create-express-backend-kit

Scaffold a production-ready Express.js backend in one command: all folders, all starter files, and all required backend libraries installed for you.

npx create-express-backend-kit my-api

That's it - you get a running Express API with security, validation, rate limiting, JWT auth, tests, and linting already wired up.

What you get

Folders & files created:

my-api/
├── src/
│   ├── config/env.js               # centralized env loading & validation
│   ├── config/db.js                # MySQL connection (mysql2 createConnection)
│   ├── controllers/auth.controller.js
│   ├── middleware/                 # auth (JWT), validate, rateLimiter, errorHandler
│   ├── models/userStore.js         # in-memory store, easy DB swap
│   ├── routes/                     # index + auth routes
│   ├── utils/                      # logger, ApiError, asyncHandler, jwt, password
│   ├── app.js                      # express app
│   └── server.js                   # http server + graceful shutdown
├── tests/auth.test.js              # ready-to-run auth flow tests
├── .env / .env.example             # with a generated JWT secret
├── eslint.config.js / .prettierrc.json / nodemon.json / .gitignore
└── package.json + README.md

Libraries installed automatically:

| Category | Packages | | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Core | express | | Database | mysql2 (createConnection, lazy connect, graceful close) | | Security | helmet, cors, express-rate-limit | | Auth | jsonwebtoken, bcryptjs | | Utilities | morgan, dotenv, express-validator, compression | | Dev | nodemon, eslint, prettier, cross-env |

Batteries included:

• Health check at GET /health
• Register / Login / Me endpoints with JWT auth
• Request validation (express-validator) and central JSON error handler
• Rate limiting (global + stricter on auth routes)
• Security headers (helmet), CORS whitelist via env var, gzip compression
• Structured JSON logging with levels
• MySQL connection ready out of the box (src/config/db.js, query() helper)
• Graceful shutdown (SIGINT/SIGTERM) that also closes the DB connection
• Working tests (node:test) - no test framework config needed

Usage

# Interactive (asks project name / description / author)
npx create-express-backend-kit

# Non-interactive
npx create-express-backend-kit my-api --yes

# Options
npx create-express-backend-kit my-api --yes --git        # also init git repo
npx create-express-backend-kit my-api --yes --no-install # skip npm install

Then:

cd my-api
npm run dev

CLI options

| Flag | Description | | -------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | -y, --yes | Skip prompts, use defaults | | --no-install | Don't run npm install after scaffolding | | --git | Initialize a git repository in the project | | -h, --help | Show help | | -v, --version| Show version |

API endpoints included

| Method | Endpoint | Auth | Description | | ------ | -------------------- | ---- | --------------------- | | GET | /health | - | Health check | | POST | /api/auth/register | - | Register, returns JWT | | POST | /api/auth/login | - | Login, returns JWT | | GET | /api/auth/me | JWT | Current user profile |

Try it:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"Ada","email":"[email protected]","password":"supersecret1"}'

Requirements

• Node.js >= 16
• npm

License

MIT