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Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Are you looking through Github trying to find the best NodeJS boilerplates? Stop looking, they’re all here, in this article.

In the world of computer programming, boilerplate is the common name for larger code sections that can be included in various locations with minimal tweaking and alterations.

Quite often, developers refer to them as the ‘verbose languages’, namely such causing programmers to write endless lines of code to complete a fairly simple task.

In order to eliminate the need for boilerplates, developers came up with advanced mechanisms such as metaprogramming (when boilerplates are written and inserted at compile time directly by the computer); model-driven engineering (eliminates the need for manual coding with special model-to-code generators); and convention-over-configuration (solid default values that reduce the need to pinpoint program details for each project).

NodeJS Boilerplates

In this article, we will go over several NodeJS Boilerplates you can consider to cut out some of the tedious work. Let’s give them a look:

Hackathon Starter

Hackathon Starter is a boilerplate for Node.js web apps. With some hackathon experience from the past, it won’t take you much to understand how to launch a project: think on what to build, select your preferred programming language, and choose a web and a CSS framework.

After a while, you can also involve other team members to contribute to your GitHub project, and simplify it with Facebook sign-in authentication. For the purpose, you should be familiar with OAuth 2.0, as otherwise this may take hours to complete.

Let’s move on to the next NodeJS boilerplates.

Alexa Skills Kit SDK for Node.js

Just recently, developers had the pleasure to try out Node.js’s newest Alexa SDK that helps them improve their skills, and accomplish project sway simpler than before.

Alexa offers a dedicated Skill Kit for Node.js, as well as AWS Lambda which is continuing to grow in popularity as we speak. Alexa Skill works perfectly with Node.js’s non-blocking and event-driven I/O model, and thus represents one of the biggest open-source libraries developers can possibly use. Plus, AWS Lambda will be available at no charge for the first one million of calls, which most developers will find absolutely sufficient. With it, they won’t have to manage any SSL certificate, as they’ll be working with a trusted provider.

How did Alexa Skill evolve? Back in the days, it took developers little time to learn what the tools was all about and how it should be installed, but there was still a significant amount of code for them to write. They used to spend hours and hours on Alexa Skills to handle its session attributes, build responses, and model behaviour.

This is why Alexa gathered the best developers to set out a special SDK kit, and make sure long and common hang-ups are completely eliminated.

Ng-Fullstack

Ng-Fullstack is in fact a popular Yeoman generator that accelerates prototyping for new web apps, and uses only the latest technologies available on the market. You will be offered a server app, a single client app, or the full productivity stack (TodoApp), with the possibility to expand each of them, and use them as you want.

With the stack being as modern as it is, expect to have certain questions and dilemmas about it. The app combines the best approaches and divisions of tasks and responsibilities, so it makes absolute sense to give it some time, and learn how it works.

NodeBootstrap

If you wish to organize Node projects like pro, look no further than NodeBootstrap’s Microservice mode.

This boilerplate handles microservice-style setups, Docker support, clustering, error fixing, modularity, template views, environments, and advanced logging, all from a single dashboard. Better yet, there is no heavy and messy framework to worry about!

Vue, ExpressJS, MongoDB

The compact web-app boilerplate stack works well for VueJS, ExpressJS, and MongoDB projects, rather than unique, out-of-the-box ones. What developers tried to do here is to create a modern starter repo that will cover all main app functions (signups, logins, oAuth, profiles, and more), but will still leave the development of a business logic in your hands.

Node.js Passport Boilerplate

Node.js Passport Boilerplate is a NodeJS user system that illustrates the use of passports in mongoose, express, and jade environments. It combines data with simple login front pages, and offers signup and profile mocks thanks to its Twitter Bootstrap integration. The tool is also well-connected with Google, GitHub, Facebook, and Passport LocalStrategy.

Node.js Website Boilerplate

Node.js Website Boilerplate is in fact a website template developed for blog articles and other dynamic pages. It is fully equipped with SEO abilities, author management features, contact forms, and search fields. It is being improved as we speak, and each contribution is welcomed.

Node.js does not possess a mail server, and uses SMTPS to connect its contact form to the mail service you prefer. To enable this option, add SMTPS_STRING to your ENV vars in ythe Cosmic JS bucket. You will find it within Your Bucket > Settings > Deploy Website.

Here is how an edited string should look:smtps://yourname%40gmail.com:yourpass@smtp.gmail.com.

ExpressJS, Socket.IO, AngularJS Boilerplate

The time when a developer ought to configure each folder structure in order to launch a new project is long behind us. Now, there are ExpressJS, SocketIO, and AngularJS Boilerplates to get started immediately, and focus only on those aspects that matter to you.

Servers

ExpressJS API and JSON web token (JWT) authentication
Socket.IO that implements real-time messages on AngularJS and ExpressJS clients
Mocha test runners for ExpressJS apps
User controller tests
Embedded packages for request parameters, express-validations, and paginated responses
Testing API endpoints for Postman desktop apps using Postman collection
PM2 for processing JSON files for production environments

Clients

Component–centered AngularJS client app developed on version 1.6.x
User authentication based on tokens (Auth component and Auth interceptor)
Different routes for signing up, changing user passwords, and updating user lists and profiless
BootStrap grid systems with SASS pre-processors
Browser-sync gulp for service apps that completes a variety of SASS-files compilation tasks, building tasks (for minified productions) and JShint linting.
UI routers for smooth AngularJS routing

Node / Backbone Web App Boilerplate

This Node / Backbone Web App Boilerplate combines a variety of scalable web application building tools in a compact and powerful package.

Both projects gained staggering popularity, which is why you won’t be challenged to find a solid boilerplate project for any of them. Note, however, that there are only few projects that bring the best of backend and frontend performance together, and they’re usually devoted only to Node or Backbone. This is the last one of these NodeJS boilerplates.

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