🚀 Backend Template (JavaScript + Express + Mongoose)

A clean and modern backend starter using JavaScript, Express, and Mongoose, designed to help you build scalable Node.js APIs fast.

🚀 Usage & ⚙️ Setup

use to initialed project

npx create-be-boilerplate my-app

1️⃣ Install dependencies

cd my-app

npm install

2️⃣ Update .env and configs file

1. Create your environment file

• Copy the example file and rename it:

cp .env.example .env

2. Update your app.js configuration

• If your app.js currently loads:

dotenv.config({ path: ".env" });

• Replace it with one of these options:

Option A — Load the .env file explicitly

dotenv.config({ path: ".env" });

Option B — Let dotenv load .env automatically (recommended)

dotenv.config();

Your application will now read all environment variables from the newly created .env file.

3️⃣ Run in development

npm run dev

🧠 Example Endpoints

| Method | Endpoint | Description | |---------|-------------|-------------| | GET | / | Health check | | POST | api/auth/register | To create new user | | GET | api/users | Get all users|

🧩 Features

• ⚙️ JavaScript-based structure
• 🧱 Express with modular architecture
• 📦 Mongoose ORM for MongoDB
• 🔐 Ready for authentication with refresh token and access token feature (JWT + bcrypt)
• 🧰 Built-in utilities for response formatting and error handling
• 🌱 Pre-configured environment setup

📁 Folder Structure

├── 📁 template (my-app folder)
│   ├── 📁 public
│   │   └── 📁 images
│   │       └── 🖼️ test.png
│   ├── 📁 src
│   │   ├── 📁 config                   # DB and environment setup (db.js, api config, dotenv)
│   │   │   ├── 📄 api.js               # API configuration / constants
│   │   │   └── 📄 db.js                # Database connection logic (Mongoose)
│   │   ├── 📁 constants                # Static constants, enums, fixed values
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.js              # User-related constant values
│   │   ├── 📁 controllers              # Business logic controllers
│   │   │   ├── 📄 auth.controller.js   # Auth logic (register, login, refresh, logout)
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.controller.js   # User CRUD and profile handlers
│   │   ├── 📁 middlewares              # Custom middleware functions
│   │   │   ├── 📄 auth.js              # Auth verification middleware
│   │   │   ├── 📄 authorizeRoles.js    # RBAC: role-based access control
│   │   │   ├── 📄 errorHandler.js      # Global error handler middleware
│   │   │   ├── 📄 fileRestoreUpload.js # Restore uploaded file if failure occurs
│   │   │   ├── 📄 imageUpload.js       # Image upload helper (multer / sharp)
│   │   │   └── 📄 validate.js          # Request validation handler
│   │   ├── 📁 models                   # Mongoose schemas and models
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.model.js        # User schema definition
│   │   ├── 📁 routes                   # API route definitions
│   │   │   ├── 📄 auth.routes.js       # Auth API routes
│   │   │   ├── 📄 health.routes.js     # Server health check route
│   │   │   └── 📄 index.js             # Route aggregator
│   │   ├── 📁 services                 # Database access & domain logic
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.service.js      # User model service (DB queries)
│   │   ├── 📁 utils                    # Helper utilities & shared logic
│   │   │   ├── 📄 appError.js          # Custom error constructor
│   │   │   ├── 📄 cookies.js           # Cookie utilities
│   │   │   ├── 📄 cryptoHelper.js      # Encryption / random utilities
│   │   │   ├── 📄 hash.js              # Password hashing / comparing
│   │   │   ├── 📄 helper.js            # General-purpose helper functions
│   │   │   ├── 📄 httpStatus.js        # Status code + messages map
│   │   │   ├── 📄 jwt.js               # JWT generation + verification utils
│   │   │   ├── 📄 mongoErrorFormatter.js # MongoDB error beautifier
│   │   │   ├── 📄 response.js          # Standard API response builder
│   │   │   └── 📄 sendEmail.js         # Email sender wrapper (nodemailer)
│   │   ├── 📁 validations              # Payload / schema validators
│   │   │   ├── 📄 common.validation.js # Common reusable validation schemas
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.validation.js   # User input validations
│   │   ├── 📄 app.js                   # Express app setup (middleware, routes)
│   │   └── 📄 server.js                # App entry point (starts the server)
│   ├── ⚙️ .env.example                 # Example environment template
│   ├── ⚙️ .gitignore                  # Files ignored by Git
│   ├── ⚙️ .prettierrc                 # Prettier formatting rules
│   ├── 📝 README.md                   # Documentation for the boilerplate
│   ├── 📄 eslint.config.js            # ESLint configuration
│   ├── ⚙️ package.json                # Project dependencies & scripts
│   └── ⚙️ vercel.json                 # Vercel deployment config

🧰 Tech Stack

• Node.js + Express

• JavaScript

• MongoDB + Mongoose

• Helmet, CORS, Morgan

• Dotenv for config management