create-meno-app
// Quick start

Quick start

Scaffold, install and boot your first create-meno-app backend in three commands.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 18 or newer (node --version)
  • A MongoDB instance — local, Docker, or a hosted Atlas cluster
  • npm (ships with Node)

Scaffold a project

Run the generator with npx — no global install needed:

npx create-meno-app my-api

You'll be guided through a short set of prompts (language, auth, rate limiting, email, testing, Docker and more). Every answer is optional — accept the defaults for a fully loaded project or trim it down to the essentials. See CLI options for the full list.

Install and configure

cd my-api
npm install
cp .env.example .env

Open .env and fill in your values — at minimum a MONGODB_URI and, if you enabled auth, a SESSION_SECRET. The app reads every environment variable through a single validated config module and refuses to start if a required one is missing.

First admin user

If you enabled the auth module, bootstrap an admin account with:

npm run create:admin

Run it

npm run dev

The server boots with hot reload. Verify it's alive:

GET/health 
{ "status": "ok", "uptime": 12.4, "db": "connected", "timestamp": "..." }

If you enabled Swagger, the interactive API explorer is at GET /docs in development.

Project scripts

ScriptWhat it does
npm run devStart the dev server with auto-reload
npm startStart the production server
npm run generate <name>Scaffold a new module
npm run docsGenerate Markdown API docs
npm testRun the Jest suite (if enabled)
npm run buildCompile TypeScript to dist/ (TS projects)

Next steps