zero-config-cli

v1.1.1

Published

4 days ago

Generate production-ready full-stack projects from the terminal — zero config required.

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dhuruvan

zero-config starter generator full-stack react angular vue nextjs express nestjs fastify

zero-config-cli ⚡

Generate production-ready full-stack projects from your terminal — zero config required.

npx zero-config-cli my-project

🌐 Live site: zero-config.vercel.app

🎯 The Problem

Every time you start a new project, you spend 45–90 minutes doing the same thing:

Scaffolding folders and config files
Setting up TypeScript, ESLint, Prettier
Wiring up authentication (JWT, bcrypt, token refresh)
Configuring Prisma ORM with database connection
Writing CRUD endpoints with owner verification
Setting up test runners and writing initial tests
Debugging import paths, CORS, and environment variables

That's hours of your life you'll never get back. And you do it every single time.

💡 The Solution

Zero-Config CLI generates a fully configured, production-ready full-stack project in under 30 seconds. Pick your stack, and start coding real features on day one — not configuring tools.

| Step | What happens | | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | 1 | Pick a frontend (React · Angular · Vue.js · Next.js) | | 2 | Name your frontend folder (or use the default) | | 3 | Pick a backend (Express · NestJS · Fastify) | | 4 | Name your backend folder (or use the default) | | 5 | Pick a database (PostgreSQL · MySQL · SQLite · etc.) | | 6 | Done. You have a full-stack project with auth, CRUD, and tests. |

What you get instantly:

✅ JWT authentication (access + refresh tokens with rotation)
✅ Full CRUD operations with ownership verification
✅ Prisma ORM with your chosen database provider pre-configured
✅ bcrypt password hashing (10 rounds) with strong validation
✅ Pre-written tests (auth flow, CRUD, edge cases, auth guards)
✅ TypeScript, ESLint, environment variables, CORS — all wired up
✅ Zero configuration files to touch before you start coding
✅ Docker-ready — Each template ships with a production Dockerfile
✅ Docker Compose — Auto-generated docker-compose.yml wires frontend + backend + database

🚀 Quick Start

# Interactive mode — guided prompts
npx zero-config-cli my-project

# Non-interactive mode — for scripts and CI
npx zero-config-cli my-project -f react -b express -d postgresql

After generation, the CLI can optionally run npm install for you — choose both, backend only, frontend only, or skip.

🐳 Docker Compose (one-command deploy)

Every generated project includes an auto-generated docker-compose.yml that wires up the frontend, backend, and database into a single command:

cd my-project
docker compose up -d

This starts:

Database container (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.) with health checks and persistent storage
Backend container (Express / NestJS / Fastify) with Prisma auto-migration on startup
Frontend container (React / Vue / Angular / Next.js) pointing at the backend

The docker-compose.yml is stack-aware — it adapts the ports, environment variables, and database service based on your choices, for all 84 combinations.

Port mappings

| Service | Host Port | Container Port | | -------- | --------- | -------------- | | React | 5173 | 80 (nginx) | | Vue.js | 5173 | 80 (nginx) | | Angular | 4200 | 4000 (SSR) | | Next.js | 3000 | 3000 | | Backend | 5000 | 5000 | | Database | native | native |

No manual configuration needed — JWT secrets, database URLs, and CORS are all set automatically. Just run docker compose up -d and go.

📋 Interactive Flow

$ npx zero-config-cli my-project

  ╭──────────────────────────────────────╮
  │  Zero-Config Starter Generator       │
  ╰──────────────────────────────────────╯

  ? Select a frontend framework:
    ⚛️  React v19       Port 5173 · Auth context, Protected routes
    🅰️  Angular v21     Port 4200 · Auth guards, Signals
    💚  Vue.js v3       Port 5173 · Pinia store, Composition API
    ▲   Next.js v16     Port 3000 · SQLite auth, Server Actions

  ? Enter folder name for frontend: (react)
  ❯ react

  ? Select a backend framework:
    🚀  Express v4.18   Port 5000 · Minimalist, unopinionated
    🐱  NestJS v11      Port 5000 · Modular architecture, Passport.js
    ⚡  Fastify v5      Port 5000 · High-performance, low overhead

  ? Enter folder name for backend: (express)
  ❯ express

  ? Select a database:
    🐘  PostgreSQL   Relational SQL database
    🐬  MySQL        Popular open-source RDBMS
    📁  SQLite       Embedded file-based database
    ...

