A One Paragraph Overview
April 7, 2024 · View on GitHub
Generate a Node.js app that is packed with best practices AND simplicity in mind. Based off our repo Node.js best practices (96,100 stars)
A One Paragraph Overview
Although Node.js has great frameworks 💚, they were never meant to be dev & production ready immediately (e.g., no architecture layers, DB schemas, docker file, etc etc). Practica.js aims to bridge the gap. Based on your preferred framework, we generate example code that demonstrates a full Microservice flow, from API to DB, that is packed with good practices. For example, we include a battle-tested error handler, sanitized API response, hardened dockerfile, thoughtful 3-tier folder structure, great testing templates with DB, and more. This saves a great deal of time and can prevent painful mistakes. All decisions made are neatly and thoughtfully documented. We strive to keep things as simple and standard as possible and base our work on the popular guide: Node.js Best Practices
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Table of Contents
Super-Quick SetupOur Philosophies and Unique ValuesPractices and FeaturesThe People Behind Practica.jsOur best practices guide, 78,000 stars ✨Contribution guideDocumentation siteYouTube- Coming Soon:
- Example Applications
- Express, PostgreSQL, with common best practices
- Express, mongo-db, with common best practices
- Express, PostgreSQL, with all best practices (advanced)
- Minimal with project setup configuration only
More Flavours
- Fastify, PostgreSQL - Fastify, mongo-db - Generate Your Own Interactively - More coming soon
- Example Applications
Super-Quick Setup
Run Practica.js from the Command Line
Run practica CLI and generate our default app (you can customize it using different flags):
npx @practica/create-node-app immediate --install-dependencies
✨ And you're done! That's it, the code's all been generated. Our default setup includes Fastify for the web layer, Sequelize for the data access and PostgreSQL
Prefer express and Prisma? Just pass the right flags to the CLI:
npx @practica/create-node-app immediate --install-dependencies --web-framework=express --orm=prisma
Prefer other DB? We use standard ORMs, read its docs and switch DB. This is your code, do whatever you like
Start the Project
cd {your chosen folder name}
npm install
Then choose whether to start the app:
npm run
or run the tests:
npm test
Pretty straightforward, right?
You just got a Node.js Monorepo solution with one example component/Microservice and multiple libraries. Based on this hardened solution you can build a robust application. The example component/Microservice is located under: {your chosen folder name}/services/order-service. This is where you'll find the API and a good spot to start your journey from
Next Steps
- ✅ Start coding. The code we generate is minimal by design and based on known libraries. This should help you get up to speed quickly.
- ✅ Read our 'coding with practica' guide
- ✅ Master it by reading our docs at https://practica.dev.
Our Philosophies and Unique Values
1. Best Practices on top of known Node.js frameworks
We don't re-invent the wheel. Rather, we use your favorite framework and empower it with structure and real examples. With a single command you can get an Express/Fastify-based codebase with many thoughtful best practices inside
2. Simplicity, how Node.js was intended
Keeping it simple, flat, and based on native Node/JS capabilities is part of this project's DNA. We believe that too many abstractions, high-complexity or fancy language features can quickly become a stumbling block for the team
To name a few examples, our code flow is flat with almost no level of indirection, no DI - it's just simple functions calling other functions. Although using TypeScript, almost no features are being used besides types, for modularization we simply use... Node.js modules
3. Supports many technologies and frameworks
Good Practices and Simplicity is the name of the game with Practica. There is no need to narrow our code to a specific framework or database. We aim to support the popular Node.js frameworks and data access approaches
Practices and Features
We apply dozens of practices and optimizations. You can opt in or out for most of these features using option flags on our CLI. The following table lists just a few examples out of the full list of features we provide.
| Feature | Explanation | Flag | Docs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monorepo setup | Generates two components (e.g., Microservices) in a single repository with interactions between the two | --mr, --monorepo | Docs here |
| Output escaping and sanitizing | Clean-out outgoing responses from potential HTML security risks like XSS | --oe, --output-escape | Docs here |
| Integration (component) testing | Generates full-blown component/integration tests setup including DB | --t, --tests | Docs here |
| Unique request ID (Correlation ID) | Generates module that creates a unique correlation/request ID for every incoming request. This is available for any other object during the request life-span. Internally it uses Node's built-in AsyncLocalStorage | --coi, --correlation-id | Docs here |
| Dockerfile | Generates dockerfile that embodies >20 best practices | --df, --docker-file | Docs here |
| Strong-schema configuration | A configuration module that dynamically load run-time configuration keys and includes a strong schema so it can fail fast | Built-in with basic app | Docs here |
📗 See our full list of features here
The People Behind Practica.js
Steering Committee
Practica is a community-driven open-source project. It's being led voluntarily by engineers from many different companies. These companies are just a few who encourage their engineers to contribute and keep this project moving. 💚
A Nasdaq 100 company, a world leader in design software
Leader IoT provider, part of 'Cox Communication', the 3rd largest cable company in the US
Core Team
 Yoni GoldbergIndependent Node.js consultant 
|
 Michael SolomonNode.js lead
|
 Raz LuvatonNode.js developer
|
 Daniel GluskinNode.js lead
|
 Ariel SteinerNode.js developer
|
 Tomer KohaneFrontend geek
|
 Dan GoldbergNode.js lead
|
 Ron DahanNode.js expert
|
Partners
These companies are keen for continuous improvement and their engineers to have been known to contribute during work hours.
Our Amazing Contributors 💚
A million thanks to these great people who have contributed code to our project:
