Backgen

BackGen

🤖 AI-Ready

BackGen ships a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that AI assistants (Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, VS Code) can use to scaffold projects on your behalf.

Run via CLI:

backgen mcp

Or configure your AI tool's MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backgen": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ibrahimkhaled19/backgen", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Available MCP tools:

Then just ask: "Scaffold a SaaS backend with Prisma, JWT auth, and Stripe payments"

BackGen is a CLI tool that generates complete Express.js backend projects on Prisma, Drizzle, or Mongoose — with authentication, multi-tenant infrastructure, production hardening, Docker, and testing — all working out of the box.

npx @ibrahimkhaled19/backgen init my-api --orm drizzle
cd my-api
npm run dev

Swagger docs at http://localhost:3000/docs in under 60 seconds. Pick your ORM, keep everything else.

Features

• Express + TypeScript — strict mode, ESLint 9 (flat config), Vitest
• Multi-ORM — Prisma, Drizzle, or Mongoose. Pick at init time, switch later via the manifest
• SaaS-ready — saas-core preset ships Organizations, Memberships, Invitations, RBAC, tenant-scoped queries
• Hardened by default — helmet, strict CORS, request ID, request timeout, xss + mongo-sanitize, graceful shutdown, /health + /ready, error envelope
• Plugin System — JWT, Clerk, Stripe, S3, ratelimit via backgen add
• Resource Generator — CRUD modules with relations, validation, Swagger
• Domain Presets — saas-core, healthcare, SaaS, ecommerce, CRM, LMS — full domain in one command
• Seed & Factory Generators — development data and test factories
• Docker — multi-stage Dockerfile + docker-compose
• Swagger/OpenAPI — auto-generated API documentation
• Manifest — .backgenrc.json tracks ORM, plugins, versions, and ownership for upgrade/rollback

Quick Start

# Install globally
npm install -g @ibrahimkhaled19/backgen

# Create a project (pick your ORM)
backgen init my-api --orm prisma
backgen init my-api --orm drizzle
backgen init my-api --orm mongoose

# Create a full multi-tenant domain
backgen init my-saas --preset saas-core --defaults

# Add authentication
backgen add jwt
backgen add clerk

# Add production hardening
backgen add ratelimit

# Generate a resource
backgen generate resource Product name:string price:number stock:number

# Start developing
cd my-api
npm run dev

Commands

backgen init [name]

Generate a new backend project.

backgen init my-api                              # interactive ORM picker
backgen init my-api --orm prisma                 # explicit ORM
backgen init my-api --orm drizzle --defaults     # Drizzle, non-interactive
backgen init my-api --orm mongoose --skip-install
backgen init my-api --preset saas-core --defaults   # full multi-tenant domain
backgen init my-api --preset healthcare            # healthcare domain

Output:

• Express app with TypeScript strict mode
• ORM-specific data layer (Prisma / Drizzle / Mongoose)
• Environment validation (Zod)
• Swagger/OpenAPI documentation
• Docker + docker-compose
• Hardened by default: helmet, CORS, request ID, timeout, xss + mongo-sanitize, graceful shutdown, health checks
• ESLint 9 + Vitest
• .backgenrc.json manifest (records project.orm + plugins)

No auth by default — choose your auth provider with backgen add.

backgen add [plugin]

Install a plugin. Interactive multi-select if no argument.

backgen add                 # interactive multi-select
backgen add jwt             # JWT authentication
backgen add clerk           # Clerk auth-as-a-service
backgen add stripe          # Stripe payments
backgen add s3              # AWS S3 storage
backgen add ratelimit       # Per-IP / per-user rate limiting
backgen add devops          # Install all devops plugins at once

Available Plugins:

Conflict detection: jwt and clerk cannot be installed together.

Domain Presets

Generate a complete domain in one command. Each preset creates multiple resources with relations, auto-installs JWT auth, and wires everything together.

backgen init my-api --preset healthcare
backgen init my-api --preset saas --defaults

healthcare

Patient, Doctor, Appointment, Prescription, MedicalRecord — appointments between patients and doctors, prescriptions linked to patients, medical records per patient.

saas

Organization, Team, Membership, Subscription, Invoice — organizations with teams and memberships, subscriptions with invoices.

ecommerce

Category, Product, Cart, Order, OrderItem, Payment — products in categories, carts with items, orders with line items and payments.

crm

Contact, Company, Deal, Activity — companies with contacts, deals tracked through pipeline, activity logging.

lms

Course, Lesson, Enrollment, Progress, Certificate — courses with lessons, student enrollments, progress tracking, certificates.

backgen remove [plugin]

Remove a plugin. Interactive multi-select if no argument. Supports devops shorthand to remove all devops plugins.

backgen remove              # interactive multi-select
backgen remove stripe       # remove specific plugin
backgen remove devops       # remove all devops plugins

backgen generate resource <name> [fields...]

Generate a CRUD resource module.

# Interactive
backgen generate resource Product

# Non-interactive
backgen generate resource Product name:string price:number stock:number

# With relations
backgen generate resource Appointment date:datetime status:string \
  --relations "doctor:Doctor,patient:Patient"

# With --fields flag
backgen generate resource Product --fields "name:string,price:number"

Generated files:

src/modules/product/
  product.controller.ts    # CRUD endpoints
  product.service.ts       # business logic
  product.repository.ts    # database operations
  product.validation.ts    # Zod schemas
  product.types.ts         # TypeScript interfaces
  product.routes.ts        # route definitions + Swagger
  product.test.ts          # test placeholder

Field types: string, number, boolean, date, datetime

Relations: doctor:Doctor (belongsTo), patients:Patient (hasMany)

backgen generate seed <resource>

Generate seed data for development.

backgen generate seed Product --count 10

Output: prisma/seeds/product.ts (Prisma), db/seeds/product.ts (Drizzle), or seeds/product.ts (Mongoose)

backgen generate factory <resource>

Generate a test factory.

backgen generate factory Product

Output: src/factories/product.factory.ts

Usage:

import { createProduct } from "./factories/product.factory.js";
const product = await createProduct({ name: "Widget" });

backgen generate route [name]

Generate a custom route module with a complete controller, service, validation, types, and route file -- including Swagger annotations. Routes are automatically registered in app.ts with the REGISTER_ROUTES marker.

Use this when you need a custom endpoint that doesn't fit the CRUD pattern (e.g., dashboards, reports, webhooks, custom actions). For standard CRUD, use generate resource instead.

backgen generate route                  # interactive prompt
backgen generate route reports          # generate a /api/reports module
backgen generate route webhooks         # generate a /api/webhooks module

Generated files:

src/modules/reports/
  reports.controller.ts    # request handlers
  reports.service.ts       # business logic
  reports.validation.ts    # Zod schemas
  reports.types.ts         # TypeScript interfaces
  reports.routes.ts        # route definitions + Swagger

Key differences from generate resource:

• No database model, repository, or test file
• No field specification required
• Pure controller/service pattern for custom endpoints
• Mounted at /api/<name> with full Swagger docs

backgen generate migration [name]

Generate a database migration (ORM-aware).

backgen generate migration add-product-table   # runs prisma migrate dev / drizzle-kit generate / no-op for Mongoose

backgen sync

Reconcile .backgenrc.json with the project. Regenerates missing plugin files.

backgen sync

backgen mcp

Start BackGen as an MCP server over stdio. Used by AI assistants (Claude, Cursor, VS Code) to scaffold projects programmatically.

backgen mcp

This is the same server exposed via the npx @ibrahimkhaled19/backgen backgen-mcp binary. It registers all 10 MCP tools listed in the AI-Ready section.

backgen health

Show system health information.

backgen health

Displays:

• Node.js version
• Platform and architecture
• BackGen version

backgen doctor

Check project health with ownership integrity diagnostics.

backgen doctor              # health check + ownership audit
backgen doctor --fix        # auto-fix missing manifest entries

Checks:

• Node.js version (>= 18)
• npm availability
• .env file
• DATABASE_URL
• Prisma schema / Drizzle config / Mongoose connection
• Dependencies
• Package manager version
• File integrity — all manifest-tracked files exist on disk
• Ownership integrity — framework vs user file classification

backgen upgrade

Upgrade a generated project to the latest template version. Creates a backup, then applies pending migrations sequentially.

backgen upgrade              # show pending migrations, prompt before applying
backgen upgrade --yes        # skip confirmation, apply all pending

What happens:

• Reads current generatedVersion from .backgenrc.json
• Loads pending core + plugin migrations
• Creates backup in .backgen/backups/pre-<version>/
• Applies migrations in order (semver-sorted)
• Updates ownership register + generatedVersion in manifest

backgen rollback

Restore a project to its pre-upgrade state from the most recent backup.

backgen rollback              # show latest backup, prompt before restoring
backgen rollback --yes        # skip confirmation

What happens:

• Lists available backups in .backgen/backups/
• Restores the most recent backup (all tracked files + manifest)
• Project returns to exact pre-upgrade state

backgen rotate-secrets

Rotate JWT secrets in the project's .env file. Generates cryptographically secure 256-bit random hex values for JWT_SECRET and JWT_REFRESH_SECRET, backs up the current .env to .env.backup, and writes new values.

All existing tokens are immediately invalidated on next server restart -- users must re-login.

backgen rotate-secrets

What happens:

• Generates two 256-bit random hex secrets via crypto.randomBytes
• Old .env saved to .env.backup
• Previous values preserved as comments in the new .env
• Print summary of changes

Plugin System

Every plugin implements the BackGenPlugin interface:

interface BackGenPlugin {
  name: string;
  category: string;
  description: string;
  version: string;

  dependencies?: string[];
  devDependencies?: string[];
  requires?: string[];
  conflicts?: string[];

  env?: Record<string, string>;
  templates: string[];
  migrations?: PluginMigration[];   // versioned plugin migration scripts

  install(ctx: InstallContext): Promise<void>;
  uninstall?(ctx: InstallContext): Promise<void>;
}

Plugins can:

• Install npm dependencies
• Inject environment variables
• Register routes in app.ts
• Replace existing middleware
• Add database models (Prisma / Drizzle / Mongoose)
• Carry versioned migrations for own upgrades

Project Manifest

.backgenrc.json tracks plugins, versions, generated version, and file ownership:

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "generatedVersion": "1.9.0",
  "project": {
    "name": "my-api",
    "framework": "express",
    "database": "postgresql",
    "orm": "prisma",
    "preset": "saas-core"
  },
  "plugins": {
    "jwt": {
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "installedAt": "2026-06-01",
      "source": "core"
    }
  },
  "files": {
    "src/app.ts": { "owner": "shared", "version": "1.9.0" },
    "src/server.ts": { "owner": "framework", "version": "1.9.0" },
    "src/config/env.ts": { "owner": "framework-editable", "version": "1.9.0" },
    "prisma/schema.prisma": { "owner": "user" },
    "src/modules/user/user.service.ts": { "owner": "user" },
    "docker-compose.yml": { "owner": "shared", "version": "1.9.0" }
  }
}

Ownership levels:

Generated Project Structure

my-api/
├── prisma/                       # Prisma ORM only
│   ├── schema.prisma
│   └── seeds/
├── src/db/                       # Drizzle ORM only
│   ├── schema/
│   │   └── index.ts
│   └── seeds/
├── src/models/                   # Mongoose ORM only
│   └── seeds/
├── src/
│   ├── app.ts                    # Express app setup
│   ├── server.ts                 # Server entry point
│   ├── config/
│   │   ├── env.ts                # Zod env validation
│   │   ├── database.ts           # Prisma client / Drizzle db / Mongoose connection
│   │   └── swagger.ts            # Swagger config
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── auth.ts               # JWT/Clerk auth
│   │   ├── validate.ts           # Zod validation
│   │   ├── error.ts              # Global error handler
│   │   └── logger.ts             # Request logging
│   ├── modules/
│   │   ├── auth/                 # Auth module (if jwt installed)
│   │   ├── stripe/               # Stripe module (if installed)
│   │   └── <resource>/           # Generated resources
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── logger.service.ts     # Winston logger
│   ├── utils/
│   │   ├── api-error.ts          # Error class
│   │   ├── async-handler.ts      # Async wrapper
│   │   └── response.ts           # Response formatters
│   └── factories/                # Test factories
├── .env.example
├── .backgenrc.json               # Manifest
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Development

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/your-username/backgen.git
cd backgen

# Install
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Test
npm run test

# Lint
npm run lint

Test Suite

277+ tests covering:

• CLI help and version
• Init: project structure, configs, manifest (all 3 ORMs)
• Init with domain presets: preset-specific resources and relations
• Init with saas-core preset: multi-tenant organizations, memberships, RBAC
• Add plugin: files, routes, env vars, manifest (V4.6 plugin suite)
• Generate resource: module files, ORM model, routes, validation
• Generate with relations: foreign keys, ORM includes
• Seed and factory generators (all 3 ORMs)
• Drizzle: schema generation, client setup, codegen
• Mongoose: model generation, schema definition, connection
• Remove plugin: file + dependency + manifest cleanup
• Sync: file restoration
• Doctor: health checks, ownership integrity
• Upgrade: migration engine, pending detection, backup creation
• Rollback: backup listing, file restoration, manifest recovery
• Error handling: unknown plugin, non-empty directory

Tech Stack

Generated Projects

BackGen vs Alternatives

Key differentiators:

• ◈ ORM-switchable — change Prisma ↔ Drizzle ↔ Mongoose via manifest, not rewrite
• ◈ Domain presets — healthcare, SaaS, ecommerce, CRM, LMS in one command
• ◈ Upgrade engine — versioned migrations + backup + rollback for generated projects
• ◈ Multi-ORM from day one — not locked into one data layer

Roadmap

See docs/ROADMAP.md for details.

License

MIT