Launch your SaaS product faster. Everything you need is built in.

[!TIP] Perfect for SaaS teams, startups, and developers tired of reinventing the same setup. Skip weeks of boilerplate, onboard new developers in hours, and ship features on day one. build-elevate has you covered.

You're launching tomorrow. Your backend isn't designed. Your auth isn't configured. Your database isn't connected. And you have 3 other things to do.

build-elevate is a production-ready monorepo starter that bundles everything you need — authentication, database, email templates, UI components, rate limiting, and deployment configs — into a single, cohesive foundation.

Built with Turborepo, Next.js 16, Express, Better Auth, Prisma, and shadcn/ui, it's designed for teams that want to focus on their product, not boilerplate. Launch in days. Deploy with confidence.

🎯 Who is this for?

📋 What's Included

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ (download)
• pnpm 10.32+ (recommended) or npm/bun
• For Docker: Docker Desktop

1. Install Prerequisites

You'll need Node.js 20+ and pnpm (or npm/bun):

# Check Node.js
node --version  # Should be v20+

# Install pnpm (recommended)
npm install -g pnpm@latest

2. Create Your Project

The fastest way to get started:

pnpm dlx build-elevate@latest init my-project

This interactive CLI will:

• Ask for your project name
• Help you choose a package manager
• Optionally include Docker
• Optionally include Prisma Studio
• Scaffold everything and install dependencies

3. Start Building

cd my-project
pnpm dev

Your full stack is now running:

• Web Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• REST API: http://localhost:4000
• Email Preview: http://localhost:3002
• Database UI: http://localhost:5555

That's it. No more setup. Start building features.

🏗️ Project Structure

build-elevate/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/              # Next.js frontend application
│   ├── api/              # Express REST API server
│   ├── email/            # React Email template development
│   ├── studio/           # Prisma Studio (database UI)
│   └── docs/             # Fumadocs documentation site
├── packages/
│   ├── auth/             # Better Auth integration & session management
│   ├── db/               # Prisma ORM & database client
│   ├── ui/               # React component library (shadcn/ui)
│   ├── email/            # Email template library with Resend
│   ├── utils/            # Shared utilities & TypeScript types
│   ├── rate-limit/       # API rate limiting with Upstash Redis
│   ├── eslint-config/    # Unified ESLint configuration
│   ├── prettier-config/  # Code formatting configuration
│   ├── typescript-config/# Shared TypeScript compiler options
│   └── jest-presets/     # Testing presets for Node.js & React
├── package.json          # Root package configuration
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml   # Monorepo workspace configuration
├── turbo.json            # Turborepo pipeline configuration
└── docker-compose.yml    # Local development database (PostgreSQL)

📦 Applications

| Application | Port | Description | | ----------- | ---- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Web | 3000 | Next.js frontend with authentication and dashboard | | API | 4000 | Express REST API with middleware and endpoints | | Email | 3002 | React Email template preview and development | | Studio | 5555 | Prisma Studio for database management |

📚 Packages

Application Packages

• @workspace/auth - Better Auth integration, session management, and OAuth flows
• @workspace/db - Prisma ORM, database schema, and PostgreSQL client
• @workspace/ui - React component library built with shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS
• @workspace/email - Email templates using React Email and Resend integration
• @workspace/utils - Shared utility functions and type definitions
• @workspace/rate-limit - API rate limiting with Upstash Redis

Configuration Packages

• @workspace/eslint-config - Unified ESLint rules and linting setup
• @workspace/prettier-config - Consistent code formatting configuration
• @workspace/typescript-config - Shared TypeScript compiler options
• @workspace/jest-presets - Testing configuration for Node.js and React

🛠️ Technology Stack

| Layer | Technology | Purpose | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- | | Build System | Turborepo | High-performance monorepo orchestration | | Frontend | Next.js 16 | React framework with App Router and Turbopack | | Backend | Express | Lightweight, unopinionated web framework | | Database | Prisma + PostgreSQL | Modern ORM and relational database | | Authentication | Better Auth | Session-based auth with OAuth support | | UI Components | shadcn/ui | Accessible component library | | Styling | Tailwind CSS | Utility-first CSS framework | | Email | React Email + Resend | Email template development & delivery | | Rate Limiting | Upstash Redis | Serverless Redis for rate limiting | | Testing | Jest | JavaScript testing framework | | Linting | ESLint | JavaScript linting and code quality | | Formatting | Prettier | Code formatter | | Language | TypeScript | JavaScript with static typing | | Containerization | Docker | Container-based deployment |

🚀 Development

Running All Applications

Start all services in development mode with hot reload:

pnpm dev

Running Individual Applications

# Start only the web app
pnpm dev --filter=web

# Start only the API
pnpm dev --filter=api

# Start a specific package
pnpm dev --filter=@workspace/auth

Common Commands

# Build all applications and packages
pnpm build

# Check TypeScript types across the monorepo
pnpm check-types

# Run linting
pnpm lint

# Fix linting issues
pnpm lint:fix

# Format code with Prettier
pnpm format

# Run tests
pnpm test

# Clean build artifacts and node_modules
pnpm clean

Database

# Generate Prisma client (required after schema changes)
pnpm db:generate

# Create a new migration
pnpm db:migrate

# Reset the database (⚠️ deletes all data)
pnpm db:reset

# Open Prisma Studio UI
pnpm studio

Environment Variables

Each application requires environment variables. Copy the example files and update them:

cp apps/web/.env.example apps/web/.env.local
cp apps/api/.env.example apps/api/.env.local
cp packages/db/.env.example packages/db/.env

See Environment Variables Documentation for a complete reference.

🐳 Docker

Local Development

Using Docker Compose for PostgreSQL:

docker-compose up -d

This starts a PostgreSQL database at postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/build-elevate-app.

Production Deployment

Build and run services as containers:

docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up --build

Services include:

• Web (Next.js) on port 3000
• API (Express) on port 4000
• PostgreSQL on port 5432
• Health checks and restart policies configured

See Docker Documentation for more details.

📖 Documentation

Visit https://build-elevate.vercel.app/docs to view the documentation.

🚢 Deployment

Vercel

Deploy the Next.js frontend to Vercel with one click:

See Vercel Deployment Guide for detailed instructions.

Other Platforms

The modular structure makes it easy to deploy to any platform:

• Web (Next.js): Vercel, Netlify, Railway, Heroku
• API (Express): Railway, Heroku, AWS, DigitalOcean
• Database (PostgreSQL): AWS RDS, Heroku Postgres, Railway, Neon

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

build-elevate is built on top of amazing open-source projects:

• Turborepo - Monorepo build system
• Next.js - React framework
• Express - Web framework
• Better Auth - Authentication
• Prisma - ORM
• shadcn/ui - Component library
• React Email - Email templates
• Turbopack - Rust-based bundler