Bhanditz / lad

:boy: Lad scaffolds a Koa webapp and API framework for Node.js *TO BE RELEASED*

Lad scaffolds a Koa webapp and API framework for Node

_{A lad that fell in love with a lass • Built by @niftylettuce and contributors}

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Lad is in alpha development, please join our Slack channel to learn more

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Table of Contents

• Philosophy
• Features
  • Microservices
  • Frontend
  • Backend
  • Localization
  • Email Engine
  • Error Handling
  • Performance
  • Security
• Architecture
• Get Started
  • Requirements
  • Install
  • Usage
  • Configuration
  • Tutorials
  • Community
• Related
• Contributing
• Contributors
• Trademark Notice
• License

Philosophy

Lad is designed according to three core beliefs.

1. Adhere to MVC, Unix, KISS, YAGNI and Twelve Factor principles
2. Design for a scrappy, bootstrapped, and ramen-profitable hacker
3. Stay simple, modern, lightweight, stellar, highly-configurable, and developer-friendly

Features

Lad boasts dozens of features and is extremely configurable.

Microservices

These microservices are preconfigured for security, performance, and graceful reloading.

• Webapp server → web.js
• API server → api.js
• Job server → agenda.js
• Proxy server → proxy.js

Frontend

You can easily add Moon, Vue, React, or Angular, though typically you aren't going to need it.

• Use any template engine (defaults to Pug)
• Bootstrap 4
• Font Awesome
• SpinKit
• SweetAlert2
• Dense
• Waypoints
• LiveReload
• Frisbee
• …

Backend

• Redis, sessions, and flash messaging
• Koa-based webapp and API servers
• RESTful API with BasicAuth and versioning
• Agenda-based job scheduler with cron and human-readable syntax
• Passport-based authentication and group-based (Unix-like) permissioning
• Stripe-inspired error handling with Boom
• Mongoose and MongoDB with common database plugins
• Email template engine with Nodemailer and local rendering
• Proxy eliminates need for Nginx reverse-proxy or Apache virtual hosts
• Multilingual through i18n and i10n
• Automatic phrase translation with Google Translate
• Sitemap generator for simple SEO
• …

Localization

Finally a framework that solves i18n and i10n everywhere; complete with automatic translation.

• Webapp messages and templates are localized
• Emails are localized
• API responses are localized
• Database errors are localized
• Authentication errors are localized
• …

Email Engine

Our beautiful email engine is built on top of Nodemailer and designed by the creator of email-templates.

• Test your emails locally with automatic browser-rendering on the fly
• Automatically inlines CSS for cross-browser and cross-platform email client support
• Use Bootstrap in your email template designs
• Reuse your existing CSS and webapp styling
• Use any template engine (defaults to Pug)
• Render custom fonts in emails with code
• Add icons with Font Awesome with code
• Automatically avoid email client caching
• Include any image you want and it will be properly rendered
• Rids the need for awkward embedded image CID attachments
• …

Error Handling

We've spent a lot of time designing a beautiful error handler.

• Supports text/html, application/json, and text response types
• User-friendly responses
• HTML error lists
• …

See koa-better-error-handler for a complete reference.

Performance

• Compression and zero-bloat approach
• Stream-based file uploading
• Graceful reloading, shutdown, and reconnection handling
• Manifest asset revisioning
• Amazon S3 and CloudFront ready
• …

Security

• Database security plugins and helpers
• Automated tests and code coverage
• CORS, CSRF, XSS, and rate limited protection
• Dotenv support for environment-based configurations
• App, user, and request-based logging
• SSL-ready
• …

Architecture

The following bash output is the directory structure and organization of Lad:

tree template -I "build|node_modules|coverage"

