Express Generator

A powerful CLI tool that scaffolds a TypeScript-ready Express.js project with a well-organized folder structure, starter configuration files, and example route/controller code. Get your Express API up and running in seconds!

✨ Features

• 🎯 Interactive CLI - Simple prompt-based interface to name your project
• 📁 Organized Structure - Pre-configured folder structure following best practices
• ⚡ TypeScript Ready - Full TypeScript support with proper configuration
• 🔧 Modern Tooling - Includes ts-node, nodemon, and TypeScript out of the box
• 📝 Starter Templates - Example controller and route files to get you started
• ⚙️ Configuration Files - Pre-configured package.json, tsconfig.json, and nodemon.json
• 🎨 Beautiful CLI - Colorful terminal output with ASCII art banner

📋 Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• npm or yarn
• TypeScript (installed as a dependency)

🚀 Installation

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Install dependencies:

npm install

💻 Usage

Run the generator from the project root:

npm start

Or directly with ts-node:

npx ts-node src/index.ts

When prompted, enter a name for your Express application. The generator will create a new folder with that name in your current working directory.

Example:

$ npm start
What do you want to call your app? my-awesome-api
📁 Created project: my-awesome-api
📂 controllers created!
📂 routes created!
📂 middleware created!
📂 config created!
📂 utils created!
📂 libs created!
📂 services created!
📄 File created: package.json
📄 File created: tsconfig.json
📄 File created: nodemon.json
📄 File created: index.ts
📄 File created: .env
✅ Project setup completed
Run npm install to continue

📂 Generated Project Structure

<your-app-name>/
├── package.json          # Project dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json         # TypeScript configuration
├── nodemon.json          # Nodemon configuration for auto-reload
└── src/
    ├── index.ts          # Main Express server file
    ├── .env              # Environment variables template
    ├── controllers/      # Request handlers
    │   └── user.controller.ts
    ├── routes/           # API route definitions
    │   └── user.route.ts
    ├── middleware/       # Custom middleware functions
    ├── config/           # Configuration files
    ├── utils/            # Utility functions
    ├── libs/             # Third-party library wrappers
    └── services/         # Business logic services

🎯 Working With the Generated App

1. Navigate to your newly generated project:

cd <your-app-name>

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Start the development server:

npm run start

The server will start on port 5000 by default. Visit http://localhost:5000 to see the default response.

Default Endpoint

• GET / - Returns "Express app is running"

🛠️ Project Structure (Generator)

express-generator/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts                    # Main CLI entry point
│   └── helpers/
│       └── generators/
│           ├── config-files.ts     # Configuration file templates
│           ├── controller-files.ts # Controller and route templates
│           └── src-files.ts        # Source file templates
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── nodemon.json

🔧 Customization

To customize the generated files, edit the templates in src/helpers/generators/:

• config-files.ts - Modify package.json, tsconfig.json, or nodemon.json templates
• controller-files.ts - Update controller and route file templates
• src-files.ts - Customize the main index.ts and .env files

📝 Development Notes

• The generator uses figlet for ASCII art banners and chalk for colored terminal output
• All file templates are defined in the src/helpers/generators/ directory
• The generated app uses nodemon to watch for file changes and auto-reload
• TypeScript files are executed directly using ts-node in development

🗺️ Roadmap

Future enhancements may include:

• Support for additional resource templates (services, repositories, models)
• Optional database setup (Prisma, Sequelize, TypeORM)
• Command-line flags to skip prompts or choose templates
• Support for different project structures (MVC, Clean Architecture, etc.)
• Integration with testing frameworks (Jest, Mocha)
• Docker configuration generation
• CI/CD pipeline templates

📄 License

MIT © 2025