Currently work in progress
This starter template assumes we are working with sample.com which you should of course change to the correct domain.
Project dependencies can be installed using npm i BUT this project requires on the following global dependencies.
- NodeJS v8.9.x or above
- pm2 (install using
npm i -g pm2)
This template includes all of the following features. If you do not need any of them, delete/modify the corresponding files.
| Feature | Files / Folders | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Nginx reverse proxy | sample.com.conf, _scripts/deploy.sh | I use this to make a server serve multiple domains at the same time. Each domain is served by Express over a different port and Nginx reverse proxy routes traffic to the correct port |
| robots.txt | templates/robots.txt | |
| Simple deploy script | _scripts/deploy.sh, package.json | This script is run over SSH on the target server. This is the simplest possible deploy script: it pulls the repo and restarts forever |
| Resources synchronisation script | _scripts/sync.sh | This script uses rsync to synchronise front-end resources that are not committed to git |
| NPM deploy script | package.json | The npm run deploy command basically runs the sync and deploy scripts decribed above |
| NPM dev script | package.json | The npm run dev command starts nodemon on server.js, listening for changes to both JS files and NJK template files |
| Simple templating | templates/ | As the name suggests, superParent.njk is the parent of all public pages. It includes the standard HTML meta tags and you should include global stylesheets and scripts here. _emptyPage.njk is the skeleton of a page and it is empty. home.njk is an example of how you should populate _emptyPage.njk. |
| Commonly git-ignored files | .gitignore | This includes commonly ignored files, eg those generated by operating systems. |
| Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection | controllers/routes.js | You might want to remove this if it is not a concern |
Starter Project/
|-- _scripts/
| |-- deploy.sh
| |-- sync.sh
|-- assets/
|-- controllers/
| |-- routes.js
|-- credentials/
|-- templates/
| |-- _emptyPage.njk
| |-- footer.njk
| |-- header.njk
| |-- superParent.njk
| |-- robots.txt
|-- .gitignore
|-- package.json
|-- sample.com.conf
|-- server.js
This is, by no means, a best practice, but I have found this structure very helpful even for large projects. However, this template definitely works very well for quick projects.