.
├── LICENSE
├── README
├── agenda.js
├── api.js
├── app
│   ├── controllers
│   │   ├── api
│   │   │   ├── index.js
│   │   │   └── v1
│   │   │       ├── index.js
│   │   │       └── users.js
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   └── web
│   │       ├── auth.js
│   │       ├── contact.js
│   │       └── index.js
│   ├── models
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   ├── inquiry.js
│   │   ├── job.js
│   │   ├── plugins
│   │   │   ├── common.js
│   │   │   ├── index.js
│   │   │   └── slug.js
│   │   └── user.js
│   └── views
│       ├── 404.pug
│       ├── 500.pug
│       ├── _footer.pug
│       ├── _nav.pug
│       ├── _pagination.pug
│       ├── about.pug
│       ├── admin.pug
│       ├── contact.pug
│       ├── forgot-password.pug
│       ├── home.pug
│       ├── layout.pug
│       ├── my-account.pug
│       ├── reset-password.pug
│       ├── signup-or-login.pug
│       ├── spinner
│       │   ├── 1.pug
│       │   ├── 10.pug
│       │   ├── 11.pug
│       │   ├── 2.pug
│       │   ├── 3.pug
│       │   ├── 4.pug
│       │   ├── 5.pug
│       │   ├── 6.pug
│       │   ├── 7.pug
│       │   ├── 8.pug
│       │   ├── 9.pug
│       │   └── spinner.pug
│       └── terms.pug
├── assets
│   ├── browserconfig.xml
│   ├── css
│   │   ├── _custom.scss
│   │   ├── _email.scss
│   │   ├── _hljs-github.scss
│   │   ├── _variables.scss
│   │   └── app.scss
│   ├── fonts
│   │   └── GoudyBookletter1911.otf
│   ├── img
│   │   ├── android-chrome-192x192.png
│   │   ├── android-chrome-384x384.png
│   │   ├── apple-touch-icon.png
│   │   ├── favicon-16x16.png
│   │   ├── favicon-32x32.png
│   │   ├── favicon.ico
│   │   └── mstile-150x150.png
│   ├── js
│   │   ├── admin
│   │   │   └── dashboard.js
│   │   ├── core.js
│   │   ├── flash.js
│   │   └── spinner.js
│   └── manifest.json
├── config
│   ├── environments
│   │   ├── development.js
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   ├── production.js
│   │   ├── staging.js
│   │   └── test.js
│   ├── i18n.js
│   ├── index.js
│   ├── locales.js
│   ├── meta.js
│   └── utilities.js
├── ecosystem.json
├── emails
│   ├── _content.pug
│   ├── _footer.pug
│   ├── _header.pug
│   ├── _nav.pug
│   ├── inquiry
│   │   ├── html.pug
│   │   └── subject.pug
│   ├── layout.pug
│   ├── reset-password
│   │   ├── html.pug
│   │   └── subject.pug
│   └── welcome
│       ├── html.pug
│       └── subject.pug
├── gitignore
├── gulpfile.js
├── helpers
│   ├── _404-handler.js
│   ├── context-helpers.js
│   ├── dynamic-view-helpers.js
│   ├── graceful.js
│   ├── i18n.js
│   ├── index.js
│   ├── logger.js
│   ├── meta.js
│   ├── mongoose.js
│   ├── passport.js
│   ├── policies.js
│   ├── render-page.js
│   ├── stop-agenda.js
│   ├── store-ip-address.js
│   └── timeout.js
├── index.js
├── jobs
│   ├── email.js
│   ├── index.js
│   └── locales.js
├── locales
│   ├── README.md
│   ├── en.json
│   ├── es.json
│   └── zh.json
├── nodemon.json
├── package.json
├── proxy.js
├── routes
│   ├── api
│   │   ├── index.js
│   │   └── v1
│   │       └── index.js
│   ├── index.js
│   └── web
│       ├── admin.js
│       ├── auth.js
│       └── index.js
├── web.js
└── yarn.lock

Get Started

We strictly support Mac and Ubuntu-based operating systems (Windows might work).

