ChyDev Node.js Backend Boilerplate

A robust and secure Node.js backend boilerplate engineered by John Layda (ChyDev). This boilerplate provides a solid foundation for building scalable and secure REST APIs with TypeScript, Express, Redis, and more.

Features

• TypeScript: Type-safe development with modern JavaScript features
• Express.js: Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework
• Security Measures:
  • Rate limiting
  • Secure cookies
  • Helmet security headers
  • XSS protection
  • Content Security Policy
  • CORS configuration
• Redis Integration: For caching and distributed rate limiting
• Authentication: Token-based authentication with encrypted payloads
• Request Validation: Using class-validator and class-transformer
• Error Handling: Consistent error responses across the application
• Middleware:
  • Authentication
  • Compression
  • CORS
  • Rate limiting
  • Role-based access control
  • Security headers
  • User agent parsing
• Environment Configuration: Development, production, and example configurations
• API Response Format: Standardized API response format
• Production Ready: Code obfuscation for production builds

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16+)
• npm, yarn, or pnpm
• Redis server (for caching and rate limiting)
• Database of your choice (configurable via DATABASE_URL)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Chysev/chydev-node-boilerplate
   cd chydev-node-boilerplate

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   # or
   yarn install
   # or
   pnpm install

3. Configure environment variables:

   cp .env.example .env.dev
   # Edit .env.dev with your configuration values

Environment Variables

Create a .env.dev file for development and .env for production with the following variables:

PORT=5000               # Application port
VERSION=v1              # API version
BASEROUTE=api           # Base API route

DATABASE_URL=           # Your database connection string
REDIS_URL=              # Redis connection string

ENC_KEY_SECRET=                # Encryption key (32-byte hex string)
CIPHER_KEY_SECRET=             # Cipher key (32-byte hex
string)
API_KEY_SECRET=                # (32-byte hex string)
API_KEY=                       # (JWT Token)

You can generate secure keys using the included utility:

ts-node src/gen/genSecretToken.ts
ts-node src/gen/genApiKey.ts
ts-node src/gen/genApiKeySecret.ts

Project Structure

├── scripts/            # Build and utility scripts
├── src/
│   ├── config/         # Application configuration
│   ├── db/             # Database connections
│   │   └── redis.ts    # Redis connection
│   ├── gen/            # Generators
│   │   └── genSecretToken.ts  # Token generator
│   ├── lib/            # Core libraries
│   │   ├── api.ts      # API response formatter
│   │   ├── bcrypt.ts   # Password hashing
│   │   ├── cache.ts    # Caching utilities
│   │   ├── csrf.ts     # CSRF protection
│   │   ├── error.ts    # Error handling
│   │   └── token.ts    # Token management
│   ├── middleware/     # Express middleware
│   │   ├── auth.ts     # Authentication
│   │   ├── compression.ts  # Response compression
│   │   ├── cors.ts     # CORS configuration
│   │   ├── rateLimiter.ts  # Rate limiting
│   │   ├── roleGuard.ts    # Role-based access control
│   │   ├── securityHeaders.ts  # Security headers
│   │   └── userAgent.ts    # User agent parsing
│   ├── network/        # API implementation
│   │   ├── controllers/    # Request handlers
│   │   ├── routes/         # Route definitions
│   │   └── services/       # Business logic
│   ├── types/          # TypeScript type definitions
│   ├── utils/          # Utility functions
│   ├── validators/     # Input validation
│   ├── index.ts        # Express app setup
│   └── server.ts       # Server entry point
├── .env                # Production environment variables
├── .env.dev           # Development environment variables
└── .env.example       # Example environment variables

Usage

Development

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev
# or
pnpm dev

This starts the development server with hot-reload using ts-node-dev.

Production Build

npm run build:production
# or
yarn build:production
# or
pnpm build:production

This compiles TypeScript to JavaScript, applies aliases, and obfuscates the code for production.

Running in Production

npm run production
# or
yarn production
# or
pnpm production

API Routes

The API routes follow the pattern:

/{BASEROUTE}/{VERSION}/...

For example, with default settings:

/api/v1/sample

Extending the Boilerplate

Adding New Routes

1. Create a new service in src/network/services/
2. Create a new controller in src/network/controllers/
3. Register your new route in src/network/index.ts

Database Integration

The boilerplate is database-agnostic. Configure your preferred database client using the DATABASE_URL environment variable.

Security Features

Rate Limiting

Rate limiting is configured in src/middleware/rateLimiter.ts. In production, it uses Redis for distributed rate limiting across multiple server instances.

Security Headers

Comprehensive security headers are set using Helmet and custom configurations in src/middleware/securityHeaders.ts.

License

MIT

Author

John Layda (ChyDev)