Create Express Setup

Interactive CLI tool for scaffolding Express.js projects with TypeScript or JavaScript support

Code Demo

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Project Overview

Create Express Setup is a powerful command-line interface tool that streamlines the process of creating Express.js applications. It provides an interactive setup with customizable options including TypeScript/JavaScript support, ESM/CommonJS module systems, and optional ESLint and Prettier configurations. The tool automatically generates a professional project structure with organized folders, environment variables setup, and pre-configured build and development scripts. It's designed for developers who want to quickly bootstrap Express.js projects with best practices and modern tooling.

Key Features

Interactive Project Setup: Guided CLI prompts for customizing project configuration

Language Choice: Select between TypeScript or JavaScript for your project

Module System Selection: Choose ESM (ECMAScript Modules) or CommonJS

Professional Folder Structure: Auto-generates organized directories (models, routes, controllers, middleware, config, utils, services, types)

TypeScript Support: Full TypeScript configuration with strict mode and type definitions

ESLint Integration: Optional ESLint v9 setup with flat config format and TypeScript support

Prettier Configuration: Optional code formatting with Prettier integration

Environment Variables: Automatic .env file creation with common configurations

Hot Reload Development: Pre-configured dev scripts with tsx, ts-node-dev, or nodemon

Build Scripts: Automated build process for TypeScript projects

Git Integration: Automatic .gitignore generation for Node.js projects

Dependency Auto-Install: Automatic installation of required dependencies

Multiple Package Managers: Support for npm, yarn, and pnpm

Source Directory Option: Choose to organize code in src/ folder or root level

CLI Options: Version check and help commands for easy usage

Challenges

Handling different module system configurations (ESM vs CommonJS)
Managing TypeScript path resolution and file extensions for ESM
Creating flexible templates that work with both TypeScript and JavaScript
Ensuring proper dependency installation order and compatibility
Supporting multiple package managers with different commands

Key Learnings

CLI development with interactive prompts using Inquirer.js
File system operations and template generation
Package manager detection and command execution
ESLint v9 flat config format and migration strategies
TypeScript configuration for different module systems

Project Highlights

Published on NPM as create-express-setup

Supports both TypeScript and JavaScript projects

Professional folder structure with best practices

ESLint v9 flat config with TypeScript support

Project Info

Team Size

1 Developer

My Role

Creator

Technologies

TypeScript

Node.js

Express

Inquirer.js

Chalk

Ora

Execa

fs-extra

ESLint

Prettier

View Source Code Live Demo