(lsb_release -sc)"/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install mongodb-org
* [Redis][] (v4.x+):
* Mac (via [brew][]): brew install redis && brew services start redis
* Ubuntu:
`sh`
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:chris-lea/redis-server
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install redis-server
[npm][]:
`sh`
npm install -g lad
[yarn][]:
`sh`
yarn global add lad
#### Create a project
`sh`
lad new-project
cd new-project
#### Development
To begin, try typing npm start (or yarn start) on command line. This will display to you all the scripts you can run.
The start script (among many others) uses [nps][] and [nps-utils][] under the hood. This helps to keep scripts very developer-friendly, and rids the need to write in JSON syntax.
This script accepts a argument, whereas a task of all will spawn, watch, and re-compile all of the microservices mentioned above.
Just open
[npm][]:
`sh`
npm start all
[yarn][]:
`sh`
yarn start all
##### Debugging
* DEBUG - debug using [debug][] output (widely adopted package in the community for debugging across all Node packages):
`sh`
DEBUG=* ...
* NODE_DEBUG - debug [node][] internal modules:
`sh`
NODE_DEBUG=* ...
* MONGOOSE_DEBUG - debug Mongoose raw database operation output:
`sh`
MONGOOSE_DEBUG=true ...
* TRANSPORT_DEBUG - debug Nodemailer transport:
`sh`
TRANSPORT_DEBUG=true ...
* REDIS_MONITOR - debug Redis using MONITOR (uses [@ladjs/redis][ladjs-redis] and passes true for the monitor argument):
`sh`
REDIS_MONITOR=true ...
* REDIS_FRIENDLY_ERROR_STACK - debug Redis with friendly error stack messages (see [showFriendlyErrorStack][show-friendly-error-stack] option of [ioredis][])
`sh`
REDIS_FRIENDLY_ERROR_STACK=true ...
#### Production
We strongly recommend using [SemaphoreCI][], [PM2][], and [Digital Ocean][do] for production deployment.
1. We've provided you with a preconfigured ecosystem.json deployment file. You will need to modify this file with your server's IP, hostname, and other metadata if needed.
2. Make sure that your project's assets are built with NODE_ENV=production flag, e.g. NODE_ENV=production npm run build (or with yarn as yarn build);this creates a build/rev-manifest.json file per [koa-manifest-rev][].
3. You can test this locally by installing [PM2][] globally with [npm][] or [yarn][], and then running the following command:
`sh`
NODE_ENV=production pm2 start
4. See the Continuous Integration and Code Coverage and Tutorials sections below for instructions on how to setup continuous integration, code coverage, and deployment.
5. If you specify an environment variable value for AWS_CF_DOMAIN and NODE_ENV=production is set then your assets will need to be published to Amazon S3/Cloudfront. To do so run npm start publish-assets (or with yarn as yarn start publish-assets). This command automatically sets NODE_ENV=production for you as well via cross-env.
#### Provisioning
See the ansible folder for our [Ansible][] configuration and playbooks, which we use to provision servers with.
We recommend you to install [yamllint][] and configure it in your editor while working with [Ansible][] playbooks.
Also note that [ansible-lint][] is a helpful linting tool you can use if you plan on making changes to playbooks. Note that our current playbooks have several existing lint errors.
First you must provision Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64-bit server(s) using [Digital Ocean][digital-ocean], [Linode][], [Vultr][], or your host of choice. These newly provisioned server(s) should have your SSH key automatically added.
Follow the Deployment guide below for automatic provisioning and deployment instructions.
##### Deployment
1. Set up host configuration by copying the hosts.yml file template:
`sh`
cp ansible/playbooks/templates/hosts.yml hosts.yml
2. Edit this configuration and update the file with your newly created server aliases and IP addresses. You can add more than one host to each group if you are setting up load balancing. Refer to the Naming Convention documentation for our recommended approach to server alias naming. Note that this file is automatically ignored by git. If you have a private repository and would like to commit this, then remove hosts.yml from the root .gitignore file.
`sh`
vim hosts.yml
3. Set up environment configuration by copying the env file template:
`sh`
cp ansible/playbooks/templates/env .env.production
4. Edit this configuration and reference the official [Lad][] documentation for a list of all available environment variables (or see .env.defaults). You will need to open this file in your preferred editor and set the values for any fields containing TODO, whereby you replace TODO with the appropriate value. Preserve double quotes where they are already defined.
`sh`
vim .env.production
5. Generate [pm2][] [ecosystem files][ecosystem-files] using our automatic template generator. We created an ansible-playbook.js which loads the .env.production environment variables rendered with [@ladjs/env][] into process.env, which then gets used in the playbooks. This is a superior, simple, and the only known dotenv approach we know of in Ansible. Newly created ecosystem-api.json, ecosystem-bree.json, ecosystem-web.json files will now be created for you in the root of the repository. If you ever more add or change IP addresses, you can simply re-run this command.
