⚡ tekzee

A Node.js backend scaffolding CLI — generate Express, Auth, CRUD, Email, File Upload, AI, WebSockets and Payments boilerplate instantly.

npx tekzee

📖 Table of Contents

• What is this?
• Installation
• Usage
• Project Structure
• Generators
  • 🚀 Startup
  • 🔐 Auth
  • ⚙️ CRUD
  • 📧 Email
  • 📁 File Upload
  • 🤖 AI
  • 🔌 Socket
  • 💳 Payment
• Shared Utilities
• Generated File Conventions
• Environment Variables
• Frequently Asked Questions

💡 What is this?

TEKZEE CLI is an interactive command-line tool for Node.js/Express/MongoDB backends.

Instead of copy-pasting boilerplate from old projects, you run one command and the CLI writes clean, consistent, production-aware files directly into your project — configs, controllers, routes, services, middleware, and .env snippets all at once.

Every generator follows the same pattern:

1. Select providers / features via checkbox prompts
2. Choose which files to generate
3. Pick an output directory
4. Confirm — files are written instantly

⚡ Installation

Run without installing (recommended):

npx tekzee

Or install globally:

npm install -g tekzee
tekzee

Requires Node.js 18+ and uses inquirer@8 (CommonJS compatible). If you see TypeError: inquirer.prompt is not a function, run: npm install inquirer@8

🖥️ Usage

Interactive menu

tekzee

Launches a menu — pick any generator with arrow keys and Enter.

Direct command

Run a generator without the menu:

tekzee startup
tekzee auth
tekzee crud
tekzee email
tekzee upload
tekzee ai
tekzee socket
tekzee payment

Plugin mode

Add a feature to an existing project:

tekzee add auth
tekzee add socket
tekzee add payment
tekzee add ai
tekzee add crud
tekzee add email
tekzee add upload

Help

tekzee --help

📂 Project Structure

tekzee/
├── index.js                  ← CLI entry point
├── package.json
├── generators/
│   ├── generateStartup.js    ← Express + MongoDB boilerplate
│   ├── generateAuth.js       ← JWT auth (model, controller, middleware, routes)
│   ├── generateCrud.js       ← Dynamic CRUD with interactive field builder
│   ├── generateEmail.js      ← Email service (Nodemailer, Resend, SendGrid)
│   ├── generateUpload.js     ← File uploads (Local, Cloudinary, AWS S3)
│   ├── generateAi.js         ← AI chat integration (4 providers)
│   ├── generateSocket.js     ← Real-time (Socket.io or native ws)
│   └── generatePayment.js    ← Payment integration (Stripe, Razorpay, PayPal)
└── utils/
    └── fileUtils.js          ← Safe file writer with .env append logic

🔧 Generators

🚀 Startup Generator

What it does: Scaffolds a fresh Express + MongoDB server with everything wired up and ready to run.

Files it can generate:

| File | Purpose | | ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | | server.js | Entry point — starts the HTTP server | | src/app.js | Express app — middleware, routes, DB connection | | src/config/db.js | Mongoose connection with error handling | | .env | Port and MongoDB URI | | package.json | Pre-filled with express, mongoose, dotenv, nodemon | | .gitignore | Ignores node_modules/, .env, dist/ |

Quick start after generating:

npm install express mongoose dotenv
node server.js

# Or with hot reload:
npx nodemon server.js

🔐 Auth Generator

What it does: Generates a complete JWT authentication system with bcrypt password hashing, cookie-based tokens, and role-based access control.

