🚀 create-express-api-cli

A powerful, plug-and-play CLI tool to scaffold a modern Express.js API with everything you need — from database setup to authentication, TypeORM, logging, environment configs, Docker, and even PM2 + Jenkins deployment.

✨ Features

✅ Choose between TypeScript and JavaScript
✅ Clean, scalable folder structure
✅ Database integration via TypeORM
✅ Built-in JWT authentication and password hashing
✅ Environment-based configs using .env
✅ Centralized error handling
✅ Winston logging + HTTP request logs
✅ Docker-ready (Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml)
✅ Optional Jenkinsfile for PM2-based deployment
✅ Multi-package manager support: pnpm, npm, or yarn
✅ Pre-configured with nodemon (JS) or ts-node (TS)
✅ Easily extensible and production-ready

📦 Requirements

• Node.js >= 18
• One of: pnpm, npm, or yarn
• (Optional) Docker + PostgreSQL
• (Optional) Jenkins + PM2 (for deployment)

🚀 Quick Start

Using pnpm

pnpm dlx create-express-api-cli my-api --ts

Using npm

npx create-express-api-cli my-api --ts

Using yarn

yarn create express-api-cli my-api --ts

To use JavaScript instead of TypeScript:

npx create-express-api-cli my-api --js

To include Docker and Jenkins support:

npx create-express-api-cli my-api --ts --docker

🔧 CLI Options

| Option | Description | Default | | ---------- | ------------------------------ | ------- | | --ts | Scaffold a TypeScript API | false | | --js | Scaffold a JavaScript API | false | | --docker | Include Docker + Jenkins setup | false |

🗂 Project Structure

my-api/
├── src/
│   ├── config/           # Database configs (TypeORM)
│   ├── controllers/      # Route handlers (login/register)
│   ├── services/         # Business logic (AuthService)
│   ├── middlewares/      # Error + auth middleware
│   ├── routes/           # Express routers
│   ├── utils/            # Logger, helpers
│   ├── entities/         # TypeORM entity definitions
│   └── index.(ts|js)     # App entry point
├── .env
├── ormconfig.(ts|js)
├── package.json
├── docker-compose.yml   # (if --docker)
├── Dockerfile           # (if --docker)
├── Jenkinsfile          # (if --docker)
├── README.md

📥 Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory:

PORT=5000
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=5432
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=password
DB_NAME=mydb
JWT_SECRET=supersecret

🧪 Scripts

For both TypeScript and JavaScript projects:

# Run in development mode
pnpm dev

# Build (TypeScript only)
pnpm build

# Start built app (TS) or direct (JS)
pnpm start

# Format code
pnpm format

# Lint code
pnpm lint

✅ Works the same with npm run or yarn.

🐳 Docker & Compose (Optional)

If you used --docker, your app comes with:

• Dockerfile to build your API
• docker-compose.yml to run with PostgreSQL
• Jenkinsfile for pipeline deployment via PM2

Run with Docker locally:

docker-compose up --build

⚙️ Jenkins + PM2 Deployment

When you use --docker, a Jenkinsfile is included with:

pm2 delete my-api || true
pm2 start dist/index.js --name my-api
pm2 save

Prerequisites:

• Jenkins installed on deployment server
• PM2 installed globally (npm install -g pm2)
• Your .env variables set in Jenkins or on server

📚 Roadmap

• [x] TypeScript & JavaScript support
• [x] Docker + PostgreSQL + Jenkinsfile
• [x] pnpm/yarn/npm auto detection
• [ ] MongoDB (Mongoose) setup
• [ ] Swagger auto-docs
• [ ] CLI prompt (if no flags)
• [ ] Frontend pairing (Next.js, React)
• [ ] Role-based auth scaffolds
• [ ] Swagger GUI + Postman collection auto-export

🤝 Contributing

PRs are welcome!

git clone https://github.com/kamau-n/create-express-api-cli.git
cd create-express-api-cli
pnpm install

pnpm link

# Then test CLI locally
create-express-api-cli test-app --ts --docker

🪪 License

MIT © 2025 [Kamau Harrison]