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/ecosystem.yml -l 'localhost'
6. Set up the web and API server(s) (see patterns and ansible-playbook flags docs if you need help). If you completely (or partially) run this playbook (or any others below), then the second time you try to run it may not succeed. This is because we prevent root user access through security hardening. To workaround this, run the same command but without -e 'ansible_user=root' appended as it will default to the devops user created.
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/http.yml -e 'ansible_user=root' -l 'http'
7. Set up the Bree server(s):
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/bree.yml -e 'ansible_user=root' -l 'bree'
8. Set up the Redis server:
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/redis.yml -e 'ansible_user=root' -l 'redis'
9. Set up the Mongo server:
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/mongo.yml -e 'ansible_user=root' -l 'mongo'
10. Set up GitHub deployment keys for all the servers. Note that the deployment-keys directory is ignored from git, so if you have a private repository and wish to commit it, then remove deployment-keys from the .gitignore file.
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/deployment-keys.yml -l 'http:bree'
11. Go to your repository "Settings" page on GitHub, click on "Deploy keys", and then add a deployment key for each servers' deployment key copied to the deployment-keys directory. If you're on macOS, you can use the pbcopy command to copy each file's contents to your clipboard. Use tab completion for speed, and replace the server names and paths with yours:
`sh
cat deployment-keys/api-1-li-dal.forwardemail.net.pub | pbcopy
#
# NOTE: repeat the above command for all servers
# and after running the command, it will copy
# the key to your clipboard for you to paste as
# a new deploy key (make sure to use read-only access)
#
`
12. Set up PM2 deployment directories on all the servers:
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-web.json production setup
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-api.json production setup
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-bree.json production setup
13. Create a SSL certificate at [Namecheap][] (we recommend a 5 year wildcard certificate), set up the certificate, and download and extract the ZIP file with the certificate (emailed to you) to your computer. We do not recommend using tools like [LetsEncrypt][] and certbot due to complexity when you have (or scale to) a cluster of servers set up behind load balancers. In other words, we've tried approaches like lsyncd in combination with crontab for certbot renewals and automatic checking. Furthermore, using this exposes the server(s) to downtime as ports 80 and 443 may need to be shut down so that certbot can use them for certificate generation. This is not a reliable approach, and simply renewing certificates once a year is vastly simpler and also makes using load balancers trivial. Instead you can use a provider like [Namecheap][] to get a cheap SSL certificate, then run a few commands as we've documented below. This command will prompt you for an absolute file path to the certificates you downloaded. Renewed your certificate after 1 year? Simply follow this step again. Do not set a password on the certificate files. When using the openssl command (see Namecheap instructions), you need to use *.example.com with an asterisk followed by a period if you are registering a wildcard certificate.
`sh`
ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/certificates.yml
> Important: If you renew or change certificates in the future, then after running the previous command, you will subsequently need to reload the processes as such:
`sh`
#
# NOTE: See the "Important" note above BEFORE running this command.
# This command ONLY APPLIES for certificate renewals/changes.
#
pm2 deploy ecosystem-web.json production exec "pm2 reload web"
pm2 deploy ecosystem-api.json production exec "pm2 reload api"
14. (Optional) Create a Google application credentials profile file and store it locally. You only need this if you want to support automatic translation. The following command will prompt you for the absolute file path (e.g. /path/to/client-profile.json). See the [mandarin][] docs for more information.
`sh`
ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/gapp-creds.yml -l 'http:bree'
15. Copy the .env.production file and create an AWS config file on the servers:
`sh`
node ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/env.yml -l 'http:bree'
16. Run an initial deploy to all the servers:
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-web.json production
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-api.json production
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-bree.json production
17. Save the process list on the servers so when if the server were to reboot, it will automatically boot back up the processes:
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-web.json production exec "pm2 save"
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-api.json production exec "pm2 save"
`sh`
pm2 deploy ecosystem-bree.json production exec "pm2 save"
18. Test by visiting your web and API server in your browser (click "proceed to unsafe" site and bypass certificate warning).
19. Configure your DNS records for the web and API server hostnames and respective IP addresses.
20. Test by visiting your web and API server in your browser (in an incognito window). There should not be any certificate warnings (similar to the one that occurred in step 15).
21. (Optional) Remove the local .env.production file for security purposes. If you do this, then make sure you have a backup, or securely back up off the server in the future before destroying the server.
`sh`
rm .env.production
22. (Optional) Remove the local certificate files you downloaded locally and specified in step 11. If you do this, then make sure you have a backup, or securely back up off the server in the future before destroying the server.
23. Finished. If you need to deploy again, then push your changes to GitHub master branch and then follow step 14 again. We recommend you to read the [Ansible getting started guide][ansible-guide], as it provides you with insight into commands like ansible all -a "echo hello" which can be run across all or specific servers.
#### Tests
We use [ava][] and [nyc][] for testing and code coverage.
