better-ts-stack

An interactive CLI that scaffolds TypeScript backend and full-stack projects.

Answer a few prompts to pick a framework, database, authentication, and Docker setup. The CLI writes a project that is ready to install and run.

Features

• Interactive prompts, no flags or subcommands
• Only the modules you select are added
• Backend API template (Express.js with TypeScript)
• Full-stack templates (Next.js 16 or TanStack Start with React)
• Database integration: PostgreSQL (Prisma or Drizzle) or MongoDB (Mongoose)
• Authentication: JWT for Express, Better Auth for Next.js and TanStack Start (requires a database)
• Optional Docker support with multi-stage builds
• TypeScript with strict mode enabled
• ESLint + Prettier pre-configured
• Hot reload for development

Quick Start

# Using npx (recommended)
npx better-ts-stack

# Or install globally
npm install -g better-ts-stack
better-ts-stack

Answer the prompts and the CLI creates the project folder.

Prompt Flow

The CLI guides you through these questions in order:

1. Project name — becomes the folder name and package.json name
2. Application type — Backend API or Full-stack
   • Backend: prompts for framework (Express; NestJS coming soon)
   • Full-stack: prompts for frontend framework (Next.js or TanStack Start)
3. Database type — none, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB
4. ORM/ODM (if a database is selected):
   • PostgreSQL → Prisma or Drizzle
   • MongoDB → Mongoose
5. Package manager — npm, pnpm, or bun
6. Docker — include Docker configuration? (yes/no)
7. Authentication — add auth?
   • Express: JWT-based auth (always available)
   • Next.js / TanStack Start: Better Auth (only prompted when a database is selected)
8. Git — initialize a git repository? (yes/no)
9. Install dependencies — run the install command now? (yes/no)

Note: The CLI does not ask for a port. The server port defaults to 3000 via the PORT environment variable.

What You Get

A generated project includes:

• TypeScript in strict mode across all generated files
• ESLint and Prettier configuration
• Environment variable setup (.env.example / .env)
• A health check endpoint (GET /health) for backend projects
• Database connection and ORM setup (if selected)
• Authentication scaffolding (if selected)
• Docker files (if selected)
• Optional git repository initialization

Available Modules

Backend — Express (always included for backend type)

• Express.js server with TypeScript
• Middleware: cors, helmet, morgan
• Health check route at /health
• dev, build, start, lint, format, type:check scripts

Frontend — Next.js

• Next.js 16 with React 19 and App Router
• Tailwind CSS v4
• dev, build, start, lint scripts
• A proxy configuration file (proxy.ts) rendered from a Handlebars template

Frontend — TanStack Start

• TanStack Start (React) with TanStack Router, React Query, and SSR
• Tailwind CSS v4
• Vite-based build (no Nitro) producing dist/server/server.js + dist/client
• Production serving via srvx (start script, also used in Docker)
• ~/* path alias and components.json (shadcn-style) configured for UI components
• dev, build, start, preview, type:check, lint scripts
• Auth routes use server functions (createServerFn) with cookie-based sessions

Database modules

Combination	Template files generated
PostgreSQL + Prisma (Express)	prisma/schema.prisma, src/lib/prisma.ts
PostgreSQL + Prisma (Next.js / TanStack)	prisma/schema.prisma, lib/prisma.ts / src/lib/prisma.ts, prisma.config.ts
PostgreSQL + Drizzle (Express / Next.js / TanStack)	src/lib/schema.ts / lib/schema.ts, database helper, drizzle.config.ts
MongoDB + Mongoose (Express / Next.js / TanStack)	src/lib/db.ts / lib/db.ts, src/models/User.ts / models/User.ts

Auth modules

Context	Implementation	Generated files
Express backend	JWT + bcrypt	src/lib/jwt.ts, src/middleware/requireAuth.ts, src/services/userStore.ts, src/routes/auth.ts, src/controllers/authController.ts
Next.js fullstack	Better Auth (requires database)	lib/auth.ts, lib/auth-client.ts, app/api/auth/[...all]/route.ts
TanStack fullstack	Better Auth (requires database)	src/lib/auth.ts, src/lib/auth-client.ts, src/lib/auth-functions.ts, src/routes/api/auth/$.ts

Docker module

Files generated
Dockerfile (multi-stage, framework-aware)
docker-compose.yml
.dockerignore

Scripts added: docker:build, docker:up, docker:down, docker:logs

Technology Stack

Layer	Technology
Runtime	Node.js 24+ with TypeScript 6.0
Backend framework	Express.js 5
Frontend framework	Next.js 16 / TanStack Start / React 19
Database ORMs	Prisma, Drizzle, Mongoose
Auth	JWT (jsonwebtoken + bcrypt) / Better Auth
Hot reload	tsx watch (Express) / next dev (Next.js) / vite dev (TanStack)
Linting	ESLint 10 with TypeScript plugin
Formatting	Prettier

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

MIT