express-pack

express-pack simplifies Express.js app creation by bundling common middleware and providing a straightforward configuration system. Perfect for new projects or rapid prototyping!

🚀 Features

• Pre-configured middleware:
  • Environment management using dotenv
  • Request logging with winston
  • Security enhancements with helmet
  • Body parsing with body-parser
• Simplified route management.
• Fully customizable via configuration files.

📦 Installation

Install the package using npm or yarn:

npm install express-pack

or

yarn add express-pack

🛠️ Usage

Project Setup Guide

⚙️ Easy Setup Instructions

After installation, when you run the setup, you will be prompted with configuration questions.

1️⃣ Enable Nodemon for Development

Do you want to use nodemon for development? (yes/no)

- **Yes** → Adds a dev script using nodemon.
- **No** → Uses node directly.

2️⃣ Generate Basic Express App Structure

Do you want to set up the basic Express app structure? (yes/no)

- **Yes** → Automatically creates a structured Express.js app with controllers, routes, and configuration files.
- **No** → Skips the setup and allows manual configuration.

📂 Project Structure

If you choose to set up the Express app, the following directory structure will be created:

/project-root
  ├── /src
  │    ├── /featureName1
  │    │    ├── /controllers
  │    │    ├── /routes
  │    │
  │    ├── /featureName2
  │    │    ├── /controllers
  │    │    ├── /routes
  ├── /config
  │    ├── appConfig.js
  │    └── routeConfig.js
  ├── index.js
  ├── package.json
  └── .env

🚀 Running the Application

After setup, you can start the application using:

npm run dev   # If nodemon is enabled
npm start     # Runs the app with node

🛠️ Configuration Files

• config/appConfig.js - Contains Express middleware configurations.
• config/routeConfig.js - Manages the routes for the application.

✨ Features

✅ Automatic project structure generation

✅ Support for nodemon for development

✅ Follows MVC architecture for clean code organization

✅ Quick setup with interactive prompts

Here’s how you can set up manualy and start using express-pack:

index.js / server.js

const { CreateApp, BindRoutes } = require("express-pack");

// routes arrays
const { routes } = require("./config/routeConfig");

// app config for express-pack
const { appConfig } = require("./config/appConfig");

// create app from express-pack
const app = CreateApp(appConfig);

// binding the routes with app
BindRoutes(routes);

app?.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log("I am listening to 3000 port");
});

Configuration

config/appConfig.js

Customize your application behavior with the appConfig object.

Example Configuration:

✅ Easily create a new Express app

✅ Automatically apply a pre-configured with standard default settings

✅ Set up essential middleware for CORS, logging, body parsing, and security

module.exports = {
  appConfig: {
    env: "development", // custom path for .env file
    cors: {}, // CORS settings
    logger: {}, // Logger configuration
    bodyParser: {}, // Body parser settings
    security: {}, // Security configurations
  },
};

📌 Configuration Options

Body Parser Configuration

Handles request body parsing.

| Option | Default Value | Description | | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------- | | json | { limit: "100kb" } | Limits JSON body size | | urlencoded | { extended: true, limit: "100kb" } | Parses URL-encoded bodies | | raw | { type: "application/octet-stream", limit: "100kb" } | Parses raw binary data | | text | { type: "text/plain", limit: "100kb" } | Parses plain text |

Example Usage:

bodyParser: {
  json: { limit: "1mb" },
  urlencoded: { extended: true, limit: "500kb" },
},

CORS Configuration

Manages cross-origin resource sharing.

| Option | Default Value | Description | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | methods | ["GET", "HEAD", "PUT", "PATCH", "POST", "DELETE"] | Allowed HTTP methods | | allowedHeaders | undefined | Headers allowed from requests | | exposedHeaders | [] | Custom headers exposed to client | | credentials | false | Allows sending cookies | | maxAge | 86400 | Cache preflight requests | | preflightContinue | false | Pass preflight responses to handlers |

Example Usage:

cors: {
  methods: ["GET", "POST"],
  credentials: true,
},

Logger Configuration

Handles application logging using Winston.

| Option | Default Value | Description | | ------------- | --------------------- | ------------------- | | level | "info" | Logging level | | format | timestamp + message | Log format | | transports | [Console, File] | Output destinations | | exitOnError | false | Exit on error |

Example Usage:

logger: {
  level: "debug",
  transports: [new transports.Console()],
},

Security Configuration

Enhances security with Helmet.js settings.

| Option | Default Value | Description | | ----------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------ | | contentSecurityPolicy | false | Enables CSP headers | | dnsPrefetchControl | true | Controls DNS prefetching | | frameguard | "sameorigin" | Prevents clickjacking | | hsts | { maxAge: 0 } | HTTP Strict Transport Security | | noSniff | false | Prevents MIME sniffing | | xssFilter | true | Enables XSS protection |

Example Usage:

security: {
  hsts: { maxAge: 31536000 },
  xssFilter: false,
},

Compression Configuration

Optimizes server performance by compressing HTTP responses.

| Option | Default Value | Description | | ----------- | ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | level | 6 | Compression level (0-9) for Gzip. Higher values result in better compression. | | threshold | 1024 | Only compress responses larger than 1KB. Smaller responses are sent uncompressed. | | filter | Function | A function to determine whether to apply compression based on request/response. |

Example Usage:

compression: {
  level: 9,
  threshold: 2048,
  filter: (req, res) => {
    if (req.headers["x-no-compression"]) {
      return false; // Skip compression if client requests no compression
    }
    return compression.filter(req, res); // Default compression filter
  },
},

Router configuration

config/routeConfig.js

Organize your routes easily with the routes array.

const TestRoute = require("../src/test/route");

module.exports = {
  routes: [
    {
      path: "/route", // Define the URL path for this route
      route: TestRoute, // Link to the corresponding route file
    },
  ],
};

Example Route (TestRoute)

Define and manage your endpoints with ease using Router.

const { Router } = require("express-pack");
const TestController = require("../controller/index");

// Define a GET endpoint for health checks or basic operations
Router.get("/health-check", TestController.testMethod);

// Define a POST endpoint for creating or processing data
Router.post("/submit-data", TestController.testPostMethod);

module.exports = Router;

📖 Documentation

1. CreateApp(config)

Creates an Express application pre-configured with essential middleware.

• Parameters:
  config (Object) – Your application configuration.
• Returns:
  An instance of an Express app.

2. BindRoutes(routes)

Binds an array of routes to the application.

• Parameters:
  routes (Array) – A list of route configurations.

• Example:

const routes = [{ path: "/api", route: ApiRoute }];
BindRoutes(routes);

📂 Project Structure

my-project/
├── config/
│   ├── appConfig.js        # Application configuration
│   └── routeConfig.js      # Routes configuration
├── src/
│   └── test/               # Your route handlers
│       └── route.js        # Example route handler
├── index.js                # Main entry point of the application

🤝 Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the developers and contributors who make Express.js development easier every day!