cea-lite ⚡️

Create Express App — a lightweight CLI tool to scaffold a clean, organized Express.js project structure with ease.

Similar to create-react-app, but for Express.js.

📦 Installation

Install globally via npm:

npm install -g cea-lite

Or use directly with npx without installing:

npx cea-lite init my-app

Usage

Initialize a new Express project

cea-lite init <project-name> [options]

Arguments

• <project-name> – The name of your Express app (required).

Options

• -D, --target-dir <path> – Directory path where the project will be created. Default: current directory (.).
• -W, --with-folders – Scaffold a basic folder structure inside src/.
• -T, --template <name> – Choose a project template to use (default: starter).

Templates Support

The CLI now supports multiple project templates hosted remotely.

List available templates

To see which templates are available, run:

cea list

This command fetches and displays all remote templates you can choose from.

Use a specific template

To initialize your project with a specific template, use the --template option:

cea init my-app -T starter

If no template is specified, the default starter template will be used.

Example

cea init my-api -W -D ./projects -T starter

This will create the project at ./projects/my-api with the following folder structure:

my-api/
├── src/
│   ├── config/
│   ├── constants/
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── helpers/
│   ├── interfaces/
│   ├── middlewares/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── services/
│   └── utils/
├── package.json
├── .env
└── ...

🛠 Folder Structure (when using --with-folders)

• config/ – Configuration files (e.g., database, environment)
• constants/ – App-wide constants
• controllers/ – Request handlers and business logic
• helpers/ – Utility helper functions
• interfaces/ – TypeScript interfaces and types
• middlewares/ – Express middleware functions
• models/ – Data models and schemas
• routes/ – Express route definitions
• services/ – Reusable service logic
• utils/ – General utility functions

Development

To contribute or run locally:

git clone https://github.com/Oussema39/cea-cli.git
cd cea-cli
npm install
npm run build
npm link  # Link the CLI globally on your machine

You can now run:

cea-lite init test-app

License

ISC

Resources

• GitHub Repository
• Report Issues
• npm Package

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