Generic Node.js Express API

Welcome to the Generic Node.js Express API repository! This repository contains the code and documentation for a generic Express API built using Node.js, as well as a frontend server.

Quick Start

[!TIP] Create a project from scratch

npx generic-nodejs-express-api my-awesome-api-project

[!TIP] Add it to an existing project

npm i generic-nodejs-express-api

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Installation
• Usage
• Development
• Contributing
• License

Introduction

The Generic Node.js Express API is a template project that provides a basic setup for building RESTful APIs using Node.js and Express. It includes several utilities and configurations to help you get started quickly. Additionally, this project runs both a frontend and an API server. The frontend is accessible at localhost, and the API is available at api.localhost.

| Front End | API | |--|--| | | | | localhost | api.localhost | | dmeo frontend | demo api |

Installation

NPX

RUn it as an NPX

npx generic-nodejs-express-api my-awesome-api-project

To set up the Generic Node.js Express API, follow these steps:

1. Clone this repository to your local machine:

   git clone [email protected]:32teeth/generic-nodejs-express-api.git

2. Navigate into the project directory:

   cd generic-nodejs-express-api

3. Install the required dependencies:

   npm install

4. (Optional) Set up HTTPS certificates:

   sudo npm run certs

Usage

To start the API server, use one of the following commands depending on your environment:

• Development:

  npm run dev

• Production:

  npm run start

You can also run the server with HTTPS enabled:

• Development with HTTPS:

  npm run dev:https

• Production with HTTPS:

  npm run prod:https

Development

Scripts

• Reset dependencies:

  npm run reset

  This command removes node_modules and package-lock.json and reinstalls dependencies.

• Generate certificates:

  sudo npm run certs

  This command will:

  1. Create a certs directory (if it doesn't already exist).
  2. Generate a self-signed SSL certificate (selfsigned.crt) and private key (selfsigned.key) in the certs directory for HTTPS development.
  3. Set appropriate permissions for the generated files.
  4. Base64-encode the certificate and key and store them as environment variables (APP_CRT and APP_KEY) in the .env file.
  5. Set the application port (APP_PORT=3000) in the .env file.
  6. Clean up by removing the certs directory after the environment variables have been set.

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory and add your environment-specific variables, such as API keys and database URLs.

Testing

The project uses Mocha and Chai for testing. To run tests, use:

npm test

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have any ideas, suggestions, or bug reports, please open an issue or submit a pull request. Ensure that you follow the project's contribution guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory and add your environment-specific variables, such as API keys and database URLs.

Testing

The project uses Mocha and Chai for testing. To run tests, use:

npm test

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have any ideas, suggestions, or bug reports, please open an issue or submit a pull request. Ensure that you follow the project's contribution guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.