[npm][]:
`sh`
npm test
[yarn][]:
`sh`
yarn test
#### Environment Variables
We have made configuration of your Lad project easy through a [dotenv][] configuration package called [@ladjs/env][lad-env], per [Twelve-Factor][twelve-factor].
We use the following three packages to manage configuration:
* [dotenv-extended][] - allows us to craft a .env definition (otherwise known as a "schema") in a file named .env.schema.env
* [mustache][] - allows us to use the [Mustache templating language][mustache] in our and .env.defaults configuration filesprocess.env
* [dotenv-parse-variables][] - automatically parses variable types from (e.g. FOO=4 will set process.env.FOO = 4 with a Number variable type instead of a String)
Configuration is managed by the following, in order of priority:
1. Contents of the file at config/index.js (reads in process.env environment variables)config/environments/
2. Contents of the files in directories under (sets defaults per environment, e.g. you can pass NODE_ENV=staging and it will load the file at config/environments/staging.js)NODE_ENV=production
3. Environment variables used to override defaults or set required ones (e.g. ).env
4. Environment configuration in .env.defaults
5. Environment configuration in
Precedence is taken by the environment configuration files, environment variables, then the .env file.
Basically [dotenv][] won't set an environment variable if it already detects it was passed as an environment variable.
Take a look at the config folder contents and also at the defaults at .env.defaults.
* NODE_ENV - (options: development, production default: development) - the node environment the app is running inPROXY_PORT
* - (default: 8080) - proxy port used to proxy requests (see [ladjs/proxy][])HTTP_PROTOCOL
* - (defaults: http recommend: https) - protocol used for http requestsHTTP_PORT
* - (defaults: 80 recommend: 443) - http port used for http requestsWEB_PROTOCOL
* - (default: http) - [ladjs/web][] application protocolWEB_HOST
* - (default: localhost) - [ladjs/web][] application hostWEB_PORT
* - (default: 3000) - [ladjs/web][] application portWEB_URL
* - (default: {{WEB_PROTOCOL}}://{{WEB_HOST}}:{{WEB_PORT}}) - web application absolute URIWEB_SSL_KEY_PATH
* - [ladjs/web][] file path to your SSL key fileWEB_SSL_CERT_PATH
* - [ladjs/web][] file path to your SSL certificate fileWEB_SSL_CA_PATH
* - [ladjs/web][] file path to your SSL certificate authority fileAPI_HOST
* - (default: localhost) - [ladjs/api][] hostAPI_PORT
* - (default: 4000) - [ladjs/api][] portAPI_PROTOCOL
* - (default: http recommend: https) - [ladjs/api][] protocolAPI_URL
* - (default: {{API_PROTOCOL}}://{{API_HOST}}:{{API_PORT}}) - [ladjs/api][] absolute URIAPI_SSL_KEY_PATH
* - [ladjs/api][] file path to your SSL key fileAPI_SSL_CERT_PATH
* - [ladjs/api][] file path to your SSL certificate fileAPI_SSL_CA_PATH
* - [ladjs/api][] file path to your SSL certificate authority fileAPI_RATELIMIT_WHITELIST
* - [ladjs/api][] ratelimiter whitelisted ips (see: koa-simple-ratelimit)APP_NAME
* - (default: Lad) - application name (see usage)APP_COLOR
* - application color theme (see usage)TWITTER
* - (default: @niftylettuce) twitter handleSEND_EMAIL
* - (default: false) - whether to send email or preview (see outbound email configuration)TRANSPORT_DEBUG
* - (default: false) - email transport debug logging (see debugging)EMAIL_DEFAULT_FROM
* - (default: support@127.0.01) - default email from addressSHOW_STACK
* - (default: true) - whether or not to output a stack trace when logging (see [cabinjs options][])SHOW_META
* - (default: true) - whether or not to output metadata to logger methods (see [cabinjs options][])SUPPORT_REQUEST_MAX_LENGTH
* - (default: 500) - support request max message size in charactersERROR_HANDLER_BASE_URL
* - (default: {{WEB_URL}}) error handling base url (see koa-better-error-handler)I18N_SYNC_FILES
* - (default: true) - sync locale information across all files (see [ladjs/i18n options][])I18N_AUTO_RELOAD
* - (default: false) - watch for changes in json files to reload locale on updates (see [ladjs/i18n options][])I18N_UPDATE_FILES
* - (default: true) - write new locale information to disk (see [ladjs/i18n options][])AUTH_LOCAL_ENABLED
