SaaS Template

Production-ready single-tenant SaaS starter. Next.js 16 · Better Auth · Drizzle · Tailwind v4 · Deploy in minutes.

👉 Need workspaces / multi-tenant? See deessejs/saas-template-multi-tenant — same monorepo with the Better Auth Organization plugin wired in, for users who need per-tenant data isolation and invite-based memberships.

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What's included

Layer	What you get	Why it matters
Apps	apps/web (marketing), apps/app (authenticated product), apps/docs (Fumadocs)	Three deployable surfaces, each with its own purpose.
Auth	packages/auth ( Better Auth + Drizzle adapter, email verification, password reset	Real auth, not a demo. Production gating in apps/app/proxy.ts.
API	packages/api ( Hono + oRPC, end-to-end typed routes	Type-safe RPC without GraphQL.
Database	packages/database ( Drizzle ORM, Postgres, in-memory test runner (pg-mem)	Single source of truth for schema; tests run without a DB.
UI	packages/ui ( shadcn/ui + Tailwind v4, centralized design tokens	One component library, every app reuses it.
Tooling	pnpm 11 workspaces, Turbo v2, strict catalogs, shared ESLint + TS configs	One command rebuilds, lints, types, tests the whole monorepo.
Single-tenant	No organization plugin, no org schema, no org client	One user = one workspace. Multi-tenant is opt-in.

Why this template

• Modern, but boring where it matters. Next.js 16, Tailwind v4, React 19, TypeScript 6. Chosen because they're the default for new SaaS projects in 2026.
• Lockfile-clean pnpm catalogs. All shared versions live in pnpm-workspace.yaml with catalogMode: strict. No drift between apps.
• Real auth flow. Email verification is enforced in the proxy. No "demo" auth.
• Real database. Postgres locally (Docker) or in the cloud. Schema is generated, not hand-written.
• Three apps, one repo. Marketing, product, docs. Each deployable independently to Vercel.

Quick start

Tip

Don't want to install anything locally? Open in GitHub Codespaces. PostgreSQL is pre-configured in the dev container.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22.0.0+ (engines.node: ">=22.0.0" enforced)
• pnpm 11+ (corepack enable if not installed)
• Docker (for local Postgres). Skip if you point DATABASE_URL at a remote DB

Install and run

# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/deessejs/saas-template.git
cd saas-template

# 2. Install dependencies
pnpm install

# 3. Copy environment defaults
cp .env.example .env.local

# 4. Generate the auth schema and push it to your database
pnpm auth:generate
pnpm db:push

# 5. Start every app in dev mode
pnpm dev

Each app's default port is in its own README.md (under apps/*/). apps/app proxies trust localhost:3000 and localhost:3001 by default. See packages/auth/src/auth.ts:13.

Available commands

Command	What it does
pnpm dev	Start every app in dev mode
pnpm build	Build every workspace
pnpm lint	Lint every workspace
pnpm typecheck	Type-check every workspace
pnpm test	Run unit tests (pg-mem, no DB needed)
pnpm db:generate	Diff schema → write SQL migration
pnpm db:migrate	Apply pending migrations
pnpm db:push	Sync schema directly (dev only. Never in prod)
pnpm db:studio	Open Drizzle Studio in the browser
pnpm auth:generate	Regenerate Better Auth schema in packages/database/src/schema/auth.ts
pnpm env:check	Validate that all required env vars are present
pnpm dedupe:check	Detect duplicated dependencies

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Where	Purpose
BETTER_AUTH_URL	Yes	server	Public URL where auth runs
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET	Yes	server	Min 32 chars. Generate: openssl rand -base64 32
DATABASE_URL	Yes	server	Postgres connection string
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	No	server	CSV of trusted origins for CSRF
MAIL_TRANSPORT	No	server	console (default) or resend
RESEND_API_KEY	Prod only	server	Required when MAIL_TRANSPORT=resend
RESEND_FROM_EMAIL	Prod only	server	Verified sender on Resend
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_NAME	No	client	Marketing site brand
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL	No	client	Public URL of apps/app

Copy .env.example to .env.local to start; defaults work for local Docker Postgres.

Project structure

.
├── apps/
│   ├── web/        # Next.js 16 (marketing site) (public, no auth)
│   ├── app/        # Next.js 16 (authenticated product) (proxy.ts guard)
│   └── docs/       # Next.js 16 (Fumadocs site)
├── packages/
│   ├── auth/       # Better Auth setup (single source of truth)
│   ├── database/   # Drizzle ORM + schema (CLI-generated for auth tables)
│   ├── api/        # Hono + oRPC router
│   ├── email/      # React Email templates (Console dev / Resend prod)
│   ├── ui/         # shadcn/ui + Tailwind v4 design system
│   ├── env/        # Zod-validated env (server + client)
│   ├── cookies/    # Cookie consent UI
│   ├── utils/      # General utilities
│   ├── eslint-config/
│   └── typescript-config/
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml  # catalogs (strict)
├── turbo.json           # pipelines
└── .env.example

Deployment

One-click

Click the Deploy with Vercel button at the top. The monorepo is detected automatically; you will need to create three Vercel projects (one per app) and configure env vars per project.

Per-app mapping

App	Production URL
apps/web	https://yourdomain.com
apps/app	https://app.yourdomain.com
apps/docs	https://docs.yourdomain.com

Customization

This template is single-tenant by design. The auth guides under docs/guides/better-auth/ explain the lock-ins:

• No organization(...) plugin in packages/auth/src/auth.ts.
• No databaseHooks.session.create.before for org auto-create.
• No organizationClient() on the client.
• Email verification is enforced in apps/app/proxy.ts (unverified users redirect to /verify-email).

If you need multi-tenant, start from Better Auth's organizationPlugin separately. This template will not graft it in cleanly.

Architecture notes

• Proxy, not middleware. Next.js 16 renamed middleware.ts to proxy.ts. The auth guard lives at apps/app/proxy.ts.
• Catalogs, not manual pins. All shared versions are centralized in pnpm-workspace.yaml with catalogMode: strict.
• Schema ownership. packages/database/src/schema/auth.ts is owned by the Better Auth CLI. Never hand-edit.
• Single source of truth for auth config. Everything lives in packages/auth/src/auth.ts; routes and components import from @workspace/auth.

Contributing

Open an issue to discuss larger changes. For typos, broken links, and small fixes, PRs are welcome.

License

MIT. See the LICENSE file for details.

Support

• Issues: github.com/deessejs/saas-template/issues
• Discussions: github.com/deessejs/saas-template/discussions
• Email: support@deessejs.com