ExpressJS Starter Template For RBAC Systems

A scalable Express.js project with TypeScript featuring CRUD with pagination, filtering, sorting, file uploads, soft delete, RBAC, JWT authentication, access and audit logs, and cron jobs for scheduled tasks.

Features

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – Fine-grained access control for different user roles and permissions.
• CRUD Operations – Create, Read, Update, Delete endpoints out of the box.
• Pagination, Filtering, Sorting, Searching – Easily manage large datasets with built-in pagination, query-based filtering, and sorting mechanisms.
• File Upload – Upload and manage files using multer.
• Soft Delete – Soft-delete support using timestamps instead of permanently removing data.
• Multi Delete & Multi Create – Perform bulk operations with ease.
• Authentication & Login – Token-based login system using JWT.
• Access Logs – Track all incoming requests for monitoring and debugging.
• Audit Logs – Record data changes with before/after snapshots for critical actions.
• Cron Jobs – Scheduled background tasks using node-cron.
• Job Queue – Queued background tasks using Redis & BullMQ.

🧱 Tech Stack

• Express.js – Web framework
• TypeScript – Static type-checking
• MySQL – Database
• Knex – Query Builder
• JWT – Authentication
• Multer – File uploads
• Node-Cron – Scheduled jobs
• Redis & BullMQ – Job Queue
• Morgan – Logging
• Docker - Containerization
• ESLint, Prettier - Controlling code quality
• Husky - Git hook

📦 Use Case Ideas

• Admin dashboards
• Internal tools
• APIs for web/mobile apps
• SaaS backends

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker - Download Docker 🐳
• Docker Compose - Usually comes with Docker Desktop

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/MinPyaeKyaw/rbac-expressjs-starter.git
cd rbac-expressjs-starter

Start the Application with Docker

1. Configure database credentials (Optional but recommended):

   Before starting, you may want to update the database credentials in docker-compose.yml for security:

   • Open docker-compose.yml
   • Update the MySQL service environment variables:
     • MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD - Set your MySQL root password
     • MYSQL_PASSWORD - Set your MySQL user password (should match MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD if using root)
   • Update the app service environment variables to match:
     • DB_USER - MySQL username (default: root)
     • DB_PASSWORD - MySQL password (must match MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD)
   • Update the MySQL healthcheck password to match your MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD

   Example:

   mysql:
     environment:
       - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
       - MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
   
   app:
     environment:
       - DB_USER=root
       - DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password

2. Build and start all services (MySQL, Redis, and the Express app):

docker compose up --build

This will automatically:

• Start a MySQL 8.0 database
• Start a Redis server for job queues
• Wait for MySQL to be ready (healthcheck)
• Automatically run database migrations to create all tables
• Automatically run database seeds to populate initial data
• Build and start the Express.js application

3. Access the application:

   • API Server: http://localhost:3000
   • MySQL Database: localhost:3306
   • Redis: localhost:6379

4. Log in with these credentials (from seed data):

   The seeds run automatically, so you can immediately log in with any of these test users:

   • Admin User
     • Username: admin
     • Password: admin123
   • Super Admin User
     • Username: superadmin
     • Password: admin123
   • Developer User
     • Username: developer
     • Password: password123
   • Test User
     • Username: testuser
     • Password: password123

Development Mode (Optional)

If you prefer to run without Docker for development:

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Set up environment variables:

   • Copy .env.example to .env (if available)
   • Configure your local MySQL and Redis connections

3. Run database migrations and seeds:

# Run migrations to create database tables
npm run db:migrate

# Run seeds to populate initial data
npm run db:seed

4. Start the development server:

npm run dev

Note:

• When using Docker, migrations and seeds run automatically on container startup
• Do not run SQL schema files directly. Always use migrations to manage your database schema

📄 API Documentation

• API Documentation: Read README.md in feature folders
• Technical Documentation: Read here

📄 Additional Resources

1. 📄 Postman collection can be found in src/docs folder. Get [here](src/docs/rbac_express.postman_collection.
2. 📝 Read detailed technical documentation here

👨‍💻 Author

Sai Min Pyae Kyaw

💼 Passionate Full Stack Developer | Node.js | TypeScript | React | MySQL
📍 Based in Myanmar

🌐 Connect with me

• 💼 LinkedIn
• 💻 GitHub
• 🌍 Facebook

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Made with ❤️ by Sai Min Pyae Kyaw