Nodejs Starter - Javascript Boilerplates to start fast

 Hello Coders,

Usually, when we start a new project, the codebase tends to repeat over and over among different projects. Instead of reinventing the wheel, all the time can be a good solution to use a starter kit, already equipped with a few basic tools and features.

This article presents a shortlist with Node.js starters qualified for production use, based on a few necessary characteristics:

• clean code structure that follows proper coding standards
• documented
• actively supported
• a minimum validation (Github Stars, Number of Downloads)
• open source
• permissive license ( MIT, Apache )

In my opinion, this shortlist with requirements qualifies a NodeJS starter to become a real candidate for a production app.

This list includes only a few Nodejs starters, used by me in different projects in the last 2 years. If you know a new killer project, unlisted here, please suggest it in the comments. Thank you!

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Nodejs Starter / Vue Argon Design

Nodejs Starter - Vue Argon Design is a Full-Stack Nodejs starter equipped with a fully usable Vue.js UI, coded on top of the Argon Design System design. The app uses a decoupled architecture, where the Vue.js frontend communicates with the Nodejs through secure ajax calls.

• Nodejs Starter - Vue Argon Design - the full article that describes the starter
• Nodejs Backend - coded in Express
• Vue Argon Design frontend app

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Nodejs Starter / React Material Kit

Nodejs Starter - React Material Kit is a Full-Stack Nodejs starter equipped with a fully usable React UI, coded on top of the Material Kit design. The app uses a decoupled architecture, where the React frontend communicates with the Nodejs through secure ajax calls.

• Nodejs Starter - React Material Kit - the full article that describes the starter
• Nodejs Backend - coded in Express
• Material Kit React frontend app

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Nodejs Starter Hackathon

Nodejs Starter Hackathon is a project with 26k+ stars on Github, equipped with many useful features like:

• MVC structure
• Authentification: local (user/pass), OAuth (1.0, 2.0)
• SaaS stylesheets, Bootstrap4 integrated
• Forms powered by Mailgun and Sendgrid
• Integrations for Paypal, Twitter, LinkedIn

This starter can be overwhelming for a beginner, but this fact can be easily compensated by reading the docs and interact with the project community.

• Nodejs Starter hackathon - the source code
• Nodejs Starter hackathon demo

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Nodejs Starter API Kit

Nodejs Starter API Kit is a Boilerplate for authoring data API backends with Node.js and GraphQL. With more than 2.8k Github starts, this boilerplate is definitively a winner if your future project replaces the old school REST API with GraphQL. Features:

• Common Node.js stack: Express, Passport, Session, Cors
• PostgresSQL as DMBS, along with Redis
• Localization and translations
• Nodemailer, Handlebars templating
• Deployment: via Docker

Starter Links

• Nodejs Starter API Kit sources
• License - MIT. Supported by Kriasoft

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Nodejs Starter Serverless

Nodejs Starter Serverless is a Node.js starter for the Serverless Framework with async/await and unit test support. The project is actively supported by Frank Wang with 450 Github stars. This starter got my attention mainly for the serverless concept, which is a rising concept in web development nowadays. Features:

• Integrate serverless-webpack plugin
• ES7 syntax in handler functions
• Support for unit tests (via Jtest)

Nodejs Starter Serverless Live sample hosted on AWS, and a sample of the code executed when we click on the link:

export const hello = async (event, context) => {
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: JSON.stringify({
      message: `Go Serverless v1.0! ${(await message({ time: 1, copy: 'Your function executed successfully!'}))}`,
      input: event,
    }),
  };
};

const message = ({ time, ...rest }) => new Promise((resolve, reject) =>
  setTimeout(() => {
    resolve(`${rest.copy} (with a delay)`);
  }, time * 1000)
);

To start playing with this Nodejs starter, here is the list with requirements:

• Serverless Framework
• AWS CLI

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Nodejs Starter Express Bootstrap

Nodejs Starter Express Bootstrap is a lightweight Bootstrap NodeJS boilerplate built with ExpressJS 4, MongoDB/Mongoose, Authentication with Passport.js, Jade and GruntJS as Task Automation.

The app is well organized and actively supported by a freelancer. The demo link, hosted on Heroku, seems to be dead. The app can be successfully built on (at least) on Windows10 and Ubuntu 18.04.

Not here production-ready Nodejs starter you know? Please suggest in the comments.

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Resources

• Boilerplate Code - Open-source Starters
• Nodejs Starter - Open-Source Boilerplate Code
• Nodejs Starter - Javascript Boilerplate - this article with much more information
• What is boilerplate
• Starters and Boilerplate Code - provided by AppSeed

Thank you!