  [⠋] Generating your project...
  [✔] Project generated successfully!

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  📁 my-project/                              │
  │     react/                                   │
  │     express/                                 │
  │  🗄️  Database: PostgreSQL                    │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

  ? Install dependencies:
  ❯ Yes (both frontend & backend)
    Backend only
    Frontend only
    Skip

  [⠋] Installing dependencies...
  [✔] Dependencies installed in Frontend & Backend

  ✨ Your stack is ready!

     ⚛️  Frontend: cd my-project/react && npm run dev   →  http://localhost:5173
     🚀  Backend:  cd my-project/express && npm run dev →  http://localhost:5000
     🐘  Database: PostgreSQL

     Happy coding! 🚀

🧩 Available Templates

Frontend

| Icon | Template | Stack | Start command | Port | | ---- | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | --------------- | ---- | | ⚛️ | React | React 19 + Vite 7.2 + TypeScript 5.9 + Tailwind CSS | npm run dev | 5173 | | 🅰️ | Angular | Angular 21 + SSR + Signals + Tailwind CSS 4.x | npm run start | 4200 | | 💚 | Vue.js | Vue 3.5 + Pinia 3.0 + Vite 7.3 + Oxlint + Tailwind CSS | npm run dev | 5173 | | ▲ | Next.js | Next.js 16 + App Router + SQLite + Tailwind CSS 4 | npm run dev | 3000 |

Backend

| Icon | Template | Stack | Start command | Port | | ---- | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | ---- | | 🚀 | Express | Express 4.18 + Prisma 6 + JWT + bcrypt + Jest | npm run dev | 5000 | | 🐱 | NestJS | NestJS 11 + Passport.js + Prisma 6 + class-validator + Jest | npm run start:dev | 5000 | | ⚡ | Fastify | Fastify 5 + @fastify/jwt + Prisma 6 + Swagger + Vitest | npm run dev | 5000 |

Databases

| Icon | Database | Prisma Provider | | ---- | ----------- | --------------- | | 🐘 | PostgreSQL | postgresql | | 🐬 | MySQL | mysql | | 🪶 | MariaDB | mysql | | 🟦 | SQL Server | sqlserver | | 📁 | SQLite | sqlite | | 🪳 | CockroachDB | cockroachdb | | 🍃 | MongoDB | mongodb |

⚙️ CLI Options

Command

npx zero-config-cli init [outputDir] [options]

init is the default command, so you can omit it:

npx zero-config-cli [outputDir] [options]

Flags

| Flag | Description | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | -f, --frontend <name> | Frontend template (react, angular, vuejs, nextjs) | | -b, --backend <name> | Backend template (express, nestjs, fastify) | | -d, --database <name> | Database (postgresql, mysql, mariadb, sqlserver, sqlite, cockroachdb, mongodb) | | --frontend-folder <name> | Custom folder name for frontend | | --backend-folder <name> | Custom folder name for backend | | -t, --templates-path <path> | Local path or GitHub zip URL for templates | | --no-install | Skip npm install step | | -h, --help | Display help | | -V, --version | Show version |

Examples

# Interactive
npx zero-config-cli my-project

# Name your folders
npx zero-config-cli my-app --frontend-folder client --backend-folder server

# Non-interactive (CI-friendly)
npx zero-config-cli . -f nextjs -b fastify -d mongodb --no-install

# Use a local templates folder
npx zero-config-cli my-project -t ../zero-config-templates

# Use a GitHub zip directly
npx zero-config-cli my-project -t https://github.com/dhuruvandb/zero-config-templates/archive/main.zip

🧠 Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    zero-config-cli                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                         │
│  src/index.ts      ← Entry point (#!/usr/bin/env node)  │
│  src/cli.ts        ← Commander + @clack/prompts UI      │
│  src/registry.ts   ← Template metadata & DB mapping     │
│  src/resolver.ts   ← Auto-detect templates source       │
│  src/copier.ts     ← Recursive file copy engine         │
│  src/downloader.ts ← GitHub zip fetch + unzipper        │
│  src/prisma-swap.ts← Regex-based Prisma provider swap   │
│  src/generator.ts  ← Orchestrator (copy → swap → write)  │
│  src/installer.ts  ← npm install runner                 │
│                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
          ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
          ▼                   ▼                   ▼
 ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐
 │  Templates   │  │  Your Project    │  │  npm Registry│
 │  (local or   │──▶  ./my-project/   │  │  (published) │
 │   GitHub)    │  │  ├─ frontend/    │  └──────────────┘
 └──────────────┘  │  └─ backend/     │
                   └──────────────────┘

Template Source Resolution

The CLI resolves templates in this priority order:

--templates-path flag or ZERO_CONFIG_TEMPLATES_PATH env var
Auto-detected sibling zero-config-templates/ folder
GitHub fallback — downloads from github.com/dhuruvandb/zero-config-templates

This means it works offline if you have the templates locally, or online via GitHub download.

