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Harsh Tanwar
Harsh Tanwar

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🚀 Build Scalable AI-Powered SaaS Apps | Instantly | Luff-App

#webdev #npm #programming #boilerplate

📝 Description

A modern, production-grade microservices monorepo designed to help developers build scalable, AI-powered applications quickly using Next.js, Express, Prisma, and PostgreSQL — enhanced with built-in AI (chat + RAG), payment integrations, and optimized for real-world deployment.

👉 Check out the package here:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/create-luff-app

🌟 Introduction

Building scalable applications from scratch can be time-consuming and complex. Setting up authentication, APIs, databases, infrastructure, AI capabilities, and payments often takes longer than building the actual product.

That’s where Luff Microservices Boilerplate comes in.

It’s a production-ready monorepo designed to eliminate setup friction and let you focus on building features — not infrastructure.

Now extended with AI-first capabilities and payment integrations, it enables you to build modern SaaS applications faster than ever.

⚡ Why Luff Boilerplate?

This boilerplate is built with a strong focus on:

  • 🚀 Speed — Instant project setup with CLI
  • 🧱 Scalability — Microservices architecture
  • 🧑‍💻 Developer Experience — Clean structure + modern tooling
  • 🔐 Production Readiness — Auth, DB, infra pre-configured
  • 🤖 AI Ready — Built-in chatbot + RAG support
  • 💳 Monetization Ready — Payment gateway integration support

🏗️ Architecture Overview

The system follows a clean microservices architecture:

  • API Gateway handles routing, rate limiting, and service orchestration
  • Auth Service manages authentication via Google OAuth + JWT
  • Posts Service handles blog/content operations
  • AI Service enables chatbot + RAG pipelines
  • Payment Service handles billing, subscriptions, and transactions
  • Frontend App connects everything via a unified UI

This separation ensures:

  • Better scalability
  • Independent deployments
  • Clean service boundaries
  • Easy extensibility for AI and payments

🤖 AI Capabilities (New)

Luff now comes with built-in AI support, enabling you to create intelligent applications out of the box.

Features:

  • AI Chatbot (Generic Mode)

    • Direct LLM-based conversations

  • RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

    • Upload PDFs or documents
    • Convert into embeddings
    • Context-aware responses

  • Multi-Provider Support

    • Works with OpenAI, Groq, or other providers

  • Extensible AI Layer

    • Easily build custom assistants (support bot, docs bot, etc.)

💳 Payment Integration (New)

Luff includes a foundation for integrating payment systems into your application.

Features:

  • Subscription-based billing
  • One-time payments
  • Secure webhook handling
  • User-level billing tracking

👉 Easily integrate providers like:

  • Stripe
  • Razorpay

This allows you to build monetizable SaaS products from day one.

🛠️ Tech Stack Breakdown

Frontend

  • Next.js (App Router)
  • Tailwind CSS
  • React Query

Backend

  • Node.js + Express
  • TypeScript

Database

  • PostgreSQL
  • Prisma ORM

Authentication

  • Google OAuth (PostMessage flow)
  • JWT-based sessions

AI Layer

  • LLM APIs (OpenAI / Groq)
  • Embeddings + Vector DB (RAG support)

Payments

  • Stripe / Razorpay integration ready

Infrastructure

  • Docker (local + production)
  • Kubernetes (ArgoCD-ready)

Monorepo

  • Turborepo
  • npm workspaces

🚀 Quick Start

You can bootstrap your entire project in seconds:

npx create-luff-app my-app
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This command:

  • Clones the repo
  • Installs dependencies
  • Sets up project structure
  • Optionally configures AI and payment modules

⚙️ Local Development Setup

1. Install Dependencies 

npm install
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2. Setup Environment 

npm run setup
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3. Start Databases (Docker) 

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up auth-db posts-db -d
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4. Initialize Databases 

cd backend/auth && npm run db:push && npm run db:generate
cd backend/posts && npm run db:push && npm run db:generate
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5. Run the App 

npm run dev
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🌐 Services Running Locally

📂 Project Structure

The monorepo is cleanly organized:

  • frontend/ → Next.js app
  • backend/auth/ → Authentication service
  • backend/posts/ → Blog service
  • backend/api-gateway/ → Routing layer
  • backend/ai/ → AI + RAG service
  • backend/payments/ → Payment service
  • shared/ → Common utilities
  • docker/ → Container setup
  • k8s/ → Kubernetes configs

🔐 Authentication Setup

To enable Google OAuth:

  1. Create credentials in Google Cloud Console
  2. Add origin: http://localhost:3000
  3. Update environment variables: 
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
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🤖 AI Setup

Add your provider keys:

OPENAI_API_KEY=
GROQ_API_KEY=
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Optional (for RAG):

VECTOR_DB_URL=
VECTOR_DB_TOKEN=
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💳 Payment Setup

Configure your payment provider:

STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=
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OR

RAZORPAY_KEY_ID=
RAZORPAY_KEY_SECRET=
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🐳 Deployment Options

Docker 

docker compose up --build
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Kubernetes 

kubectl apply -f k8s/
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📜 Useful Scripts

  • npm run dev → Start all services
  • npm run build → Build everything
  • npm run setup → Setup env files
  • npm run lint → Run lint checks

💡 Final Thoughts

The Luff Microservices Boilerplate is more than just a starter template — it’s a complete foundation for building modern AI-powered SaaS applications.

Whether you're:

  • Building a SaaS product
  • Adding AI to your app
  • Implementing RAG workflows
  • Monetizing with subscriptions
  • Practicing system design

Luff gives you a serious head start.

🚀 Start Building Today

Skip the setup. Focus on building.

npx create-luff-app your-app
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📄 License

MIT License — free to use, modify, and scale.

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