StackForge

School-level full-stack scaffolding CLI generator. Generates complete React + Express + MySQL management systems from terminal prompts.

Install and Run

Option 1: Run directly with npx (after publishing)

npx stackforge

Option 2: Run locally during development

cd stackforge
npm install
node index.js

What It Generates

Running the CLI creates two folders:

your-project-backend/
your-project-frontend/

Backend includes:

• Express.js server with CORS and sessions
• MySQL database connection pool
• CRUD controller and routes for your main entity
• Authentication (login, register, logout, session middleware)
• Optional: reports, invoice, payments controllers and routes
• .env file template

Frontend includes:

• Vite + React 18 project
• Tailwind CSS
• React Router DOM v6
• Axios service layer
• Dashboard with sidebar, navbar, stats cards
• Full CRUD list page with table and delete confirmation
• Form page with insert and update support
• Relationship dropdowns auto-populated via Axios
• Login and Register pages
• Protected routes via AuthContext
• Optional: Reports, Invoices, Payments pages

Database includes:

• MySQL schema file (schema.sql)
• Users table (if auth enabled)
• Referenced tables stubs (for relationship fields)
• Main entity table with foreign keys
• Optional: invoices, payments tables
• ERD explanation as comments

CLI Questions

Project name?
Database name?
Include authentication?
Main entity name? (e.g. student)
Main entity plural name? (e.g. students)
How many fields?

For each field:
  Field name?
  Field type?        [VARCHAR, INT, DECIMAL, DATE, TEXT, BOOLEAN]
  Required?
  Is this a relationship field?
    If yes:
      Referenced table?
      Display field from referenced table?

Include reports module?
Include invoice module?
Include payments module?

After Generation

1. Set up the database

Open MySQL and run:

source path/to/your-project-backend/database/schema.sql

2. Configure the backend

Edit your-project-backend/.env:

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USER=root
DB_PASSWORD=your_mysql_password
DB_NAME=your_database_name
SESSION_SECRET=change_this_to_something_secure
PORT=5000

3. Start the backend

cd your-project-backend
npm install
npm run dev

Backend runs at: http://localhost:5000

4. Start the frontend

cd your-project-frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend runs at: http://localhost:5173

Supported Field Types

| Type | MySQL Type | HTML Input | |----------|-----------------|-------------| | VARCHAR | VARCHAR(255) | text | | INT | INT | number | | DECIMAL | DECIMAL(10,2) | number | | DATE | DATE | date | | TEXT | TEXT | textarea | | BOOLEAN | TINYINT(1) | checkbox |

Relationships

StackForge supports simple one-to-many relationships.

Example:

Field name:          package_id
Referenced table:    packages
Display field:       package_name

This generates:

• package_id INT stored in database
• package_name displayed in frontend dropdown
• LEFT JOIN in GET queries
• Axios dropdown fetch in form page

Publishing to npm

1. Create an npm account

Go to https://www.npmjs.com and create a free account.

2. Login in terminal

npm login

3. Make index.js executable

The #!/usr/bin/env node line is already at the top of index.js.

On Mac/Linux, also run:

chmod +x index.js

4. Update package.json

Edit package.json and set a unique name:

{
  "name": "your-unique-package-name",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  ...
}

Check if the name is available:

npm search your-unique-package-name

5. Publish

npm publish

6. Test your published package

npx your-unique-package-name

7. Update version and republish

npm version patch   # 1.0.0 -> 1.0.1
npm publish

Project Structure

stackforge/
  index.js                      Main CLI entry
  package.json
  README.md
  generator/
    promptEngine.js             All CLI questions
    schemaGenerator.js          MySQL schema generator
    backendGenerator.js         Express backend generator
    frontendGenerator.js        React frontend generator
  utils/
    helpers.js                  Utility functions

Version 1 Limitations

Version 1 is intentionally simple and school-level:

• One main CRUD entity per project
• Simple one-to-many relationships only
• No many-to-many relationships
• No nested relationships
• No chained joins
• No automatic AI form generation
• No analytics engine
• No plugin system

Tech Stack (Generated Projects)

Frontend: React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS, React Router DOM v6, Axios

Backend: Node.js, Express.js, MySQL2, Express-Session, Bcryptjs, dotenv

License

MIT