📈 Impact & Time Saved

| Activity | Manual setup | With Zero-Config CLI | Time saved | | ------------------------------------------- | ------------ | -------------------- | ------------------ | | Scaffolding folders + configs | 10 min | 0 | 10 min | | TypeScript + ESLint setup | 15 min | 0 | 15 min | | JWT auth (register, login, refresh, logout) | 30 min | 0 | 30 min | | Prisma ORM + database connection | 10 min | 0 | 10 min | | CRUD endpoints with owner verification | 20 min | 0 | 20 min | | Test setup + writing initial tests | 15 min | 0 | 15 min | | CORS, env vars, security headers | 10 min | 0 | 10 min | | Dockerfile + containerization setup | 15 min | 0 | 15 min | | Total per project | ~125 min | ~30 sec | ~124 min saved |

That's over 2 hours saved per project. If you start 10 projects a year, that's 20+ hours — almost 3 full working days — returned to building actual features.

💪 What Makes This Different

There are plenty of project generators out there. Here's why zero-config-cli stands out:

| Feature | Zero-Config CLI | create-react-app | create-next-app | create-nx-workspace | | ----------------------------------------------------- | :-------------: | :----------------: | :---------------: | :-------------------: | | Full-stack (frontend + backend) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Database selection (7 options) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Multiple frontends (React, Angular, Vue, Next.js) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Multiple backends (Express, NestJS, Fastify) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | JWT auth out of the box | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Prisma ORM pre-configured | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Pre-written tests | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Custom folder names | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Docker Compose auto-generated | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Interactive prompts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | Offline support | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | No cloud costs | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | Zero config to start coding | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |

Most generators give you one framework. Zero-Config CLI gives you any combination of 4 frontends, 3 backends, and 7 databases — 84 distinct stack combinations — all with auth, CRUD, tests, and Docker Compose built in.

� Docker Support

Every generated template includes a production-grade Dockerfile optimized for multi-stage builds.

Quick Start

# Build the image (replace 'react' with your template)
cd my-project/react
docker build -t my-app .

# Run the container
docker run -d -p 8080:80 my-app

Port Mapping Reference

| Template | Internal Port | Example Run Command | | -------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------- | | React | 80 (nginx) | docker run -d -p 8080:80 my-react-app | | Vue.js | 80 (nginx) | docker run -d -p 8081:80 my-vue-app | | Next.js | 3000 | docker run -d -p 3000:3000 my-next-app | | Angular | 4000 | docker run -d -p 4000:4000 my-angular-app | | Express | 5000 | docker run -d -p 5000:5000 my-express-app | | NestJS | 5000 | docker run -d -p 5001:5000 my-nest-app | | Fastify | 5000 | docker run -d -p 5002:5000 my-fastify-app |

Note: Backend templates (Express, NestJS, Fastify) connect to a database via Prisma. Set the DATABASE_URL environment variable to point to your database instance.

🗺️ The Zero-Config Ecosystem

This CLI is part of a larger ecosystem:

| Project | Description | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | zero-config | 🌐 Web app — Visual generator at zero-config.vercel.app | | zero-config-cli | 💻 You are here — Terminal-based generator | | zero-config-templates | 📦 Boilerplate source — All 7 templates with auth, CRUD, tests, and Dockerfiles |

🛠️ Development

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/dhuruvandb/zero-config-cli.git
cd zero-config-cli

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev init ./test-project

# Run tests
npm test

# Build for production
npm run build

Test Coverage

 ✓ __tests__/registry.test.ts       (31 tests)  — Template metadata + Docker configs
 ✓ __tests__/prisma-swap.test.ts    (11 tests)  — Prisma provider regex swap
 ✓ __tests__/docker-compose.test.ts (25 tests)  — Docker Compose generation for all stacks

 Test Files  3 passed (3)
      Tests  67 passed (67)

📄 License

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