* - (default: true) - enable passport local strategy (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_FACEBOOK_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with Facebook using the OAuth 2.0 (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_TWITTER_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with Twitter using the OAuth 1.0 (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_GOOGLE_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with Google using OAuth 2.0 (see [google auth][])AUTH_GITHUB_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with Github using OAuth 2.0 (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_LINKEDIN_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with LinkedIn using OAuth 1.0 (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_INSTAGRAM_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with Instagram using OAuth 2.0 (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_OTP_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with OTP, a form of two-factor authentication (see [ladjs/passport][])AUTH_STRIPE_ENABLED
* - (default: false) - enable authenticating with Stripe using OAuth 2.0 (see [ladjs/passport][])GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID
* - google oauth2 client id (see [google auth][])GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET
* - google oauth2 secret (see [google auth][])GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL
* - google oauth2 callback url (see [google auth][])GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS
* - path to google cloud platform credentials (see gcp credentials)GITHUB_CLIENT_ID
* - github oauth client id (see [ladjs/passport][])GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET
* - github oauth secret (see [ladjs/passport][])GITHUB_CALLBACK_URL
* - github oauth callback URL (see [ladjs/passport][])POSTMARK_API_TOKEN
* - postmark api token (see outbound email configuration)CODECOV_TOKEN
* - codecov api token (see continuous integration and code coverage)MONGO_USER
* - mongodb usernameMONGO_PASS
* - mongodb passwordMONGO_HOST
* - (default: localhost) - mongodb hostnameMONGO_PORT
* - (default: 27017) - mongodb portMONGO_NAME
* - (default: {{APP_NAME}}_{{NODE_ENV}}) - mongodb nameMONGO_URI
* - (default: mongodb://{{MONGO_HOST}}:{{MONGO_PORT}}/{{MONGO_NAME}}) - mongodb connection URIWEB_MONGO_USER
* - [ladjs/web][] mongodb usernameWEB_MONGO_PASS
* - [ladjs/web][] mongodb passwordWEB_MONGO_HOST
* - [ladjs/web][] mongodb hostnameWEB_MONGO_NAME
* - [ladjs/web][] mongodb nameWEB_MONGO_PORT
* - [ladjs/web][] mongodb portWEB_MONGO_URI
* - [ladjs/web][] mongodb connection URIAPI_MONGO_USER
* - [ladjs/api][] mongodb usernameAPI_MONGO_PASS
* - [ladjs/api][] mongodb passwordAPI_MONGO_HOST
* - [ladjs/api][] mongodb hostnameAPI_MONGO_NAME
* - [ladjs/api][] mongodb nameAPI_MONGO_PORT
* - [ladjs/api][] mongodb portAPI_MONGO_URI
* - [ladjs/api][] mongodb connection URIBREE_MONGO_USER
* - [breejs/bree][] mongodb usernameBREE_MONGO_PASS
* - [breejs/bree][] mongodb passwordBREE_MONGO_HOST
* - [breejs/bree][] mongodb hostnameBREE_MONGO_NAME
* - [breejs/bree][] mongodb nameBREE_MONGO_PORT
* - [breejs/bree][] mongodb portBREE_MONGO_URI
* - [breejs/bree][] mongodb connection URIREDIS_PORT
* - (default: 6379) - redis portREDIS_HOST
* - (default: localhost) - redis hostnameREDIS_PASSWORD
* - redis passwordWEB_REDIS_PORT
* - [ladjs/web][] redis portWEB_REDIS_HOST
* - [ladjs/web][] redis hostnameWEB_REDIS_PASSWORD
* - [ladjs/web][] redis passwordAPI_REDIS_PORT
* - [ladjs/api][] redis portAPI_REDIS_HOST
* - [ladjs/api][] redis hostnameAPI_REDIS_PASSWORD
* - [ladjs/api][] redis passwordBREE_REDIS_PORT
* - [breejs/bree][] redis portBREE_REDIS_HOST
* - [breejs/bree][] redis hostnameBREE_REDIS_PASSWORD
* - [breejs/bree][] redis passwordMANDARIN_REDIS_PORT
* - [mandarin][] redis portMANDARIN_REDIS_HOST
* - [mandarin][] redis hostnameMANDARIN_REDIS_PASSWORD
* - [mandarin][] redis passwordCERTBOT_WELL_KNOWN_NAME
* - letsencrypt wellknown name (see [certbot options][])CERTBOT_WELL_KNOWN_CONTENTS
* - letsencrypt wellknown contents (see [certbot options][])VERIFICATION_PIN_TIMEOUT_MS
* - (default: 5m) - email verification pin expiryVERIFICATION_PIN_EMAIL_INTERVAL_MS
* - (default: 1m) - email verification pin email intervalAPI_SECRETS
* - (default: secret) - list of restricted api secretsCACHE_RESPONSES
* - (default: false) - cache specified responses (see ladjs/koa-cache-responses)SLACK_API_TOKEN
* - slack api token (see slack web api)
#### SSL Configuration
To configure SSL for the web or API server simply set them in your .env file or pass them as environment variables.