Requirements

Please ensure your operating system has the following software installed:

• Git - see GitHub's tutorial for installation

• Sharp - we use this for image transformation (e.g. an avatar file upload needs resized)

  • Mac (via brew): brew install homebrew/science/vips --with-webp --with-graphicsmagick (as of sharp v0.18.2 this is required)
  • Ubuntu/Windows - should work out of the box

• Node.js (v8.3+) - use nvm to install it on any OS

  • After installing nvm you will need to run nvm install node
  • We also recommend you install yarn, which is an alternative to npm

• MongoDB (v3.x+):

  • Mac (via brew): brew install mongodb && brew services start mongo

  • Ubuntu:

    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 0C49F3730359A14518585931BC711F9BA15703C6
    echo "deb http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu "$(lsb_release -sc)"/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get -y install mongodb-org

• Redis (v4.x+):

  • Mac (via brew): brew install redis && brew services start redis

  • Ubuntu:

    sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:chris-lea/redis-server
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get -y install redis-server

Install

npm:

npm install -g lad

yarn:

yarn global add lad

Usage

Create a project

lad new-project
cd new-project
cp .env.defaults .env

Development

The start script will spawn, watch, and re-compile all of the microservices mentioned above.

npm:

npm start

yarn:

yarn start

Production

We strongly recommend using SemaphoreCI, PM2, and Digital Ocean for production deployment.

1. We've provided you with a preconfigured ecosystem.json deployment file. You will need to modify this file with your server's IP, hostname, and other metadata if needed.

2. You can test this locally by installing PM2 globally with npm or yarn, and then running the following command:

   pm2 start

3. See the Continuous Integration and Code Coverage and Tutorials sections below for instructions on how to setup continuous integration, code coverage, and deployment.

Tests

We use ava and nyc for testing and code coverage.

npm:

npm test

yarn:

yarn test

Configuration

Environment Variables

We have made configuration of your Lad project easy through a dotenv configuration, per Twelve-Factor.

We use the following three packages to manage configuration:

• dotenv-extended - allows us to craft a .env definition (otherwise known as a "schema") in a file named .env.schema
• dotenv-mustache - allows us to use the Mustache templating language in our .env and .env.defaults configuration files
• dotenv-parse-variables - automatically parses variable types from process.env (e.g. FOO=4 will set process.env.FOO = 4 with a Number variable type instead of a String)

Configuration is managed by the following, in order of priority:

1. Contents of the file at config/index.js (reads in process.env environment variables)
2. Contents of the files in directories under config/environments/ (sets defaults per environment, e.g. you can pass NODE_ENV=staging and it will load the file at config/environments/staging.js)
3. Environment variables used to override defaults or set required ones (e.g. NODE_ENV=production)
4. Environment configuration in .env
5. Environment configuration in .env.defaults

Precedence is taken by the environment configuration files, environment variables, then the .env file.

Basically dotenv won't set an environment variable if it already detects it was passed as an environment variable.

Take a look at the config folder contents and also at the defaults at .env.defaults.

Outbound Email Configuration

By default in the development environment we simply render the email in your browser.

However in other environments such as production, you definitely want emails to be sent.

We built-in support for Postmark by default (though you can swap in your own transport provider in the jobs/email.js file):

1. Go to https://postmarkapp.com – Start Free Trial

2. Create a free trial account, then click Get Started, and proceed to create a "Server" and "Sender Signature"

3. Copy/paste the "Server API token" under "Credentials" in your .env file (example below)

   -POSTMARK_API_TOKEN=
   +POSTMARK_API_TOKEN=ac6657eb-2732-4cfd-915b-912b1b10beb1

4. Modify the SEND_EMAIL variable in .env from false to true

Favicon and Touch Icon Configuration

You can customize the favicon and touch icons – just generate a new set at https://realfavicongenerator.net and overwrite the existing in the assets folder.

Just make sure that any relative paths match up in the assets/browserconfig.xml and assets/manifest.json files.

