backend-scaffold-cli

A CLI tool to quickly scaffold Express.js backend projects with MongoDB, middleware, and common setup. It automatically generates production-ready projects with JWT authentication, error handling, request logging, input validation, DNS configuration, and pre-configured MongoDB Atlas connection. Every project has different requirements, so this tool provides a solid, common foundation that developers can easily modify, extend, or trim according to their specific needs.

Features

✨ Quick Setup

• Complete folder structure
• Pre-configured Express server
• MongoDB Atlas connection (cloud-based)
• Environment variables template
• DNS configuration

🔐 Security

• JWT authentication middleware
• Password hashing with bcryptjs
• Error handling middleware
• CORS configuration
• Rate limiting (optional)

📝 Developer Experience

• Logging middleware
• Input validation (optional)
• File upload support with multer (optional)
• Axios utility for external API calls (optional)
• Sample routes and User model
• Git initialization
• Auto dependency installation

Installation

Using npx (Recommended)

npx backend-scaffold-cli my-app
cd my-app
npm start

Global Installation

npm install -g backend-scaffold-cli
create-express-backend my-app

Tip: Always use @latest to ensure you get the newest version with all features and bug fixes.

Usage

npx backend-scaffold-cli@latest <project-name>

You'll be prompted to select features:

• ✅ Include JWT authentication (adds bcryptjs + User model)
• ✅ Include input validation
• ✅ Include rate limiting
• ✅ Include file upload support (multer)
• ✅ Include axios (for external API calls)
• ✅ Install dependencies

After setup, copy .env.example to .env, configure your MongoDB URI, then run:

npm start

Test it's working:

curl http://localhost:5000/api/health

Project Structure

my-app/
├── src/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── errorHandler.js
│   │   ├── logger.js
│   │   ├── auth.js
│   │   ├── validation.js
│   │   ├── rateLimiter.js
│   │   └── upload.js
│   ├── routes/
│   │   └── index.js
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── User.js
│   ├── utils/
│   │   └── axiosUtil.js
│   ├── validation/
│   └── server.js
├── uploads/
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
└── package.json

Environment Variables

# Server Configuration
PORT=5000
NODE_ENV=development

# MongoDB Configuration
MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:[email protected]/dbname
DB_NAME=myapp

# DNS Configuration
DNS_SERVERS=8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4

# JWT Configuration
JWT_SECRET=your-secret-key-change-this-in-production
JWT_EXPIRE=7d

# CORS
CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3000

License

MIT

Repository

https://github.com/abhi-0605/express-backend