> Web server:
* WEB_PROTOCOL - you must set this to httpsWEB_SSL_KEY_PATH
* - file path to your SSL key file (e.g. /home/deploy/.ssl/web-key.pem)WEB_SSL_CERT_PATH
* - file path to your SSL certificate file (e.g. /home/deploy/.ssl/web-cert.pem)WEB_SSL_CA_PATH
* (optional) - file path to your SSL certificate authority file (e.g. /home/deploy/.ssl/web-ca-cert.pem)
> API server:
* API_PROTOCOL - you must set this to httpsAPI_SSL_KEY_PATH
* - file path to your SSL key file (e.g. /home/deploy/.ssl/api-key.pem)API_SSL_CERT_PATH
* - file path to your SSL certificate file (e.g. /home/deploy/.ssl/api-cert.pem)API_SSL_CA_PATH
* (optional) - file path to your SSL certificate authority file (e.g. /home/deploy/.ssl/api-ca-cert.pem)
#### Outbound Email Configuration
By default in the development environment we simply render the email in your browser.
However in other environments such as production, you definitely want emails to be sent.
We built-in support for Postmark by default (though you can swap in your own transport provider in the jobs/email.js file):
1. Go to https://postmarkapp.com – Start Free Trial
2. Create a free trial account, then click Get Started, and proceed to create a "Server" and "Sender Signature"
3. Copy/paste the "Server API token" under "Credentials" in your .env file (example below)
`diff`
-POSTMARK_API_TOKEN=
+POSTMARK_API_TOKEN=ac6657eb-2732-4cfd-915b-912b1b10beb1
4. Modify the SEND_EMAIL variable in .env from false to true
#### Favicon and Touch Icon Configuration
You can customize the favicon and touch icons – just generate a new set at
Just make sure that any relative paths match up in the assets/browserconfig.xml and assets/manifest.json files.
#### Authentication Methods
We use Lad's auth package under the hood; so if you want to configure authentication providers you'll want to read more or contribute to [@ladjs/auth][ladjs-auth].
##### Google Auth
In order to add Google sign-in to your app (so users can log in with their Google account):
1. Go to
2. Under your newly created project, go to Credentials – Create credentials – OAuth client ID – Web application
3. Set "Authorized JavaScript origins" to http://yourdomain.com (replace with your domain) and also http://localhost:3000 (for local development)
4. Set "Authorized redirect URIs" to http://yourdomain.com/auth/google/ok (again, replace with your domain) and also http://localhost:3000/auth/google/ok (again, for local development)
5. Copy and paste the newly created key pair for respective properties in your .env file (example below)
`diff`
-GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
+GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=424623312719-73vn8vb4tmh8nht96q7vdbn3mc9pd63a.apps.googleusercontent.com
-GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=
+GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=Oys6WrHleTOksqXTbEY_yi07
6. In .env, make sure that AUTH_GOOGLE_ENABLED=true to enable this authentication method.
#### Translation Configuration
1. Go to
2. Enable the Google Translate API
3. Copy your API key and set it as the environment variable GOOGLE_TRANSLATE_KEY=
#### Continuous Integration and Code Coverage
We strongly recommend that you use [SemaphoreCI][] for continuous integration and [Codecov][] for code coverage.
Here are the simple steps required to setup [SemaphoreCI][] with [Codecov][]:
1. Go to [SemaphoreCI][] and sign up for a free account
2. Once your repository is pushed to GitHub, add it as a project on SemaphoreCI
3. Configure your project on SemaphoreCI with the following build settings:
> Replace npm with yarn if you're using [yarn][] as your package manager
* Language: JavaScript10+
* Node.js version: (latest LTS)Setup
> Note you can also add to the script nvm install latest to install latest version if SemaphoreCI does not provide it from the drop-downnpm install
* Setup: npm run test-coverage
* Job 1: npm run coverage
* After job:
4. Go to [Codecov][] and sign up for a free account
5. Add your project on Codecov and copy to your clipboard the token
6. Go to SemaphoreCI's Project Settings for your project and add CODECOV_TOKEN as an environment variable (with the contents from your clipboard)
7. Run a test build ("Rebuild last revision") on SemaphoreCI and check to make sure your code coverage report uploads properly on Codecov
8. Ensure your README.md file has the build status and code coverage badges rendered properly (you will need to use a different badge link from each provider if your GitHub repository is private)
#### Amazon S3 and CloudFront Asset Setup
In order for your assets to get properly served in a production environment, you'll need to configure AWS:
1. Go to
2. Copy and paste the newly created key pair for respective properties in your .env file (example below)
`diff`
-AWS_IAM_KEY=
+AWS_IAM_KEY=AKIAJMH22P6W674YFC7Q
-AWS_IAM_SECRET=
+AWS_IAM_SECRET=9MpR1FOXwPEtPlrlU5WbHjnz2KDcKWSUcB+C5CpS
3. Enable your API by clicking on Overview and then clicking the Enable button
4. Go to
5. Create a bucket and copy/paste its name for the property in .env (example below)
`diff`
-AWS_S3_BUCKET=
+AWS_S3_BUCKET=lad-development
6. Go to
7. Set "Origin Domain Name" equal to your S3 bucket name (their autocomplete drop-down will help you find it)
8. Leave the remaining defaults as is (some fields might be blank, this is OK)
9. Copy/paste the newly created Distribution ID and Domain Name for respective properties in your .env file (example below)
`diff`
-AWS_CF_DI=
+AWS_CF_DI=E2IBEULE9QOPVE
-AWS_CF_DOMAIN=
+AWS_CF_DOMAIN=d36aditw73gdrz.cloudfront.net
* Writing Your App
* Continous Integration and Deployment
* [Follow us on Twitter][twitter]
* [Join our Slack channel][slack]
* [Subscribe to our Twitch channel][twitch]
* Visit Koa's Community section.
