Node.js + Express Backend Folder Structure & Starter Template

A ready-to-use starter template for building scalable backend applications using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. Designed with a clean folder structure and pre-integrated packages to kickstart your development — ideal for real-world projects with authentication, error handling, and more out of the box.

🚀 Quick Start

Run this to create a new Express.js project:

npx node-express-kit your-app-name

Folder Structure

config/ → Environment and database config (e.g., db.js, cloudinary.js) controllers/ → Request handlers and business logic middleware/ → Custom middleware (auth, error handling, logging) models/ → Mongoose schemas for MongoDB collections routes/ → Route definitions services/ → Third-party service handlers (email, cloud uploads, etc.) utils/ → Helper functions (token generator, OTP handler, etc.) validators/ → Input validation logic (e.g., using Joi or express-validator) uploads/ → File upload directory (optional) app.js → Initializes Express, middleware, and routes server.js → Entry point to launch the Node server

Integrated Packages

This starter kit comes pre-configured with essential npm packages for rapid backend development:

• express – Web server framework
• cookie-parser – To handle HTTP cookies
• bcryptjs – For secure password hashing
• mongoose – ODM to interact with MongoDB
• jsonwebtoken (JWT) – For token-based authentication
• cors – Enable CORS for cross-origin requests
• dotenv – Manage environment variables
• nodemon – Auto-restart server in development

Features

• Default error handling (includes MongoDB errors & async error catching)
• Default success response handler
• User registration & login
• JWT-based route protection with role-based authorization
• Password hashing with bcryptjs
• Cookie-based auth handling
• CORS setup included
• MongoDB integration using Mongoose
• Scalable MVC architecture for long-term projects
• Environment-based configuration with dotenv
• Basic APIs: register-user, login, logout, profile, view-users (admin only)

Thank you for using this npm package. If you have suggestions for additional features or improvements, feel free to share!