Prelude
I've worked over several backend technologies, starting from PHP, then moving to RoR before getting my hands on NodeJS. I love h...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
I think it's not a secret for anyone that express.js is a dead project. Gets some packages updated every half of the year, and it hasn't changed in 5 years.
Outdated, and slow, with a whole bunch of legacy code supporting very old node versions. Why do you need It?
I highly recommend not making a monolith when your client side and server side are together in the same project. Create two projects and use the API.
I disagree that express is dead. Are you even up with the latest frameworks like NestJS, NextJS etc.. which have over a million downloads a week on npm registry? They all use express under the hood. Just because you’re not using it directly doesn’t mean it is dead. There are 65k dependent packages as we speak.
you damn right man... I disliked Express cause of having no structure and was annoying when projects got bigger and bigger. It was till the day I started workign with Nestjs... OHHH My God!!!! Is this a dream??? OOP , Modularity, scalablity!!! Am I alive!! you are right man, nestjs is on top of Express and Fastify, but with a turning point feature which is it's modularity and OOP style and many industry standard features that come out of the box.. I love it man.
Lol Okay!
How is Expresssjs a dead project? They have been pushing out updates regularly.
Secondly I've stated that the above could be used as a website and as a standalone project if it's API only. The only thing you need to do is get rid of public and src like folders which are not relevant. Rest stays pretty much the same.
I find this very insightful. I don't really understand why people would keep suggesting and/or tell people to use a different library than the ones mentioned in this article, but I totally get that there are libraries that are better than the ones we use, but this focuses on the stuff that the majority of the developers/engineers use. I also do think this post is usually for those who want to learn and understand and gain different approaches and perspective from different people in terms of file architecture.
Stop using
dotenv. Use wj-config. It is far better.Not to be super critical, but you should probably disclose that you're the only contributor to wj-config, a project that's only a few months old, when you promote your own work. Telling someone to stop using something because your creation is "far better" as a single, isolated statement without justification, context, or evidence, is self-biased.
Yes, it is self-biased. I, however, would not invest time in trying to solve something that already has an acceptable solution. I come from the .Net environment where configuration is far more robust. When I had the need for configuration in the JavaScript realm it was a shock for me. I could not stand the current configuration solutions, so I made my own.
As far as being the only contributor or being a few months old, I don't see the relevance. The product can speak for itself, regardless of who made it, I would say.
It might not seem relevant to you as the author -- it's certainly relevant to everyone else in the community when you express authoritative (and biased, self-promoting) comments and tell somebody what to do (or stop doing), as you did. A bit of self-awareness as well as a little tact toward the author of the post you commented on is healthy, friend.
Ah, I see now what you meant. It is not about the capability of the package, it is about the social aspect of the sentence. I just wrote that quickly, as I do most comments, without a second thought.
I get it. I meant no disrespect towards the author. I simply volunteered an option without much second thought.
What problem does it solve in the above context as opposed to using dotENV?
I don't know way I don't love this kind of folder structure where route, controller are not at the same file
Here What I prefer:
`
project-root/
│
├── src/
│ ├── api/ # Group controllers, routes, and validation by feature
│ │ ├── user/
│ │ │ ├── user.controller.ts # User controller
│ │ │ ├── user.route.ts # User routes
│ │ │ ├── user.validation.ts # User input validation (optional)
│ │ │ └── user.service.ts # User-specific services
│ ├── database/
│ │ ├── Redis.database.js
│ │ ├── Mongo.database.js
│ │ └── auth/
│ │ ├── auth.controller.ts # Auth controller
│ │ ├── auth.route.ts # Auth routes
│ │ ├── auth.service.ts # Auth service
│ │ └── auth.validation.ts # Auth validation (optional)
│ │
│ ├── config/ # App configuration (environment, database, etc.)
│ │ ├── database.ts # Database connection
│ │ ├── env.ts # Environment variable configuration
│ │ └── logger.ts # Logger configuration
│ │
│ ├── middlewares/ # Custom middleware (authentication, error handling)
│ │ ├── error.middleware.ts # Centralized error handling
│ │ ├── auth.middleware.ts # Auth middleware for protected routes
│ │ └── validate.middleware.ts # Validation middleware for request schemas
│ │
│ ├── models/ # Mongoose/Sequelize models or DB schemas
│ │ ├── user.model.ts # User model (Mongoose, Sequelize, etc.)