* [Join Mongoose's Slack channel][mongoose-slack]
The following bash output is the directory structure and organization of Lad:
`sh`
tree template -I "build|node_modules|coverage|test"
`sh
template
├── LICENSE
├── README
├── ansible
│ ├── playbooks
│ │ ├── aws-credentials.yml
│ │ ├── bree.yml
│ │ ├── certificates.yml
│ │ ├── deployment-keys.yml
│ │ ├── ecosystem.yml
│ │ ├── env.yml
│ │ ├── gapp-creds.yml
│ │ ├── http.yml
│ │ ├── mongo.yml
│ │ ├── node.yml
│ │ ├── python.yml
│ │ ├── redis.yml
│ │ ├── security.yml
│ │ ├── ssh-keys.yml
│ │ └── templates
│ │ ├── aws-credentials.j2
│ │ ├── before.rules.j2
│ │ ├── ecosystem-api.json.j2
│ │ ├── ecosystem-bree.json.j2
│ │ ├── ecosystem-web.json.j2
│ │ ├── env
│ │ ├── hosts.yml
│ │ └── security-limits.d-mongod.conf
│ └── requirements.yml
├── ansible-playbook.js
├── ansible.cfg
├── api.js
├── app
│ ├── controllers
│ │ ├── api
│ │ │ ├── index.js
│ │ │ └── v1
│ │ │ ├── index.js
│ │ │ ├── log.js
│ │ │ └── users.js
│ │ ├── index.js
│ │ └── web
│ │ ├── admin
│ │ │ ├── index.js
│ │ │ └── users.js
│ │ ├── auth.js
│ │ ├── index.js
│ │ ├── my-account.js
│ │ ├── otp
│ │ │ ├── disable.js
│ │ │ ├── index.js
│ │ │ ├── keys.js
│ │ │ ├── recovery.js
│ │ │ └── setup.js
│ │ ├── report.js
│ │ └── support.js
│ ├── models
│ │ ├── index.js
│ │ ├── inquiry.js
│ │ └── user.js
│ └── views
│ ├── 404.pug
│ ├── 500.pug
│ ├── _breadcrumbs.pug
│ ├── _footer.pug
│ ├── _nav.pug
│ ├── _pagination.pug
│ ├── _register-or-login.pug
│ ├── about.pug
│ ├── admin
│ │ ├── index.pug
│ │ └── users
│ │ ├── index.pug
│ │ └── retrieve.pug
│ ├── change-email.pug
│ ├── dashboard
│ │ └── index.pug
│ ├── donate.pug
│ ├── forgot-password.pug
│ ├── home.pug
│ ├── layout.pug
│ ├── my-account
│ │ ├── index.pug
│ │ ├── profile.pug
│ │ └── security.pug
│ ├── otp
│ │ ├── enable.pug
│ │ ├── keys.pug
│ │ ├── login.pug
│ │ └── setup.pug
│ ├── privacy.pug
│ ├── register-or-login.pug
│ ├── reset-password.pug
│ ├── spinner
│ │ ├── 1.pug
│ │ ├── 10.pug
│ │ ├── 11.pug
│ │ ├── 2.pug
│ │ ├── 3.pug
│ │ ├── 4.pug
│ │ ├── 5.pug
│ │ ├── 6.pug
│ │ ├── 7.pug
│ │ ├── 8.pug
│ │ ├── 9.pug
│ │ └── spinner.pug
│ ├── support.pug
│ ├── terms.pug
│ └── verify.pug
├── assets
│ ├── browserconfig.xml
│ ├── css
│ │ ├── _btn-auth.scss
│ │ ├── _custom.scss
│ │ ├── _email.scss
│ │ ├── _markdown.scss
│ │ ├── _responsive-backgrounds.scss
│ │ ├── _responsive-borders.scss
│ │ ├── _responsive-rounded.scss
│ │ ├── _swal2.scss
│ │ ├── _variables.scss
│ │ └── app.scss
│ ├── fonts
│ ├── img
│ │ ├── android-chrome-192x192.png
│ │ ├── android-chrome-384x384.png
│ │ ├── apple-touch-icon.png
│ │ ├── favicon-16x16.png
│ │ ├── favicon-32x32.png
│ │ ├── favicon.ico
│ │ ├── github-logo.svg
│ │ ├── google-logo.svg
│ │ ├── logo-square.svg
│ │ ├── mstile-150x150.png
│ │ ├── social.png
│ │ └── twitter.png
│ ├── js
│ │ ├── core.js
│ │ ├── logger.js
│ │ └── uncaught.js
│ ├── robots.txt
│ └── site.webmanifest
├── bree.js
├── config
│ ├── api.js
│ ├── bree.js
│ ├── cookies.js
│ ├── env.js
│ ├── filters.js
│ ├── i18n.js
│ ├── index.js
│ ├── koa-cash.js
│ ├── locales.js
