Gingee - Application Server

A Gen AI Project

See AI Disclaimer

The objective of the project is to validate the feasibility of GenAI in platform/framework level programming as opposed to generating simplistic applications and in the process be the world's first AI authored and human co-authored production ready application server. To ensure full transparency, a key part of the development has been the meticulous recording of the chat transcript. You can find the link to the transcript below

Chat Transcript - Click here to see the full AI chat transcript from start of this project till date|

What is Gingee?

Gingee is a secure, batteries-included Node.js application server designed to dramatically accelerate web app development. Co-authored by a human architect and a GenAI partner, it provides a full featured platform that allows developers to focus on business logic instead of boilerplate. It achieves this through a secure sandbox, a powerful module ecosystem, and a comprehensive application lifecycle management system.

🚀 Quick Start

Get a new, fully configured Gingee server running in under a minute.

# 1. Install the Gingee CLI
npm install -g gingee-cli

# 2. Create a new Gingee project
gingee-cli init my-gingee-project

# 3. Navigate into your new project
cd my-gingee-project

# 4. Start the server!
npm start

# 5. Browse to http://localhost:7070

That's it! You should now see Glade - the Gingee admin panel in your web browser.

Key Features

Gingee is a comprehensive platform designed to provide a secure, efficient, and enjoyable development experience.

• Secure by Default

  • Whitelist Permissions System: Applications have no access to the filesystem, database, or network by default. Administrators grant explicit permissions for a "secure by default" posture.
  • Sandboxed Execution: Every server script runs in a secure gbox sandbox, isolated from the host system and other applications.

• Instant Time to Joy

  • All-in-One CLI: A single command (gingee-cli init) scaffolds a complete, runnable project with a built-in admin panel.
  • Simplified API: All request/response logic is handled through a single, powerful context object ($g) provided by the gingee() middleware.
  • Flexible Routing: Use zero-configuration file-based routing for rapid development, or create a routes.json for powerful, dynamic RESTful APIs.
  • Modern JavaScript: Use modern ESM syntax (import/from) directly in your server scripts with zero build steps or configuration.

• Batteries-Included Backend

  • Multi App Hosting: Deploy and run multiple apps with clear isolation, individual app lifecycles and hot app reloads.
  • Multi-Database Support: Write your code once and deploy against PostgreSQL, SQLite, MySQL, and more, with a consistent API.
  • Rich Standard Library: A comprehensive suite of sandboxed modules for common tasks, including crypto, image processing, pdf generation, db access, and an httpclient.
  • Application Startup Hooks: Define startup_scripts to automatically run database migrations or seed data when your app is installed or upgraded.
  • Application Middleware: Define default_include to automatically inject scripts in front of all API end points of the app. Enabling easy authentication, policies, role management etc.

• Full Lifecycle & Automation

  • Glade Admin UI: A built-in, secure web panel for managing the entire application lifecycle (install, upgrade, rollback, delete, manage permissions) with no command line needed.
  • Interactive Installers: Both the CLI and the Glade UI feature intelligent installers that read an app's requirements, prompt the admin for permission consent, and guide them through database configuration.
  • Automated Deployments: All lifecycle commands in the CLI can be run non-interactively using a preset file, making it perfect for CI/CD pipelines.
  • Automatic Maintenance Mode: The server automatically puts an application into a 503 Service Unavailable state during critical lifecycle events to ensure data integrity.
  • Built for Scale: With a pluggable distributed caching system (Redis), native service installation, and PM2 compatibility.

• Decentralized App Store

  • Discover and install applications from any gstore.json manifest on the web using the gingee-cli. Anyone can host their own public or private app store.

• GenAI-Native Workflow

  • Co-authored by a human architect and a Generative AI partner, Gingee is a testament to a new, highly efficient "Dialog-Driven Development" workflow. The project includes a pre-built knowledge bundle (ai-context.md) to empower you to build your own apps with an AI partner.

Documentation

Dive deeper into the architecture and learn how to build powerful applications with Gingee.

Concepts

| Document | Description | | :--- | :--- | | Core Concepts | A high-level overview of the Gingee philosophy, project structure, the sandbox, and the module ecosystem. | | Features | The list of features supported by Gingee | | Roadmap | The roadmap of core and app features in the pipeline for the Gingee app platform |

Configuration & Setup

| Document | Description | | :--- | :--- | | Gingee CLI | The all-in-one command-line interface for the Gingee platform | | Server Configuration (gingee.json) | A full reference guide for the server-wide gingee.json file, controlling settings like ports, caching, and security. | | Glade Admin Panel | Glade is the official, web-based administration panel for Gingee |

Developer Docs

| Document | Description | | :--- | :--- | | App Structure & app.json | A detailed breakdown of the app folder structure and a comprehensive reference for all app.json configuration options. | | Server Script Guide | Learn the anatomy of a server script and get a full API reference for the powerful $g global object. | | App Developer Guide | A guide to creating your apps on the Gingee platform | | App Packaging Guide | Gingee platform's standardized application packaging process | | App Permissions Guide | Gingee platform's app permissions ecosystem. | | SPA App Dev Guide | A guide to creating modern SPA with frameworks on the Gingee platform | | GStore Hosting Guide | Gingee platform's decentralized app store hosting guide |

Refrence

| Document | Description | | :--- | :--- | | Full API Reference | The complete JSDoc-generated API documentation for every function in every Gingee app module. | |API Examples | Examples of using Gingee modules, It can also be installed in a Gingee server using the .gin package in the dist folder.| |

Project Details

| Project Phase | Status | Current Token Count| | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Phase 1 | Completed | 1,038,862 / 1,048,576 (1M tokens used out of a 1M token context window) | | Phase 2 | Completed | 702,180 / 1,048,576 (700K tokens used out of a 1M token context window) |

Tooling

Google AI Studio, VS Code, NodeJS, NPM, JSDoc

Contributing

Please see our CONTRIBUTING guide for more details on how to contribute.

License

Gingee is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

| Role | Contributor | | :-------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------- | | Ideation | Vignesh Swaminathan | | Author | Google Gemini | | Co-Author | Vignesh Swaminathan | | Tester | Vignesh Swaminathan | | Tech Writer | Google Gemini | | Reviewer | Vignesh Swaminathan |