⚡ ts-express-generator-kit

A fast, modern, and developer-friendly Node.js CLI tool to generate a production-ready TypeScript + Express boilerplate with best practices built in.

Built for speed, scalability, and real-world backend development.

✨ Why ts-express-generator-kit?

Most generators give you a “hello world”.
This gives you a project you can actually ship.

• Clean & scalable architecture
• TypeScript-first setup
• Environment-based configuration
• Cross-platform support (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Minimal setup, maximum productivity

🚀 Features

• ⚡ Fast CLI execution
• 🧩 Simple & intuitive commands
• 🟦 TypeScript-first architecture
• 🌍 Cross-platform support using cross-env
• 🛠 Minimal configuration
• 📦 Production-ready structure
• 🧪 Easy to extend & customize
• 🐳 Optional Docker support
• ✨ ESLint & Prettier ready
• 🗄 Database support (MongoDB / MySQL / PostgreSQL)
• 🔐 JWT service included

📦 Installation

Global installation (recommended)

npm install -g ts-express-generator-kit

Or run without installing

npx ts-express-generator-kit my-project

🧑‍💻 Usage

ts-express-generator-kit <project-name> [options]

Example

ts-express-generator-kit my-api --eslint --prettier --db mongo

Help

ts-express-generator-kit --help

⚙️ Options

| Option | Description | |------|------------| | --use-docker | Include Docker configuration | | --eslint | Add ESLint setup | | --prettier | Add Prettier configuration | | --db <type> | Database setup (mongo, mysql, postgres) | | -h, --help | Display help |

📁 Generated Project Structure

.
├─ envs/                          # Environment variable files
│  ├─ local.env
│  ├─ development.env
│  └─ staging.env
│
├─ scripts/                       # Build & utility scripts
│  ├─ common/
│  │  └─ utils.ts                 # Shared script utilities
│  └─ build.ts                    # Custom build logic
│
├─ src/                           # Application source code
│  ├─ common/                     # Shared utilities
│  │  ├─ constants/               # App-wide constants
│  │  │  ├─ HTTP_STATUS_CODES.ts
│  │  │  ├─ PATHS.ts
│  │  │  └─ index.ts
│  │  └─ util/                    # Helper utilities
│  │     ├─ misc.ts
│  │     ├─ route-errors.ts
│  │     └─ validators.ts
│  │
│  ├─ config/                     # Configuration modules
│  │  └─ db.ts                    # Database configuration
│  │
│  ├─ controllers/                # Route controllers
│  │  └─ main.controller.ts
│  │
│  ├─ models/                     # Database models
│  │  └─ index.ts
│  │
│  ├─ routes/                     # API routes
│  │  └─ index.ts
│  │
│  ├─ services/                   # Business logic services
│  │  └─ jwt.service.ts           # JWT authentication service
│  │
│  ├─ index.ts                    # Application entry point
│  └─ server.ts                   # HTTP server bootstrap
│
├─ config.ts                      # Global runtime configuration
├─ eslint.config.ts               # ESLint configuration
├─ package.json                   # Project metadata & scripts
├─ tsconfig.json                  # Base TypeScript config
└─ tsconfig.prod.json             # Production TypeScript config

▶️ Running the Project

Development mode

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev

Development with hot reload

npm run dev:hot
# or
yarn dev:hot

🌍 Environment-Based Scripts (Cross-Platform)

This project uses cross-env so it works consistently on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

{
  "local": "cross-env NODE_ENV=local ts-node ./src",
  "local:hot": "nodemon --exec \"npm run local\" --watch ./src --ext .ts",
  "start:dev": "cross-env NODE_ENV=development node -r ./config.js ./dist",
  "start:stag": "cross-env NODE_ENV=staging node -r ./config.js ./dist",
  "start:local": "cross-env NODE_ENV=local node -r ./config.js ./dist"
}

🆕 What’s New & Improved

✅ Fixed

• Build creation issues
• TypeScript output inconsistencies

➕ Added

• Environment-specific run scripts
• cross-env for OS-independent execution
• Hot-reload support for local development
• Improved project structure for scalability

🧠 Built With

• TypeScript
• Node.js
• Express
• Commander
• Chalk
• Execa
• cross-env

👤 Author

Tarun Bhardwaj
Sr. Software Engineer | Full-Stack Developer
React • React Native • Node.js • TypeScript

Email: [email protected]

⭐ Support

If you find this useful:

• ⭐ Star the repository
• 🐛 Report issues
• 💡 Suggest new features