Files it generates:

| File | Purpose | | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------- | | src/models/user.model.js | Mongoose user schema with bcrypt pre-save hook | | src/controllers/auth.controller.js | register, login, getMe, logout | | src/middleware/auth.middleware.js | protect + restrictTo(...roles) middleware | | src/routes/auth.routes.js | Public + protected route setup | | .env | JWT_SECRET, JWT_EXPIRES_IN, MONGO_URI |

API routes generated:

POST   /api/auth/register   → create account (name, email, password)
POST   /api/auth/login      → login (email, password)
GET    /api/auth/me         → get current user [protected]
POST   /api/auth/logout     → clear token cookie [protected]

Wire up in app.js:

const cookieParser = require("cookie-parser");
app.use(cookieParser());

const authRoutes = require("./routes/auth.routes");
app.use("/api/auth", authRoutes);

Using protect in other routes:

const { protect, restrictTo } = require("../middleware/auth.middleware");

router.get("/dashboard", protect, getMe);
router.delete("/user/:id", protect, restrictTo("admin"), deleteUser);

⚙️ CRUD Generator

What it does: Generates a full CRUD API for any resource with an interactive field builder — you define the Mongoose schema fields on the fly.

Files it generates:

| File | Purpose | | -------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | src/models/{name}.model.js | Mongoose schema built from your field prompts | | src/controllers/{name}.controller.js | getAll (paginated), getOne, create, update, delete | | src/routes/{name}.routes.js | RESTful routes with optional auth comments |

Field types supported: String, Number, Boolean, Date, ObjectId

Field options per field:

• Type selection
• Required toggle
• Default value
• ObjectId auto-gets a ref: "ReferenceModel" comment to fill in

Example session:

Resource name: Product

Field name: title       → Type: String  | Required: yes
Field name: price       → Type: Number  | Required: yes | Default: 0
Field name: inStock     → Type: Boolean | Required: no  | Default: true
Field name: (blank)     → done

API routes generated:

GET    /api/products           → get all (supports ?page=1&limit=10&sort=-createdAt)
GET    /api/products/:id       → get one
POST   /api/products           → create
PATCH  /api/products/:id       → update (only allowed fields)
DELETE /api/products/:id       → delete

Wire up in app.js:

const productRouter = require("./src/routes/product.routes");
app.use("/api/products", productRouter);

📧 Email Generator

What it does: Generates a full email service with responsive HTML templates, a service layer, controller, and routes.

Supported providers:

| Provider | Notes | | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | Nodemailer | Works with any SMTP — Gmail, Mailtrap, custom server | | Resend | Modern API-based email, great DX | | SendGrid | Enterprise-grade, high deliverability |

Email templates included:

| Template | Variables | | ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Welcome | name, APP_NAME, LOGIN_URL | | Password Reset | name, RESET_URL, EXPIRES_IN | | Email Verification | name, VERIFY_URL, EXPIRES_IN | | Generic / Custom | name, SUBJECT, HEADING, BODY, CTA_URL, CTA_TEXT |

All templates use a shared {{KEY}} placeholder system — no templating library needed.

Files it generates:

| File | Purpose | | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | src/templates/email/*.html.js | Responsive HTML email templates (shared across providers) | | src/config/{provider}.js | Provider client / transporter | | src/services/{provider}.service.js | sendEmail, sendWelcomeEmail, sendPasswordResetEmail, etc. | | src/controllers/{provider}.email.controller.js | HTTP handlers | | src/routes/{provider}.email.routes.js | Protected routes |

API routes generated:

POST /api/email/send             → raw email          (to, subject, html)
POST /api/email/welcome          → welcome email      (to, name)
POST /api/email/password-reset   → reset email        (to, name, resetUrl)
POST /api/email/verify           → verification email (to, name, verifyUrl)
POST /api/email/custom           → generic email      (to, subject, body)

Using the service directly (recommended for auth flows):

const { sendPasswordResetEmail } = require("../services/nodemailer.service");

// Inside your auth controller:
await sendPasswordResetEmail({
  to: user.email,
  name: user.name,
  resetUrl: `${process.env.APP_URL}/reset-password?token=${token}`,
  expiresIn: "15 minutes",
});

📁 File Upload Generator

What it does: Generates a complete file upload system with per-provider storage, file filtering, size limits, and delete support.