│ ├── logger.js
│ ├── meta.js
│ ├── phrases.js
│ ├── utilities.js
│ └── web.js
├── emails
│ ├── _content.pug
│ ├── _footer.pug
│ ├── _nav.pug
│ ├── account-update
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ ├── change-email
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ ├── inquiry
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ ├── layout.pug
│ ├── recovery
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ ├── reset-password
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ ├── two-factor-reminder
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ ├── verify
│ │ ├── html.pug
│ │ └── subject.pug
│ └── welcome
│ ├── html.pug
│ └── subject.pug
├── env
├── gitignore
├── gulpfile.js
├── helpers
│ ├── email.js
│ ├── get-email-locals.js
│ ├── i18n.js
│ ├── logger.js
│ ├── markdown.js
│ ├── passport.js
│ ├── policies.js
│ ├── send-verification-email.js
│ └── to-object.js
├── index.js
├── jobs
│ ├── account-updates.js
│ ├── index.js
│ ├── translate-markdown.js
│ ├── translate-phrases.js
│ ├── two-factor-reminder.js
│ └── welcome-email.js
├── lad.sh
├── locales
│ ├── ar.json
│ ├── cs.json
│ ├── da.json
│ ├── de.json
│ ├── en.json
│ ├── es.json
│ ├── fi.json
│ ├── fr.json
│ ├── he.json
│ ├── hu.json
│ ├── id.json
│ ├── it.json
│ ├── ja.json
│ ├── ko.json
│ ├── nl.json
│ ├── no.json
│ ├── pl.json
│ ├── pt.json
│ ├── ru.json
│ ├── sv.json
│ ├── th.json
│ ├── tr.json
│ ├── uk.json
│ ├── vi.json
│ └── zh.json
├── nodemon.json
├── package-scripts.js
├── package.json
├── proxy.js
├── routes
│ ├── api
│ │ ├── index.js
│ │ └── v1
│ │ └── index.js
│ ├── index.js
│ └── web
│ ├── admin.js
│ ├── auth.js
│ ├── index.js
│ ├── my-account.js
│ └── otp.js
├── template
├── web.js
├── yarn-error.log
└── yarn.lock
42 directories, 212 files
`
Lad is designed according to these principles:
1. Always be developer-friendly
2. Adhere to [MVC][], [Unix][], [KISS][], [DRY][], [YAGNI][], [Twelve Factor][twelve-factor], [Occam's razor][occams-razor], and [dogfooding][]
3. Target the scrappy, bootstrapped, and [ramen-profitable][] hacker
* [lipo][] - Free image manipulation API service built on top of [Sharp][]
* [cabin][] - Logging and analytics solution for [Node.js][node], [Lad][], [Koa][], and [Express][]
* [lass][] - Scaffold a modern boilerplate for [Node.js][node]
Interesting in contributing to this project or testing early releases?
1. Follow all of the above Requirements
2. You will need to fork and clone this repository locally
3. After forking, follow these steps:
`sh`
cd lad
yarn install
cd template
yarn install
yarn start
If you'd like to preview changes to the README.md file, you can use docute.
`sh``
yarn global add docute-cli
cd lad
docute ./
Then visit
| Name | Website |
| ---------------- | -------------------------- |
| Nick Baugh |
| Shaun Warman |
Lad, Lass, Cabin, Lipo, and their respective logos are trademarks of Niftylettuce LLC.
These trademarks may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Niftylettuce LLC.
If you are seeking permission to use these trademarks, then please contact us.
