create-betternest-app

Interactive CLI that scaffolds a BetterNest Boilerplate monorepo (Next.js 16 + NestJS + Better Auth) with the same-origin auth proxy that makes CORS, session cookies, and trustedOrigins non-issues.

npx create-betternest-app my-app

What you get

• Next.js 16 frontend with Tailwind CSS v4, shadcn/ui components
• NestJS 11 backend with Express 5
• Better Auth — email/password + Google + GitHub OAuth, email verification, password reset, session management
• 6 database combos — PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite with Prisma OR Drizzle
• Zero CORS — same-origin proxy via Next.js rewrites, no cross-site cookies
• Trusted origins dynamic — Vercel preview deployments work out of the box
• Health endpoints — /api/health (no DB) and /api/health/db (ping)
• Rate limiting — built-in on auth endpoints (sign-in, sign-up, password reset). Per-endpoint buckets, configurable via RATE_LIMIT_MAX / RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW, hot-reload (no restart), optional Redis for multi-instance
• Monorepo — Turborepo, pnpm workspaces, shared packages (@repo/ui, @repo/auth, @repo/db, @repo/email)

Usage

# Interactive
npx create-betternest-app my-app

# Scripted — pick a database and auth providers
npx create-betternest-app my-app --db=prisma-sqlite --yes

# All flags
npx create-betternest-app my-app \
  --db=prisma-postgresql \
  --auth=email-password,google,github \
  --pm=pnpm \
  --yes

Flags

| Flag | Values | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | [project-name] | valid npm/folder name | prompted | Positional | | --db | prisma-postgresql, prisma-mysql, prisma-sqlite, drizzle-postgresql, drizzle-mysql, drizzle-sqlite | prompted (default: SQLite) | ORM-engine combo | | --auth | email-password,google,github (CSV) | all three | Auth providers | | --pm | pnpm, npm, yarn, bun | pnpm | Package manager | | --no-install | — | runs install | Skip dependency install | | --no-git | — | runs git init | Skip git init | | -y, --yes | — | interactive | Skip prompts | | -h, --help | — | — | Show help |

Database combos

| ID | Engine | ORM | Docker needed | |---|---|---|---| | prisma-postgresql | PostgreSQL | Prisma v7 | yes | | prisma-mysql | MySQL | Prisma v7 | yes | | prisma-sqlite | SQLite | Prisma v7 | no | | drizzle-postgresql | PostgreSQL | Drizzle | yes | | drizzle-mysql | MySQL | Drizzle | yes | | drizzle-sqlite | SQLite | Drizzle | no |

After scaffolding

cd my-app
cp .env.example .env          # single .env at project root
# Generate a secret: openssl rand -base64 32
# Paste into BETTER_AUTH_SECRET in .env

pnpm install
docker compose up -d           # skip for SQLite
pnpm db:push                   # push schema to database
pnpm dev                       # start API (4000) + Web (3000)

Deployment

The generated project includes everything needed to deploy apps/web on Vercel and apps/api on any host — platform-managed or your own VPS. The same-origin proxy works identically everywhere.

Frontend — Vercel

1. Push your project to GitHub.
2. Dashboard: Add New → Project → Import your repo.
3. Set Root Directory = apps/web. Framework auto-detected.
4. vercel.json sets the correct build command automatically.
5. Add env var: API_URL = your backend URL (e.g. https://api.railway.app).
6. Deploy → copy the production Vercel URL → set WEB_URL on your backend → redeploy.

Backend — Railway / Fly.io / Render

A multi-stage Dockerfile is included (apps/api/Dockerfile) with turbo prune for minimal image size. Platform configs are ready:

| Host | Config file | Notes | |---|---|---| | Railway | railway.json | Auto-detected. Add Postgres via the dashboard. | | Fly.io | fly.toml | Run fly launch. Attach Postgres via fly postgres create. | | Render | render.yaml | Blueprint — provisions API + managed Postgres automatically. |

Backend — VPS (Docker Compose)

Deploy anywhere with Docker Compose. Add this to your existing docker-compose.yml or create a docker-compose.prod.yml:

# docker-compose.prod.yml
services:
  api:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: apps/api/Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "4000:4000"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL}
      BETTER_AUTH_SECRET: ${BETTER_AUTH_SECRET}
      WEB_URL: ${WEB_URL}
      PORT: "4000"
    restart: unless-stopped

  # If you need a database on the VPS:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: app
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_DB: app
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  pgdata:

On the VPS:

# Clone your repo
git clone https://github.com/you/project.git && cd project

# Set environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with real values

# Build and start
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build

For production, add a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, or Traefik) in front of the API container to handle TLS termination. The health endpoint at /api/health can be used for uptime monitoring.

Production checklist

See the generated DEPLOYMENT.md for the full 11-section guide covering: environment variables, OAuth callback URLs, circular dependency wiring (WEB_URL → API_URL → WEB_URL), preview deployments, and a post-deployment checklist.

VPS with Ansible (automated)

For teams deploying to multiple VPS instances, an Ansible playbook skeleton:

# deploy.yml
- hosts: production
  vars:
    project_dir: /opt/my-app
    repo_url: [email protected]:<your-username>/<your-repo>.git  # ← your project repo, not the boilerplate
  tasks:
    - name: Clone repo
      git:
        repo: "{{ repo_url }}"
        dest: "{{ project_dir }}"
        version: main

    - name: Set up .env
      template:
        src: .env.j2
        dest: "{{ project_dir }}/.env"

    - name: Build and start services
      community.docker.docker_compose_v2:
        project_src: "{{ project_dir }}"
        files:
          - docker-compose.prod.yml
        build: always
        state: present

For zero-downtime deploys, add a second container behind a load balancer and rotate via Docker Compose profiles or use docker compose up -d --scale api=2.

Local development

pnpm install
cp .env.example .env
# Set BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, OAuth keys, email config
docker compose up -d   # only for PostgreSQL/MySQL
pnpm db:push
pnpm dev               # API on :4000, Web on :3000

The Next.js dev server proxies /api/* to the NestJS backend automatically. There is no CORS in your browser — the proxy makes everything same-origin.