Supported providers:

| Provider | Storage | Notes | | -------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | Local Disk | Server filesystem | Path traversal protected on delete | | Cloudinary | Cloudinary CDN | Auto-optimised via quality: auto, fetch_format: auto | | AWS S3 | AWS S3 Bucket | Uses AWS SDK v3 (@aws-sdk/client-s3) |

Features:

| Feature | Description | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | Single file upload | POST /single — form-data field: "file" | | Multiple files upload | POST /multiple — form-data field: "files" | | Image-only validation | Restricts to JPEG, PNG, WEBP, GIF | | File size limits | Configurable via MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB env var | | Delete file | DELETE /:filename / /:publicId / /:key |

Files it generates:

| File | Purpose | | ------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | src/config/{provider}.js | Multer + provider storage config | | src/controllers/{provider}.upload.controller.js | Upload + delete handlers | | src/routes/{provider}.upload.routes.js | Routes with inline Multer error handler |

API routes generated:

POST   /api/upload/{provider}/single         → upload one file
POST   /api/upload/{provider}/multiple       → upload multiple files
DELETE /api/upload/local/:filename           → delete local file
DELETE /api/upload/cloudinary/:publicId      → delete from Cloudinary
DELETE /api/upload/s3/:key                   → delete from S3

Wire up local static serving in app.js:

app.use("/uploads", express.static("uploads"));

⚠️ Every routes file includes a handleMulterError middleware that catches LIMIT_FILE_SIZE, LIMIT_FILE_COUNT, and LIMIT_UNEXPECTED_FILE errors and returns clean 400 JSON — they won't hit your global error handler as unformatted crashes.

🤖 AI Generator

What it does: Generates an AI chat integration with in-memory conversation history, optional streaming, and a shared error middleware.

Supported providers:

| Provider | Models available | | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | OpenAI | gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini, gpt-4-turbo, gpt-3.5-turbo | | Anthropic (Claude) | claude-opus-4-5, claude-sonnet-4-5, claude-haiku-4-5 | | Google Gemini | gemini-2.0-flash, gemini-1.5-pro, gemini-1.5-flash | | Groq | llama-3.3-70b-versatile, llama-3.1-8b-instant, mixtral-8x7b-32768, gemma2-9b-it |

Files it generates:

| File | Purpose | | ------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | src/config/{provider}.js | Provider client initialisation | | src/controllers/{provider}.controller.js | normalChat, streamChat (optional), clearHistory, getHistory | | src/routes/{provider}.routes.js | Protected chat routes | | src/middleware/aiError.middleware.js | Handles 401/429/404/503 AI errors cleanly |

API routes generated:

POST   /api/ai/chat      → chat with history (body: { message })
POST   /api/ai/stream    → streaming chat    (body: { message }) [if streaming enabled]
GET    /api/ai/history   → view chat history
DELETE /api/ai/history   → clear chat history

Wire up in app.js:

const openaiRouter = require("./src/routes/openai.routes");
app.use("/api/ai", openaiRouter);

// Mount AFTER all routes:
const { aiErrorHandler } = require("./src/middleware/aiError.middleware");
app.use(aiErrorHandler);

💡 History note: Chat history is stored in-memory per user (keyed by req.user._id). For production, swap the Map in the controller for Redis or a DB collection.

🔌 Socket Generator

What it does: Generates a real-time server with rooms, private messaging, online presence tracking, and broadcast support.

Technology options:

| Option | Best for | | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | Socket.io | Most projects — auto-reconnect, rooms, fallback transports | | Native ws | Lightweight use cases, minimal overhead |

Integration modes:

| Mode | Description | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Standalone | Generates its own server.js entry point | | Plugin | Exports a createSocketServer(app) function to plug into existing Express app |

Files it generates:

| File | Purpose | | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | src/config/socket.io.js or src/config/ws.js | Server + CORS setup | | src/socket/socket.io.handler.js or src/socket/ws.handler.js | All event handlers | | server.js | Entry point (standalone mode only) |

