Fullstack Project Template

This is a template that can be used to create a new repository for a fullstack application using:

• NodeJS and Express for the server side
• React for the client side
• prettier
• dotenv for handling environment variables

Keep in mind this is repository contains 2 npm packages:

• One in the / folder
• One in the /client/ folder. This one was generated using create-react-app.

This means you have to be careful where you install new npm packages. Check the section "Installing npm packages" for more info.

Usage

The top level package.json includes some scripts:

• npm run server-start-prod: Starts the server in production mode.
• npm run server-start-dev: Starts the server in development mode, using nodemon
• npm run client-start-dev: Starts the client in development mode.
• npm run client-build: Builds the client app for production.

If you want to develop just the server part, you can use npm run server-start-dev If you want to develop just the client side app, you can use npm run client-start-dev

If you want to run both in development mode, you have to run each command in a different terminal.

Installing npm packages

If you want to install an npm package to be used by the server, run the install the package in the root folder of the repository. E.g. installing mongoose

# Make sure you are in the root folder of the repository
npm install --save mongoose

If you want to install an npm package to be used by the client, install it in the /client folder E.g, installing react-router-dom

# Make sure you are in the client folder of the repository
cd client
npm install --save react-router-dom

Environment variables for the server side

The project use the dotenv package to handle environment variables. This means you need to create a .env file and add the environmental variables needed. You can see which environmental variables you need to set checking the .env.template file.

Extras

The top level package.json contains a postinstall script. This is a script that will run after running npm install. This script is installing for you also the dependencies in the /client folder. This is just for convenience so you don't have to run npm install twice whenever you clone the repository.