Authentication Methods

Google Auth

In order to add Google sign-in to your app (so users can log in with their Google account):

1. Go to https://console.developers.google.com – Create a project (and fill out your project information – if you need a 120x120px default image, you can use this one with a CDN path of https://cdn.rawgit.com/ladjs/lad/82d38d64/media/lad-120x120.png

2. Under your newly created project, go to Credentials – Create credentials – OAuth client ID – Web application

3. Set "Authorized JavaScript origins" to http://yourdomain.com (replace with your domain) and also http://localhost:3000 (for local development)

4. Set "Authorized redirect URIs" to http://yourdomain.com/auth/google/ok (again, replace with your domain) and also http://localhost:3000/auth/google/ok (again, for local development)

5. Copy and paste the newly created key pair for respective properties in your .env file (example below)

   -GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
   +GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=424623312719-73vn8vb4tmh8nht96q7vdbn3mc9pd63a.apps.googleusercontent.com
   -GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=
   +GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=Oys6WrHleTOksqXTbEY_yi07

6. In .env, make sure that AUTH_GOOGLE_ENABLED=true to enable this authentication method.

Continuous Integration and Code Coverage

We strongly recommend that you use SemaphoreCI for continuous integration and Codecov for code coverage.

Here are the simple steps required to setup SemaphoreCI with Codecov:

1. Go to SemaphoreCI and sign up for a free account

2. Once your repository is pushed to GitHub, add it as a project on SemaphoreCI

3. Configure your project on SemaphoreCI with the following build settings:

   Replace npm with yarn if you're using yarn as your package manager

   • Language: JavaScript
   • Node.js version: 8.3+ (latest)
   • Setup: npm install
   • Job 1: npm test
   • After job: npm run coverage

4. Go to Codecov and sign up for a free account

5. Add your project on Codecov and copy to your clipboard the token

6. Go to SemaphoreCI's Project Settings for your project and add CODECOV_TOKEN as an environment variable (with the contents from your clipboard)

7. Run a test build ("Rebuild last revision") on SemaphoreCI and check to make sure your code coverage report uploads properly on Codecov

8. Ensure your README.md file has the build status and code coverage badges rendered properly (you will need to use a different badge link from each provider if your GitHub repository is private)

Amazon S3 and CloudFront Asset Setup

In order for your assets to get properly served in a production environment, you'll need to configure AWS:

1. Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home#security_credential ‐ Access Keys – Create New Access Key

2. Copy and paste the newly created key pair for respective properties in your .env file (example below)

   -AWS_IAM_KEY=
   +AWS_IAM_KEY=AKIAJMH22P6W674YFC7Q
   -AWS_IAM_SECRET=
   +AWS_IAM_SECRET=9MpR1FOXwPEtPlrlU5WbHjnz2KDcKWSUcB+C5CpS

3. Enable your API by clicking on Overview and then clicking the Enable button

4. Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/home – Create Bucket

5. Create a bucket and copy/paste its name for the property in .env (example below)

   -AWS_S3_BUCKET=
   +AWS_S3_BUCKET=lad-development

6. Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/home – Create Distribution – Get Started

7. Set "Origin Domain Name" equal to your S3 bucket name (their autocomplete drop-down will help you find it)

8. Leave the remaining defaults as is (some fields might be blank, this is OK)

9. Copy/paste the newly created Distribution ID and Domain Name for respective properties in your .env file (example below)

   -AWS_CF_DI=
   +AWS_CF_DI=E2IBEULE9QOPVE
   -AWS_CF_DOMAIN=
   +AWS_CF_DOMAIN=d36aditw73gdrz.cloudfront.net

Tutorials

• Writing Your App
• Continous Integration and Deployment

Community

• Follow us on Twitter
• Join our Slack channel
• Subscribe to our Twitch channel
• Visit Koa's Community section.
• Join Mongoose's Slack channel
• Join Agenda's Slack channel

Related

• lass - Scaffold a modern boilerplate for Node.js

Contributing

Interesting in contributing to this project or testing early releases?

1. Follow all of the above Requirements

2. You will need to fork and clone this repository locally

3. After forking, follow these steps:

   cd lad
   yarn install
   cd template
   yarn install
   yarn start

If you'd like to preview changes to the README.md file, you can use docute.

yarn global add docute
cd lad
docute ./

Then visit http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Contributors

Name	Website
Nick Baugh	http://niftylettuce.com

Trademark Notice

Lad, Lass, and their respective logos are trademarks of Niftylettuce LLC. These trademarks may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Niftylettuce LLC. If you are seeking permission to use these trademarks, then please contact us.

License

MIT © Nick Baugh