Supported events (both technologies):

| Event (client → server) | Payload | Description | | ----------------------- | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | | user:register | { userId } | Register user for online tracking + private messaging | | room:join | { room } | Join a named room | | room:leave | { room } | Leave a named room | | room:message | { room, message } | Send message to everyone in a room | | private:message | { toUserId, message } | Send direct message to a user | | broadcast | { message } | Send to all connected clients |

| Event (server → client) | Description | | --------------------------------- | ------------------------ | | user:online / user:offline | Presence updates | | room:joined / room:left | Room membership changes | | room:message | Incoming room message | | private:message | Incoming direct message | | private:sent / private:failed | DM delivery confirmation | | broadcast | Global message |

💡 Production note: The onlineUsers Map is in-memory. For multi-server deployments, replace it with a Redis adapter (socket.io-redis).

💳 Payment Generator

What it does: Generates a complete payment integration with one-time payments, subscriptions, refunds, and webhooks.

Supported providers:

| Provider | One-time | Subscriptions | Refunds | Webhooks | | ------------ | ------------------------- | ------------------------- | ------- | ---------------- | | Stripe | Payment Intents | Stripe Subscriptions API | ✅ | ✅ HMAC verified | | Razorpay | Orders + verify signature | Razorpay Plans API | ✅ | ✅ HMAC verified | | PayPal | Orders + capture | Billing Subscriptions API | ✅ | ✅ Event-based |

Files it generates per provider:

| File | Purpose | | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------- | | src/config/{provider}.js | Provider client | | src/controllers/{provider}.controller.js | All payment handlers | | src/routes/{provider}.routes.js | Protected routes |

API routes generated:

Stripe:

POST   /api/payment/stripe/payment-intent          → create payment intent
POST   /api/payment/stripe/subscription            → create subscription
GET    /api/payment/stripe/subscription/:id        → get subscription
DELETE /api/payment/stripe/subscription/:id        → cancel subscription
POST   /api/payment/stripe/refund                  → refund payment
POST   /api/payment/stripe/webhook                 → Stripe webhook [raw body]

Razorpay:

POST   /api/payment/razorpay/order                 → create order
POST   /api/payment/razorpay/verify                → verify payment signature
POST   /api/payment/razorpay/subscription          → create subscription
GET    /api/payment/razorpay/subscription/:id      → get subscription
DELETE /api/payment/razorpay/subscription/:id      → cancel subscription
POST   /api/payment/razorpay/refund                → refund payment
POST   /api/payment/razorpay/webhook               → Razorpay webhook

PayPal:

POST   /api/payment/paypal/order                   → create order
POST   /api/payment/paypal/order/:orderId/capture  → capture payment
POST   /api/payment/paypal/subscription            → create subscription
DELETE /api/payment/paypal/subscription/:id        → cancel subscription
POST   /api/payment/paypal/refund                  → refund capture
POST   /api/payment/paypal/webhook                 → PayPal webhook

⚠️ Stripe webhook must be mounted before express.json() — it needs the raw body:

app.use(
  "/api/payment/stripe/webhook",
  express.raw({ type: "application/json" }),
  require("./routes/stripe.routes"),
);

🔧 Shared Utilities

utils/fileUtils.js

All generators use this single utility to write files safely.

const { createFileWithDirs } = require("../utils/fileUtils");

const { status } = createFileWithDirs("path/to/file.js", content);
// status → "created" | "appended" | "skipped"

Behaviour:

• Creates all parent directories automatically (mkdirSync({ recursive: true }))
• For .env files: appends new keys instead of overwriting, so existing values are never lost
• Normalises \r\n → \n before comparing .env keys (Windows safe)
• Uses a proper regex check (^KEY\s*=) to avoid false positive partial key matches
• Returns { status } — the caller owns the logging
• Wraps everything in try/catch and throws a descriptive error on failure

