📖 Table of Contents

• Why DevForge?
• Key Features
• Quick Start
• Interactive Setup Wizard
• Architecture Patterns
• CLI Command Reference
  • Generate Component
  • Plugin System
• Available Plugins
• Automated API Documentation
• Contributing
• License

💡 Why DevForge?

Modern backend development is bogged down by repetitive tasks: configuring TypeScript, setting up ORMs, writing JWT middleware, structuring folders, and wiring up Swagger docs. DevForge (design-backend-app) eliminates this overhead entirely.

Unlike basic boilerplate generators, DevForge is an intelligent engine. If you ask it to generate an authentication module, it dynamically inspects your chosen ORM (Prisma/Mongoose/Sequelize) and writes the exact database queries, bcrypt hashing, and JWT token generation logic needed for your specific tech stack.

✨ Key Features

• True Database Intelligence: Generates models and CRUD operations specifically tailored for Mongoose, Prisma, or Sequelize.
• Framework Agnostic Foundations: Currently supports Express.js and Fastify, with an architecture designed to easily adopt Hono and NestJS in the future.
• Production-Ready Auth: One command generates complete Registration, Login, and Logout flows using standard JWTs or Session cookies.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Generate middleware and controllers that automatically enforce role-based security out-of-the-box.
• Dynamic Plugin Ecosystem: Add enterprise features like Docker, Redis, BullMQ, and AWS S3 instantly without touching configuration files.
• Auto-Generated Swagger UI: Endpoints generated by DevForge automatically contain detailed OpenAPI JSDoc comments grouped by tags.

🚀 Quick Start

You don't need to install anything globally. You can bootstrap a new project directly using npx:

npx design-backend-app my-backend

(Or navigate to an empty directory and run npx design-backend-app init ./)

Once the CLI generates your codebase and installs dependencies:

cd my-backend
npm run dev

Your server will start (default port 3000), and your API documentation will be instantly available at http://localhost:3000/api-docs!

⚙️ Interactive Setup Wizard

When you run the initialization command, DevForge will ask you a series of questions to tailor the project exactly to your needs:

1. Framework: Express.js or Fastify
2. Language: TypeScript (JavaScript coming soon)
3. Architecture:
   • MVC (Classic Model-View-Controller)
   • Modular (Domain-Driven Design for scalable microservices)
4. Scale (if Modular is chosen): Small, Medium, or Enterprise
5. Database: MongoDB (Mongoose), PostgreSQL (Prisma), MySQL (Sequelize), or None
6. Authentication: JWT, Session, or None
7. RBAC: Define custom roles (e.g., user, admin, superadmin)

🗂 Architecture Patterns

1. MVC (Model-View-Controller)

The industry standard for straightforward, monolithic web applications.

src/
├── controllers/    # Handles HTTP requests and responses
├── models/         # Database schemas and abstractions
├── routes/         # Express/Fastify router configurations
├── middleware/     # Auth, Validation, and logging middleware
├── utils/          # Helper functions (JWT, hashers)
└── app.ts          # Application entry point

2. Modular (Domain-Driven Design)

Designed for maximum scalability. Code is grouped tightly by business domain, making it incredibly easy to split into microservices later.

src/
├── modules/
│   ├── users/
│   │   ├── domain/            # Models, Types, Interfaces
│   │   ├── application/       # Business Logic (Services)
│   │   └── infrastructure/    # Controllers, Routes
├── middleware/
└── app.ts

🛠 CLI Command Reference

Once your project is created, DevForge tracks its state via a hidden .devforge.json file. You can run CLI commands from within your project directory using npx design-backend-app <command>.

1. Generate Component

Dynamically scaffold new features. DevForge automatically wires new routes into your app.ts file!

Commands:

• Generate an Authentication Flow:

  npx design-backend-app generate auth

  Creates a fully working auth.controller integrating bcrypt, your chosen database, and token generation.

• Generate a generic Module:

  npx design-backend-app generate module inventory

  Creates controllers, routes, and services for a new domain.

• Generate a complete CRUD Module:

  npx design-backend-app generate module products --crud

  Generates the database model file AND the controller logic required to Create, Read, Update, and Delete products.

• Generate Background Workers / Queues:

  npx design-backend-app generate queue emails

• Generate Upload Handlers:

  npx design-backend-app generate upload documents

2. Plugin System

Why spend hours reading documentation to configure Redis or Docker? Let DevForge inject the best-practice setup directly into your code.

Add a plugin:

npx design-backend-app add swagger

Remove a plugin:

npx design-backend-app remove swagger

(Removes the configuration files, cleans up app.ts, and uninstalls dependencies)

🧩 Available Plugins

| Plugin Name | Description | Packages Installed | |---|---|---| | swagger | Injects an automated OpenAPI/Swagger UI at /api-docs. | swagger-ui-express, swagger-jsdoc | | docker | Creates an optimized Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml for local dev & production. | None (System level) | | redis | Sets up a Redis client connection pool in src/config/redis.ts. | ioredis | | bullmq | Configures BullMQ for robust background job processing. | bullmq, ioredis | | logger | Replaces console.log with a structured winston logging utility. | winston | | rate-limit | Adds basic API rate-limiting middleware to app.ts. | express-rate-limit | | validation | Sets up request validation middleware using Zod. | zod | | aws-s3 | Generates an S3 service wrapper for AWS uploads. | @aws-sdk/client-s3 | | nodemailer | Sets up a reusable email dispatcher utility. | nodemailer | | code-quality | Installs and configures ESLint, Prettier, and Husky pre-commit hooks. | eslint, prettier, husky |

📝 Automated API Documentation

Whenever you generate a module using --crud or generate an auth flow, DevForge automatically annotates your routes with OpenAPI (Swagger) Comments.

For example, generating an auth module automatically produces code like this:

/**
 * @openapi
 * /api/auth/register:
 *   post:
 *     tags:
 *       - Auth
 *     summary: Register a new user
 *     description: Creates a new user account.
 *     responses:
 *       201:
 *         description: Successfully registered.
 */
authRouter.post('/register', register);

If you have the swagger plugin installed, this endpoint instantly appears beautifully formatted in your Swagger UI!

🤝 Contributing

We actively welcome community contributions! If you want to build a new plugin, add a new framework (like NestJS or Hono), or fix a bug:

1. Read our Contributing Guidelines.
2. Review our Code of Conduct.
3. Check the Issues Tab for feature requests or bug reports.

To run the CLI locally for development:

git clone https://github.com/PuneethKrishnaS/design-backend-app.git
cd design-backend-app
npm install
npm run dev
node dist/index.js --help

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.