##
[npm]: https://www.npmjs.com/
[yarn]: https://yarnpkg.com/
[lass]: https://lass.js.org
[node]: https://nodejs.org
[kiss]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle
[mvc]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model%E2%80%93view%E2%80%93controller
[yagni]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it
[twelve-factor]: https://12factor.net/
[ramen-profitable]: http://www.paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html
[unix]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
[nvm]: https://github.com/creationix/nvm
[mongodb]: https://www.mongodb.com/
[redis]: https://redis.io/
[github-git]: https://help.github.com/articles/set-up-git/
[git]: https://git-scm.com/
[slack]: https://join.slack.com/t/ladjs/shared_invite/zt-fqei6z11-Bq2trhwHQxVc5x~ifiZG0g/
[brew]: https://brew.sh/
[twitter]: https://twitter.com/niftylettuce
[twitch]: https://www.twitch.tv/niftylettuce
[moon]: https://github.com/kbrsh/moon
[vue]: https://vuejs.org/
[react]: https://facebook.github.io/react/
[angular]: https://angular.io/
[pm2]: http://pm2.keymetrics.io/
[do]: https://m.do.co/c/a7fe489d1b27
[semaphoreci]: https://semaphoreci.com/?ref=lad
[ava]: https://github.com/avajs/ava
[nyc]: https://github.com/istanbuljs/nyc
[mongoose-slack]: http://slack.mongoosejs.io/
[codecov]: https://codecov.io/gh
[nodemailer-base64-to-s3]: https://github.com/ladjs/nodemailer-base64-to-s3
[custom-fonts-in-emails]: https://github.com/ladjs/custom-fonts-in-emails
[font-awesome-assets]: https://github.com/ladjs/font-awesome-assets
[nodemailer]: https://nodemailer.com/
[email-templates]: https://github.com/niftylettuce/node-email-templates
[mustache]: https://github.com/janl/mustache.js/
[dotenv-extended]: https://github.com/niftylettuce/node-dotenv-extended
[dotenv-parse-variables]: https://github.com/niftylettuce/dotenv-parse-variables
[dotenv]: https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv
[koa-better-error-handler]: https://github.com/niftylettuce/koa-better-error-handler
[koa-manifest-rev]: https://github.com/niftylettuce/koa-manifest-rev
[cabin]: http://cabinjs.com
[lad]: https://lad.js.org
[koa]: http://koajs.com/
[mongoose]: http://mongoosejs.com
[ladjs-auth]: https://github.com/ladjs/auth
[csrf-alternative]: https://scotthelme.co.uk/csrf-is-dead/
[csrf-caniuse]: https://caniuse.com/#search=SameSite
[dry]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_repeat_yourself
[lipo]: https://lipo.io
[sharp]: http://sharp.dimens.io/
[express]: https://expressjs.com
[ctx-paginate]: https://github.com/koajs/ctx-paginate
[sweetalert2]: https://limonte.github.io/sweetalert2/
[nps]: https://github.com/kentcdodds/nps
[nps-utils]: https://github.com/kentcdodds/nps-utils
[eslint-plugin-compat]: https://github.com/amilajack/eslint-plugin-compat
[browserslist]: https://github.com/ai/browserslist
[pug]: https://pugjs.org
[gulp]: https://gulpjs.com
[sass]: http://sass-lang.com/
[postcss]: http://postcss.org/
[bootstrap]: https://getbootstrap.com/
[font-awesome]: http://fontawesome.io/
[spinkit]: http://tobiasahlin.com/spinkit/
[dense]: http://dense.rah.pw/
[waypoints]: http://imakewebthings.com/waypoints/
[livereload]: https://github.com/intesso/connect-livereload
[lad-env]: https://github.com/ladjs/env
[font-magician]: https://github.com/jonathantneal/postcss-font-magician
[import-url]: https://github.com/unlight/postcss-import-url
[font-grabber]: https://github.com/AaronJan/postcss-font-grabber
[base64]: https://github.com/jelmerdemaat/postcss-base64
[cssnext]: http://cssnext.io/
[debug]: https://github.com/visionmedia/debug
[ladjs-redis]: https://github.com/ladjs/redis
[show-friendly-error-stack]: https://github.com/luin/ioredis#error-handling
[ioredis]: https://github.com/luin/ioredis
[redis-cluster]: https://redis.io/topics/cluster-tutorial
[redis-sentinel]: https://redis.io/topics/sentinel
[occams-razor]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
[dogfooding]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food
[ladjs/web]: https://github.com/ladjs/web
[ladjs/api]: https://github.com/ladjs/api
[ladjs/proxy]: https://github.com/ladjs/proxy
[breejs/bree]: https://github.com/breejs/bree
[ladjs/passport]: https://github.com/ladjs/passport
[google auth]: https://github.com/ladjs/lad#google-auth
[ladjs/i18n options]: https://github.com/ladjs/i18n#options
[mandarin]: https://github.com/niftylettuce/mandarin
[cabinjs options]: https://github.com/cabinjs/axe#options
[certbot options]: https://certbot.eff.org/docs/using.html#id11
[ansible]: https://github.com/ansible/ansible
[yamllint]: https://github.com/adrienverge/yamllint
[ansible-lint]: https://github.com/ansible/ansible-lint
[digital-ocean]: https://m.do.co/c/2ffb8129b8d6
[linode]: https://www.linode.com/?r=a2840b36770c7020730251a5643428ddbf2e284e
[vultr]: https://www.vultr.com/?ref=7429848
[ecosystem-files]: https://pm2.keymetrics.io/docs/usage/application-declaration/
[@ladjs/env]: https://github.com/ladjs/env
[namecheap]: https://namecheap.com
[letsencrypt]: https://letsencrypt.org/
[ansible-guide]: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/intro_getting_started.html
[bree]: https://jobscheduler.net