📁 Generated File Conventions

All generators follow these conventions so files work together without manual glue:

| Convention | Detail | | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Auth middleware | Always at src/middleware/auth.middleware.js, exports protect and restrictTo | | Route mounting | All routes mounted under /api/{feature}/{provider} | | Error propagation | All async handlers call next(error) — compatible with a global error handler | | Upload field names | Always "file" (single) and "files" (multiple) as form-data field names | | AI history | Stored in Map<userId, messages[]> — swap with Redis for production | | .env append | Running multiple generators never overwrites existing .env keys | | Status summary | Every generator prints Created / Appended / Skipped / Failed counts after writing |

🌍 Environment Variables

Complete reference of all .env keys used across generators:

# ─── Core ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/your_db_name

# ─── Auth ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_jwt_key
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d

# ─── AI ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
GEMINI_API_KEY=...
GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_...

# ─── Socket ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173

# ─── Payment ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...

RAZORPAY_KEY_ID=rzp_test_...
RAZORPAY_KEY_SECRET=...
RAZORPAY_WEBHOOK_SECRET=...

PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID=...
PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET=...
PAYPAL_WEBHOOK_ID=...
PAYPAL_RETURN_URL=http://localhost:3000/payment/success
PAYPAL_CANCEL_URL=http://localhost:3000/payment/cancel

# ─── Email ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
APP_NAME=MyApp
APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
[email protected]

SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
[email protected]
SMTP_PASS=your_smtp_password

RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG....

# ─── File Upload ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
UPLOAD_DIR=uploads
MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB=5
MAX_FILES=10

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=...
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=...
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=...
CLOUDINARY_FOLDER=uploads

AWS_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
AWS_S3_BUCKET=your_bucket_name

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: TypeError: inquirer.prompt is not a function

npm install inquirer@8

Inquirer v9+ switched to ES Modules. v8 is CommonJS-compatible and works out of the box.

Q: Can I run multiple generators into the same project?

Yes — that's the intended workflow. Run Startup first, then Auth, then CRUD for each resource, then any integrations you need. The .env append logic means keys are never duplicated or overwritten.

Q: What is the difference between tekzee crud and tekzee add crud?

They run the same generator. The tekzee add <plugin> syntax is just a more expressive way to say "I'm adding this to an existing project" — useful when running tekzee feels ambiguous mid-project.

Q: Do I need all providers for a generator?

No — every generator lets you deselect providers and features. Unused code is never written. For example you can set up Stripe only without Razorpay or PayPal.

Q: The generated code uses next(error) but there's no global error handler — what do I add?

Add this at the bottom of app.js, after all routes:

// Global error handler
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
  const status = err.status || err.statusCode || 500;
  res.status(status).json({
    success: false,
    message: err.message || "Internal Server Error",
    ...(process.env.NODE_ENV === "development" && { stack: err.stack }),
  });
});

Q: How do I protect a generated CRUD route with auth?

Open the generated routes file and uncomment the auth middleware line:

// Before:
// const { protect, restrictTo } = require("../middleware/auth.middleware");

// After:
const { protect, restrictTo } = require("../middleware/auth.middleware");

router.route("/").get(getAllProducts).post(protect, createProduct);
router
  .route("/:id")
  .patch(protect, updateProduct)
  .delete(protect, restrictTo("admin"), deleteProduct);

Q: How do I swap the in-memory AI chat history for Redis?

In src/controllers/{provider}.controller.js, replace the Map with Redis calls:

// Replace this:
const histories = new Map();
const getHistory = (userId) => { ... };

// With this (using ioredis):
const redis = require("ioredis");
const client = new redis(process.env.REDIS_URL);

const getHistory = async (userId) => {
  const data = await client.get(`chat:${userId}`);
  return data ? JSON.parse(data) : [];
};
const saveHistory = async (userId, history) => {
  await client.setex(`chat:${userId}`, 3600, JSON.stringify(history)); // 1hr TTL
};

Built with ❤️ by [tekzee team]

⚡ npx tekzee — skip the setup, start building.