express-pack

express-pack simplifies Express.js app creation by bundling common middleware and providing a straightforward configuration system. Perfect for new projects or rapid prototyping!

---

🚀 Features

• Pre-configured middleware:
  • Environment management using dotenv
  • Request logging with winston
  • Security enhancements with helmet
  • Body parsing with body-parser
• Simplified route management.
• Fully customizable via configuration files.

---

📦 Installation

Install the package using npm or yarn:

npm install express-pack

or

yarn add express-pack

🛠️ Usage

Project Setup Guide

⚙️ Easy Setup Instructions

After installation, when you run the setup, you will be prompted with configuration questions.

1️⃣ Enable Nodemon for Development

1Do you want to use nodemon for development? (yes/no)
2
3- **Yes** → Adds a dev script using nodemon.
4- **No** → Uses node directly.
5

2️⃣ Generate Basic Express App Structure

1Do you want to set up the basic Express app structure? (yes/no)
2
3- **Yes** → Automatically creates a structured Express.js app with controllers, routes, and configuration files.
4- **No** → Skips the setup and allows manual configuration.
5

📂 Project Structure

If you choose to set up the Express app, the following directory structure will be created:

1/project-root
2  ├── /src
3  │    ├── /featureName1
4  │    │    ├── /controllers
5  │    │    ├── /routes
6  │    │
7  │    ├── /featureName2
8  │    │    ├── /controllers
9  │    │    ├── /routes
10  ├── /config
11  │    ├── appConfig.js
12  │    └── routeConfig.js
13  ├── index.js
14  ├── package.json
15  └── .env

🚀 Running the Application

After setup, you can start the application using:

1npm run dev   # If nodemon is enabled
2npm start     # Runs the app with node

🛠️ Configuration Files

• config/appConfig.js - Contains Express middleware configurations.
• config/routeConfig.js - Manages the routes for the application.

✨ Features

✅ Automatic project structure generation

✅ Support for nodemon for development

✅ Follows MVC architecture for clean code organization

✅ Quick setup with interactive prompts

Here’s how you can set up manualy and start using express-pack:

index.js / server.js

1const { CreateApp, BindRoutes } = require("express-pack");
2
3// routes arrays
4const { routes } = require("./config/routeConfig");
5
6// app config for express-pack
7const { appConfig } = require("./config/appConfig");
8
9// create app from express-pack
10const app = CreateApp(appConfig);
11
12// binding the routes with app
13BindRoutes(routes);
14
15app?.listen(3000, () => {
16  console.log("I am listening to 3000 port");
17});

Configuration

config/appConfig.js

Customize your application behavior with the appConfig object.

Example Configuration:

✅ Easily create a new Express app

✅ Automatically apply a pre-configured with standard default settings

✅ Set up essential middleware for CORS, logging, body parsing, and security

1module.exports = {
2  appConfig: {
3    env: "development", // custom path for .env file
4    cors: {}, // CORS settings
5    logger: {}, // Logger configuration
6    bodyParser: {}, // Body parser settings
7    security: {}, // Security configurations
8  },
9};

---

📌 Configuration Options

Body Parser Configuration

Handles request body parsing.

Option	Default Value	Description
json	{ limit: "100kb" }	Limits JSON body size
urlencoded	{ extended: true, limit: "100kb" }	Parses URL-encoded bodies
raw	{ type: "application/octet-stream", limit: "100kb" }	Parses raw binary data
text	{ type: "text/plain", limit: "100kb" }	Parses plain text

Example Usage:

1bodyParser: {
2  json: { limit: "1mb" },
3  urlencoded: { extended: true, limit: "500kb" },
4},

---

CORS Configuration

Manages cross-origin resource sharing.

Option	Default Value	Description
methods	["GET", "HEAD", "PUT", "PATCH", "POST", "DELETE"]	Allowed HTTP methods
allowedHeaders	undefined	Headers allowed from requests
exposedHeaders	[]	Custom headers exposed to client
credentials	false	Allows sending cookies
maxAge	86400	Cache preflight requests
preflightContinue	false	Pass preflight responses to handlers

Example Usage:

1cors: {
2  methods: ["GET", "POST"],
3  credentials: true,
4},

---

Logger Configuration

Handles application logging using Winston.

Option	Default Value	Description
level	"info"	Logging level
format	timestamp + message	Log format
transports	[Console, File]	Output destinations
exitOnError	false	Exit on error

Example Usage:

1logger: {
2  level: "debug",
3  transports: [new transports.Console()],
4},

---

Security Configuration

Enhances security with Helmet.js settings.

Option	Default Value	Description
contentSecurityPolicy	false	Enables CSP headers
dnsPrefetchControl	true	Controls DNS prefetching
frameguard	"sameorigin"	Prevents clickjacking
hsts	{ maxAge: 0 }	HTTP Strict Transport Security
noSniff	false	Prevents MIME sniffing
xssFilter	true	Enables XSS protection

Example Usage:

1security: {
2  hsts: { maxAge: 31536000 },
3  xssFilter: false,
4},

Compression Configuration

Optimizes server performance by compressing HTTP responses.

Option	Default Value	Description
level	6	Compression level (0-9) for Gzip. Higher values result in better compression.
threshold	1024	Only compress responses larger than 1KB. Smaller responses are sent uncompressed.
filter	Function	A function to determine whether to apply compression based on request/response.

Example Usage:

1compression: {
2  level: 9,
3  threshold: 2048,
4  filter: (req, res) => {
5    if (req.headers["x-no-compression"]) {
6      return false; // Skip compression if client requests no compression
7    }
8    return compression.filter(req, res); // Default compression filter
9  },
10},

Router configuration

config/routeConfig.js

Organize your routes easily with the routes array.

1const TestRoute = require("../src/test/route");
2
3module.exports = {
4  routes: [
5    {
6      path: "/route", // Define the URL path for this route
7      route: TestRoute, // Link to the corresponding route file
8    },
9  ],
10};

Example Route (TestRoute)

Define and manage your endpoints with ease using Router.

1const { Router } = require("express-pack");
2const TestController = require("../controller/index");
3
4// Define a GET endpoint for health checks or basic operations
5Router.get("/health-check", TestController.testMethod);
6
7// Define a POST endpoint for creating or processing data
8Router.post("/submit-data", TestController.testPostMethod);
9
10module.exports = Router;

📖 Documentation

1. CreateApp(config)

Creates an Express application pre-configured with essential middleware.

• Parameters:
  config (Object) – Your application configuration.
• Returns:
  An instance of an Express app.

---

2. BindRoutes(routes)

Binds an array of routes to the application.

• Parameters:
  routes (Array) – A list of route configurations.

• Example:

1const routes = [{ path: "/api", route: ApiRoute }];
2BindRoutes(routes);

📂 Project Structure

1my-project/
2├── config/
3│   ├── appConfig.js        # Application configuration
4│   └── routeConfig.js      # Routes configuration
5├── src/
6│   └── test/               # Your route handlers
7│       └── route.js        # Example route handler
8├── index.js                # Main entry point of the application
9
10

🤝 Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the developers and contributors who make Express.js development easier every day!