Introduction
xpress-generator is a professional CLI tool that scaffolds a complete, production-ready Express.js backend in one command.
Instead of spending hours wiring up authentication, error handling, database connections, migrations, Docker, testing, and linting from scratch — xpress-generator generates a well-structured project with all of that already configured, so you can start building features immediately.
npx xpress-generator create MyApp
Philosophy
xpress-generator is built around three core ideas:
1. Zero config, full setup
Answer a few questions and get a project that actually works — including auth routes, a database connection, migrations, Docker, middleware, and tests.
2. Opinionated but flexible
The generated project follows professional conventions (clean module architecture, separate server.js from app.js, service layer, centralized error handling) but every file is yours to modify.
3. Professional from the start
Every project is generated with testing, migrations, Docker, linting, and pre-commit hooks already configured. No shortcuts.
What gets generated
When you run npx xpress-generator create MyApp and answer the prompts, you get:
| Category | What's included |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Clean module structure — src/modules/, src/shared/, src/middleware/ |
| Auth | JWT login/logout, refresh tokens (httpOnly cookie), verifyToken, requireRole, rate limiting |
| Error handling | AppError class, global errorHandler middleware, catchAsync wrapper |
| Validation | Zod schema + reusable validate middleware |
| Database | Config file + model + service for your chosen DB |
| Migrations | Sequelize CLI (MySQL/PostgreSQL) or custom SQL runner (SQL Server) |
| Docker | Multi-stage Dockerfile + docker-compose.yml tailored to your database |
| Testing | Jest + supertest, tests/setup.js, example integration test, 70% coverage threshold |
| Linting | ESLint config (+ @typescript-eslint for TS projects) |
| Pre-commit | Husky + lint-staged auto-configured and ready |
| TypeScript | Full .ts templates, tsconfig.json, ts-node, ts-jest, all @types/* |
Supported databases
| Database | Driver / ORM | Migrations |
|---|---|---|
| MongoDB | Mongoose | — (schema-less) |
| MySQL | Sequelize + mysql2 | Sequelize CLI |
| PostgreSQL | Sequelize + pg | Sequelize CLI |
| SQL Server | mssql | Custom SQL runner |
CLI at a glance
# Create a new project
npx xpress-generator create [name]
# Generate a full CRUD module (model + service + controller + routes + schema)
npx xpress-generator generate:model <ModelName>
npx xpress-generator g:model <ModelName> # alias
# Generate a custom middleware
npx xpress-generator generate:middleware <name>
npx xpress-generator g:middleware <name> # alias
Head to Getting Started to create your first project in under 2 minutes.