Introduction

PEST.js is a CLI that generates complete Express 5 + TypeScript backend projects. You run one command, answer a few questions, and get a working API with routing, validation, logging, testing, linting, and optionally a database and Docker.

No copy-pasting boilerplate. No wiring up config files by hand. Just a clean starting point that works out of the box.

What's in the box

Every generated project includes:

• Express 5 with native async error handling
• TypeScript in strict mode
• Pino for structured JSON logging
• Zod for request validation
• Rate limiting (global and per-route)
• Jest + Supertest for testing
• ESLint flat config, Prettier, and Husky pre-commit hooks
• Vercel deployment config

You also choose from:

• Database ORM: Prisma, Drizzle, or TypeORM (with PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite)
• Docker: multi-stage Dockerfile and docker-compose with database services
• Package manager: npm, pnpm, or yarn

Quick start

npx pest-js-app

The CLI walks you through project setup interactively. Or skip the prompts entirely:

npx pest-js-app --yes --name my-api

npx pest-js-app --yes --name my-api --database prisma --db-provider postgresql --docker

npx pest-js-app --yes --name my-api --package-manager pnpm