W E S T . J S

Scaffold production-ready Express 5 + TypeScript projects in seconds. Pick a database ORM, add Docker, and start building.

npx west-js-app

Why west.js?

Starting a new Express project means wiring up TypeScript, linting, testing, error handling, env config, and more — every single time. west.js does all of that in one command.

• Express 5 — native async error handling, no wrappers needed
• TypeScript — strict mode, path resolution, source maps
• Database — Prisma 7, Drizzle, or TypeORM with PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite
• Docker — multi-stage Dockerfile + compose with DB health checks
• Testing — Jest + Supertest with real HTTP assertions
• Linting — ESLint flat config + Prettier, pre-commit hooks via Husky
• Deploy — Vercel config included out of the box

Quick Start

npx west-js-app

Follow the interactive prompts — or skip them entirely:

npx west-js-app --yes --name my-api --database prisma --db-provider postgresql --docker

Then:

cd my-api
npm run dev

Your API is running at http://localhost:3000.

CLI Options

Usage: npx west-js-app [options]

Options:
  --name <name>              Project name (kebab-case)
  --database <orm>           prisma | drizzle | typeorm | none
  --db-provider <db>         postgresql | mysql | sqlite
  --docker                   Enable Docker support
  --no-docker                Disable Docker support
  --package-manager <pm>     npm | pnpm | yarn
  -y, --yes                  Skip all prompts, use defaults
  -v, --version              Show version
  -h, --help                 Show help

What gets generated.

my-api/
├── src/
│   ├── app.ts                    # Express app setup (cors, helmet, middlewares)
│   ├── server.ts                 # Server entry point with graceful shutdown
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── health.ts             # GET /health — liveness probe
│   │   └── example.ts            # Example CRUD route
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── error-handler.ts      # Centralized error handling
│   │   ├── validate.ts           # Zod request validation middleware
│   │   └── rate-limit.ts         # express-rate-limit global limiter
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── env.ts                # Type-safe env validation
│   └── lib/
│       ├── errors.ts             # Custom error classes
│       └── logger.ts             # Pino structured logger
├── tests/
│   ├── app.test.ts               # App integration tests
│   └── example.test.ts           # Route unit tests
├── .husky/
│   └── pre-commit                # Runs lint-staged on commit
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── eslint.config.mjs
├── .prettierrc
├── jest.config.js
├── .gitignore
├── .env
├── .env.example
└── vercel.json

Scripts in Generated Project

| Script | Description | | --------------------- | -------------------------- | | npm run dev | Dev server with hot reload | | npm run build | Compile TypeScript | | npm start | Run production build | | npm test | Run tests | | npm run lint | Lint with ESLint | | npm run format | Format with Prettier | | npm run db:generate | Generate database client | | npm run db:migrate | Run migrations (if DB) | | npm run db:studio | Database GUI (if DB) |

When you add a database, extra files are generated:

# Prisma
├── prisma/
│   └── schema.prisma
├── prisma.config.ts
└── src/lib/prisma.ts

# Drizzle
├── drizzle.config.ts
└── src/db/
    ├── index.ts
    └── schema.ts

# TypeORM
└── src/db/
    ├── data-source.ts
    ├── index.ts
    └── entities/
        └── user.ts

When you enable Docker:

├── Dockerfile                    # Multi-stage production build
├── docker-compose.yml            # App + database services
└── .dockerignore

Environment Variables

The generated src/config/env.ts validates all environment variables at startup with a clean, type-safe pattern:

// Auto-validates on boot — crashes fast if misconfigured
export const env = {
  PORT: ...,
  NODE_ENV: ...,
  DATABASE_URL: ...,   // only if a database is selected
  RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS: ...,
  RATE_LIMIT_MAX: ...,
};

The generated .env:

PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb?schema=public

RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS=900000
RATE_LIMIT_MAX=100

🌐 API Endpoints (Generated)

| Method | Path | Description | | -------- | ------------------- | ------------------------- | | GET | / | Welcome message + version | | GET | /health | Liveness probe | | GET | /api/examples | List all examples | | GET | /api/examples/:id | Get example by ID | | POST | /api/examples | Create example | | DELETE | /api/examples/:id | Delete example |

Git Hooks

A pre-commit hook via Husky runs lint-staged on every commit:

# pnpm projects
pnpm exec lint-staged

# npm/yarn projects
npx lint-staged

Contributing

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/vishalvoid/west.js.git
cd west.js

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run CLI tests
pnpm -F cli run test

# Build CLI
pnpm -F cli run build

# Try it locally
node packages/cli/dist/index.js --help

📄 License

MIT © vishalvoid

Made with ❤️ by vishalvoid

⭐ Star the repo if this saved you time → west.js