🌊 Node-Flow

Node-Flow is a code generator that scaffolds a full-featured backend application using Node.js, TypeScript, Express, Prisma, and PostgreSQL.

It gives you a clean, modular, and production-friendly codebase instantly — so you can focus on building features instead of boilerplate.

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🧰 Tech Stack

• Node.js – Runtime environment
• Express – Web framework for routing and middleware
• TypeScript – Static typing and tooling
• PostgreSQL – Relational database
• Prisma – ORM for type-safe database access

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🧠 What Node-Flow Does

The Node-Flow Code Generator automatically creates a ready-to-run backend application by:

• ✅ Creating a modular folder structure (controllers, routes, services, types, etc.)
• ✅ Generating REST API endpoints based on your input
• ✅ Wiring up route registration and middleware automatically
• ✅ Generating the Prisma schema and configuration
• ✅ Setting up CORS, body parsing, and environment config
• ✅ Preparing a .env template for PostgreSQL connection
• ✅ NEW: Interactive Swagger/OpenAPI documentation
• ✅ NEW: Intelligent test data seeding with Faker.js
• ✅ NEW: Configurable project features and templates
• ✅ Zipping the project and making it downloadable

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🛠 How to Use the Generated Project

Once you’ve downloaded and unzipped your project from the client side, follow the instructions below to get started.

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Install Dependencies

npm install

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2. Set Up PostgreSQL

Create a new PostgreSQL database locally or using a cloud service like Supabase or Render.

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3. Configure .env

At the root of the project, you’ll find a .env file. Replace the DATABASE_URL with your actual PostgreSQL connection string:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://username:password@localhost:5432/dbname?schema=public"

Example:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/mydb?schema=public"

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4. Push Prisma Schema

Use the following command to sync your Prisma schema with your database:

npx prisma db push

This creates the necessary tables in your database without using migrations.

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5. Start the Development Server

npm run dev

This runs the project in watch mode using ts-node-dev.

For production:

npm run build
node dist/server.js

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📁 Project Structure

prisma/
├── schema.prisma         # Prisma schema definition

src/
├── controllers/          # Logic for handling requests
├── lib/                  # Shared utilities
├── routes/               # Express route definitions
├── services/             # Business logic and DB operations
├── types/                # Shared type definitions
├── app.ts                # Express app setup
├── server.ts             # Entry point for the app

.env                      # Environment configuration
package.json              # Project metadata and scripts
tsconfig.json             # TypeScript configuration

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✅ Example API Usage

GET http://localhost:3000/

Response:

Home page

Each generated resource is available under /api/<resource>, e.g.:

GET http://localhost:3000/api/user

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🆕 New Features

📚 Interactive API Documentation (Swagger)

When enabled, your generated project includes:

Swagger UI Interface:

• URL: http://localhost:3000/api-docs
• Features: Interactive API testing, request/response schemas, endpoint documentation

OpenAPI Specification:

• JSON: http://localhost:3000/api-docs.json
• YAML: docs/openapi.yaml

Usage:

# Start your server
npm run dev

# Open browser and navigate to:
# http://localhost:3000/api-docs

🌱 Test Data Seeding

When enabled, your generated project includes intelligent test data generation:

Available Commands:

# Generate test data (preserves existing records)
npm run seed

# Reset database and generate fresh data
npm run seed:reset

# Advanced seeding options
node seed-script.js --help

Environment Variables:

SEED_COUNT=50          # Number of records per entity (default: 10)
SEED_LOCALE=en         # Faker locale for generated data (default: en)

Generated Files:

• prisma/seed.ts - Main seeding script
• prisma/seeders/ - Individual entity seeders with smart data generation
• seed-script.js - Advanced seeding CLI tool

Smart Data Generation: The seeder automatically generates realistic data based on property names:

• email → faker.internet.email()
• firstName → faker.person.firstName()
• phone → faker.phone.number()
• address → faker.location.streetAddress()
• price → faker.commerce.price()

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🗂 Example Workflow

Let’s say you generate a user module. The platform will automatically create:

• src/routes/user.routes.ts
• src/controllers/user.controller.ts
• src/services/user.service.ts
• src/types/user.types.ts

It will also:

• Register the route under /api/user
• Wire the module into app.ts
• Reflect the resource in your Prisma schema

You can immediately start building logic into your controller and service files.

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🧹 Cleaning Up

The generator also handles cleanup of temporary folders after packaging the project. If you wish to manually remove the generated files later, simply delete the base folder.

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🧪 Running in Production

To build and run:

npm run build
node dist/server.js

Make sure your environment variables are configured properly and your PostgreSQL instance is accessible.

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🔧 Customizing Prisma

To update your Prisma models:

1. Open prisma/schema.prisma
2. Add or modify models
3. Run:

npx prisma db push

You can also introspect an existing DB:

npx prisma db pull

Or generate types:

npx prisma generate

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💬 Support and Contribution

Support channels and contribution guidelines will be available soon. Stay tuned!

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✨ Enjoy building with Node-Flow!

This platform is made to help you move fast without sacrificing code quality. Whether you're building an MVP, a microservice, or a full API, Node-Flow gives you the foundation to build with confidence.