Dex - Fast Express Backend Scaffolding CLI

Features

Instant Project Setup

• Interactive CLI prompts for project configuration
• Choose between JavaScript or TypeScript
• Optional MongoDB with Mongoose integration
• Support for npm, pnpm, yarn, and bun package managers

Smart Configuration

• Pre-configured Express server with best practices
• CORS and body parsing middleware included
• Environment variable management with .env files
• Dynamic MongoDB connection strings based on project name

Production-Ready Structure

• Clean, organized project structure
• Separate database configuration files
• Ready-to-use server entry point
• Proper .gitignore configuration

Developer Experience

• Fast development server with nodemon (like Vite for backend!)
• TypeScript support with proper configuration
• Automatic dependency installation
• Clear next-steps instructions after setup

Not a Framework

Dex is a scaffolding tool, not a framework. It generates a clean Express.js project with sensible defaults, giving you full control over your code without any lock-in or abstraction layers.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun (your choice!)

Quick Start

npm create express-dex

or

npx create-express-dex

That's it! The CLI will guide you through the setup process.

Usage

When you run npm create express-dex, you'll be prompted with the following questions:

1. Project Name: Enter your project name (default: my-dex-project)
2. Language: Choose between JavaScript or TypeScript
3. Package Manager: Select npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun
4. MongoDB: Choose whether to include MongoDB with Mongoose

Example Session

$ npm create express-dex

Welcome to Dex!

██████╗ ███████╗██╗  ██╗
██╔══██╗██╔════╝╚██╗██╔╝
██║  ██║█████╗   ╚███╔╝
██║  ██║██╔══╝   ██╔██╗
██████╔╝███████╗██╔╝ ██╗
╚═════╝ ╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝

? What is the name of your project? : my-awesome-api
? Which language do you want to use? TypeScript
? Which package manager do you want to use? npm
? Do you want to use MongoDB with Mongoose? Yes

Scaffolding project in /path/to/my-awesome-api...
Setting up MongoDB...
Installing dependencies...

Success! Created my-awesome-api at /path/to/my-awesome-api

Inside that directory, you can run:

  npm run dev
    Starts the development server.

We suggest that you begin by typing:

  cd my-awesome-api
  npm run dev

Generated Project Structure

JavaScript Project

my-project/
├── src/
│   ├── db/              # MongoDB connection (if selected)
│   │   └── index.js
│   └── server.js        # Express server entry point
├── .env                 # Environment variables
├── .gitignore
├── package.json

TypeScript Project

my-project/
├── src/
│   ├── db/              # MongoDB connection (if selected)
│   │   └── index.ts
│   └── server.ts        # Express server entry point
├── .env                 # Environment variables
├── .gitignore
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Environment Variables

Dex automatically generates a .env file with the following variables:

Without MongoDB

PORT=5000
CORS_ORIGIN=*

With MongoDB

PORT=5000
CORS_ORIGIN=*
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/my-project

Package Manager Support

Dex supports all major package managers:

| Package Manager | Installation Command | Run Dev Server | | --------------- | -------------------- | -------------- | | npm | npm install | npm run dev | | pnpm | pnpm install | pnpm run dev | | yarn | yarn | yarn run dev | | bun | bun install | bun run dev |

The CLI will automatically use your selected package manager for installation and display the correct commands in the success message.

Project Structure (CLI Source)

dex/
├── src/
│   └── index.ts         # Main CLI logic
├── templates/
│   ├── js/              # JavaScript templates
│   │   ├── src/
│   │   ├── package.json
│   │   └── _gitignore
│   └── ts/              # TypeScript templates
│       ├── src/
│       ├── package.json
│       ├── tsconfig.json
│       └── _gitignore
├── bin/
│   └── index.js         # Compiled output
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.