express-laravel-scaffold/README.md

A CLI to scaffold a secure, feature-rich Express.js project with a Laravel-like structure, including an artisan-like CLI.

# Express Laravel Scaffold

[![NPM Version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/express-laravel-scaffold.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/express-laravel-scaffold)

A powerful, secure, and feature-rich CLI tool to scaffold a new Express.js project with a structure and feature set inspired by Laravel.

Stop writing boilerplate! `create-express-app` generates a project with everything you need to be productive from day one, including an MVC architecture, an ORM, a templating engine, a queue system, and an `artisan`-like CLI for code generation.

## Features

- **MVC Architecture:** Clean, organized, and scalable project structure.
- **Eloquent-like ORM:** Uses `@adonisjs/lucid` with Knex.js for beautiful and powerful database interactions.
- **Blade-like Templating:** Leverages `@edge/simple` for elegant and component-based views.
- **Artisan-like CLI:** Includes a `craft.js` script to generate controllers, models, and migrations (`npm run craft -- make:controller ...`).
- **Advanced Routing:** A fluent, chainable route builder for creating groups, prefixes, and applying middleware.
- **Built-in Queue System:** A MySQL-based queue using `oxen-queue` for background job processing.
- **Security-First:** Comes with `helmet` and `express-rate-limit` pre-configured.
- **Modern Tooling:** Uses ES6+, DotENV for environment management, and `nodemon` for hot-reloading.

## Installation

Install the CLI globally using npm:

```bash
npm install -g express-laravel-scaffold
```

## Quick Start

1.  **Create a new project:**

    ```bash
    create-express-app my-awesome-project
    ```

2.  **Navigate to your project directory:**

    ```bash
    cd my-awesome-project
    ```

3.  **Install dependencies:**

    ```bash
    npm install
    ```

4.  **Configure your environment:**

    -   Copy the `.env.example` file to a new file named `.env`.
    -   Update the `.env` file with your MySQL database credentials.

    ```bash
    cp .env.example .env
    # Now, open .env and edit your DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASS, etc.
    ```

5.  **Run database migrations:**

    This will create the `users` and `oxen_queue` tables.

    ```bash
    npx knex migrate:latest
    ```

6.  **Start the development server:**

    ```bash
    npm start
    ```

Your application is now running at `http://localhost:3000`.

## The `craft` CLI

The generated project includes a powerful command-line tool to speed up your workflow. Use it to create common files without writing boilerplate.

-   **Create a Controller:**
    ```bash
    npm run craft -- make:controller PostController
    ```

-   **Create a Model:**
    ```bash
    npm run craft -- make:model Post
    ```

-   **Create a Migration:**
    ```bash
    npm run craft -- make:migration create_posts_table
    ```

-   **Create a Middleware:**
    ```bash
    npm run craft -- make:middleware CheckAdmin
    ```

## Project Structure

```
my-awesome-project/
├── config/             # Configuration files (app, database, security)
├── controllers/        # Route handling logic
├── database/
│   └── migrations/     # Database migration files
├── lib/                # Core application libraries (e.g., RouteBuilder)
├── middleware/         # Custom middleware
├── models/             # Lucid ORM models
├── public/             # Static assets (CSS, JS, images)
├── queues/             # Job definitions for the queue system
├── routes/             # Application routes (web.js, api.js)
├── stubs/              # Templates for the 'craft' CLI
├── views/              # Edge templates, layouts, and components
├── .env.example        # Example environment file
├── craft.js            # The artisan-like CLI tool
├── index.js            # Application entry point
└── package.json
```
"# express-laravel-scaffold"