Minimal Node Express Docker TS Starter Kit

Introduction

This is my personal starter kit for Node-Express-Typescript-Docker Apps in 2025.

• Node
• Express
• Docker
• Kafka
• ESLint
• Prettier
• Vitest
• JsonWebToken (JWT)

Project Features and Setup

• Layered Architecture (controller, service, repository, model, ...etc)
• JWT-based authentication with an authentication middleware
• Nested Routers
• Component-centric folder structure
• Middlewares (logger, error, auth)
• Docker Container Images setup for production builds and local development
• .env file secrets

Getting started

Prerequisites

• Docker / Docker Desktop

This project is containerized for both local and production environments with Docker to provide portability and seamless running on different systems. Make sure you have Docker Installed.

Development / Prod Containers Notes

• Development Container - The Development Container includes a Mongo and Kafka services that use volumes to persist data and connects to them by default.
• Prod Container - The Production Container doesn't include a Mongo or a Kafka service (naturally), so if you want to run the production build, make sure you have installed Mongo & Kafka locally and have it running and exposed to the default port.

Running the app

docker compose -f compose.dev.yaml up --build
// or just use `npm start`

You can now access the app at localhost:3000 in Postman or your browser.

Roadmap

1. Add sample tests [TODO]

Contributing

Prerequisites

Make sure the ESLint extension in installed in your Code Edtior of choice so you can see the errors.

Tests

npm run test

Build for product and run

npm run build npm run