create-backend

A small CLI I use to spin up new Node.js backends without copy-pasting the same boilerplate every time. Run one command, get a working Express + MongoDB + Socket.io API with the folder structure, middlewares and auth already in place.

Since I only use it for backends, the generated folder gets a -backend suffix by default (my-api becomes my-api-backend). Use --no-suffix if you don't want that.

Stack: Node.js (ESM), Express, Mongoose, Socket.io, JWT, Zod.

Usage

Three ways to run it depending on whether it's published / installed:

# via npx (once published, nothing to install)
npx @iesparag/create-backend my-api

# installed globally (or `npm link` from source)
npm i -g @iesparag/create-backend
create-backend my-api

# straight from source, no install
node bin/create.js my-api

All of them create ./my-api-backend. Then:

cd my-api-backend
cp .env.example .env      # set MONGODB_URI and JWT_SECRET
npm install
npm run dev               # http://localhost:5000

Flags: --no-suffix, -h/--help, -v/--version. If you don't pass a name it asks for one.

Publishing

Published under a scoped name (@iesparag/create-backend) since the plain create-backend was already taken on the registry. Scoped packages are private by default, so the first publish needs --access public:

npm login
npm pack --dry-run     # sanity check what gets shipped
npm publish --access public

To test the "no global install" path without publishing: npm pack, then in some other project npm i ./create-backend-1.0.0.tgz.

What the generated project looks like

src/
├── config/            env validation (zod) + mongoose connection
├── controllers/       request/response only, no business logic
├── services/          business logic
├── models/            mongoose schemas (User with auth built in)
├── routes/            /api/v1 routes + an aggregator
├── middlewares/       error, 404, auth + authorize, validate, rate limit
├── validations/       zod schemas per resource
├── sockets/           socket.io server + example handlers
├── utils/             ApiError, ApiResponse, asyncHandler, logger
├── app.js             express app + middleware pipeline
└── server.js          http + socket + db connect + graceful shutdown

It ships with working User register/login/me endpoints and a small Socket.io demo (ping with ack, join room, broadcast). To add a new feature I just follow the same four files: model, service, controller, route, then mount it in routes/index.js.

Notes

• bin/create.js is the generator. No dependencies, just Node built-ins.
• template/ is what gets copied. The gitignore lives there as gitignore (without the dot) because npm strips dotfiles on publish; the generator writes it back out as .gitignore when scaffolding.
• Other starter kits can live next to this one under starter-kits/.