arcaptcha-fastify-template

A CLI tool to quickly scaffold a Node.js Fastify backend project with ESLint and Prettier configured out of the box.

Overview

This project provides a template generator that can be used globally via npx:

npx arcaptcha-fastify-template my-app

It will create a ready-to-run backend project using:

• Fastify
• ESLint (flat config) for consistent linting
• Prettier for code formatting
• Predefined folder structure (src/, routes/, etc.)

How This Template Was Created

1. Initialized a Node project

   mkdir arcaptcha-fastify-template
   cd arcaptcha-fastify-template
   npm init -y

2. Created folders

   bin/
   template/

3. Added a CLI entry point

   The root package.json includes:

   {
     "bin": {
       "arcaptcha-fastify-template": "bin/index.js"
     },
     "files": ["bin", "template"]
   }

4. Created the CLI logic (bin/index.js)

   This script:

   • Takes a project name (e.g. my-app)
   • Copies everything from the template/ folder
   • Installs dependencies
   • Prints the next steps for the user

#!/usr/bin/env node
import fs from "fs";
import path from "path";
import { execSync } from "child_process";
import { fileURLToPath } from "url";

const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);

const targetDir = process.argv[2];
if (!targetDir) {
    console.error("❌ Please provide a project name");
    process.exit(1);
}

const destPath = path.join(process.cwd(), targetDir);
const templatePath = path.join(__dirname, "../template");

if (fs.existsSync(destPath)) {
    console.error("❌ Directory already exists.");
    process.exit(1);
}

fs.cpSync(templatePath, destPath, { recursive: true });

console.log("✅ Project files copied.");
console.log("📦 Installing dependencies...");

execSync("npm install", { cwd: destPath, stdio: "inherit" });

console.log("\n🎉 All done!");
console.log(`➡️  cd ${targetDir}`);
console.log("➡️  npm run dev");

Template Structure

All template files live under template/. These files are copied into the new project when the CLI runs.

template/
├── src/
│   ├── server.js
│   └── routes/
│       └── index.js
├── eslint.config.js
├── .prettierrc
├── .prettierignore
└── package.json

Highlights:

• src/server.js: Minimal Fastify server setup.
• eslint.config.js: Flat ESLint config for Node.js environment.
• .prettierrc & .prettierignore: Code formatting rules.
• package.json: Includes Fastify, scripts (npm run dev, npm run lint, etc.).

Development and Publishing

1. Test Locally

node bin/index.js demo-app
cd demo-app
npm run dev

2. Create a tarball (for inspection)

npm pack

3. Publish to npm

npm publish --access public

4. Verify

npm info arcaptcha-fastify-template

5. Test the generated project

npx arcaptcha-fastify-template my-new-api

Check that .prettierrc and .prettierignore exist in the new project.

Updating the Template

1. Make changes inside template/

2. Bump version:

   • Patch: npm version patch
   • Minor: npm version minor
   • Major: npm version major

3. Publish again: npm publish --access public

4. Verify: npm info arcaptcha-fastify-template

Local Development Shortcut

npm link
arcaptcha-fastify-template test-app
npm unlink -g arcaptcha-fastify-template

Commands Summary

| Command | Description | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | npx arcaptcha-fastify-template my-app | Scaffold a new Fastify backend project | | npm run dev | Start the development server | | npm run lint | Run ESLint | | npm run format | Format files with Prettier |

License

MIT © 2025 — Melika Bagheri