│ │ └── auth.model.ts # Auth-related model (tokens, sessions, etc.)
│ │
│ ├── services/ # Business logic and reusable services
│ │ ├── email.service.t # Email service (send emails)
│ │ ├── auth.service.ts # Authentication and authorization service
│ │ └── user.service.ts # User-related services (CRUD operations)
│ │
│ ├── utils/ # Helper functions/utilities (non-business logic)
│ │ ├── httpResponse.ts # Standardized response format
│ │ ├── constants.ts # App constants
│ │ └── hash.ts # Password hashing utility
│ │
│ ├── validations/ # Centralized validation schemas (using Zod, Joi, etc.)
│ │ ├── user.validation.ts # User-related validation
│ │ └── auth.validation.ts # Auth validation
│ │
│ ├── app.ts # Initialize Express app
│ └── index.ts # Main entry point to start the server
│
├── dist/ # Compiled JavaScript files (from TypeScript)
│
├── node_modules/ # Dependencies
│
├── .env # Environment variables
├── .eslintignore # ESLint ignore patterns
├── .eslintrc.json # ESLint configuration
├── .gitignore # Ignore node_modules and dist
├── package.json # Project dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json # TypeScript configuration
└── README.md
`
Use aex instead of express
What problem is aex solving that express doesn’t? What now the only thing I can see it is pushing the use of decorators, which feels more like something a Java insisted on.
What’s your relationship to aex?
Just take a look at:
github.com/calidion/aex
It has at lease the following advantages over express:
And 20% faster than express.
Are you the author of aex?
AEX is the only project that makes reference to “web straight line”, from what I can see. Also articles on it on medium don’t have any feedback, making me nervous about something that doesn’t have a proper discussion.
What is wrong if I am the author? So you determine things by medium not logic?
There is nothing wrong if you are the author, just that you aren’t being transparent that you are. It’s like recommending stocks, while not disclosing you are the owner of the business.
It helps us in deciding how objective an opinion is.
It was interesting to read your article and learn something new. I myself now work in a company and do database management. I recently had a problem, I didn't know how to quickly sync data in MySQL. So, I came across this article about sync MySQL databases Where I found a detailed guide on how to do everything. Perhaps someone will also find it useful, so I'll leave it here.
For the most part, you have a great structure. I have something to add on to the structure. Basically, we can follow something called domain-driven development. By doing this we can make the codebase a lot more maintainable. You can read about it in this blog post.
Scalable Directory Structure for NodeJS + Express Web Servers
The folder structure for a Node.js and Express.js project helps keep your code organized by grouping related files together. It has separate folders for configuration, handling routes, database models, middleware, and other important parts of your app. This makes it easier to find and manage your code as your project grows.
Great explanation
Great article!
test
They @mr_ali3n can you provide template of this nodejs folder structure. It would be really helpfull.
Thank You.
i am creating the mern stack project give me the folder structure
Thanks for sharing these best practices. It’s always helpful to see how experienced developers structure their projects to keep things manageable.
Сongratulations 🥳! Your article hit the top posts for the week - dev.to/fruntend/top-10-posts-for-f...
Keep it up 👍
Interesting perspective on Express.js! While some argue it’s outdated, its continued use in many modern frameworks suggests it still has a strong presence in the ecosystem.
Your guide promotes a clear and structured approach to Node.js project organization, making it easier for developers to maintain and scale their applications.
Well explained! The structure is clear and easy to follow. Thanks for sharing!
🙂 nice
very useful
Very useful one.
A detailed explanation. It taught me a lot as a NodeJS begginer.
Well said
This folder structure seems easy to follow, clean and manageable. Thanks for this!
Useful article, especially for beginners.
A good folder structure in your Node JS and Express JS project helps keep your code organized and easy to debug. It makes your project clearer and simpler to work with. Thank you for this blog!