example-app-nodejs-backend-react-frontend

This is an example app created for the blog post 'What is a good directory structure for a monorepo with a Node.js back end and React front end?'.

Requirements

• Node.js >= v12

Application structure

• client/ directory - React front end code.
• server/ directory - Node.js back end code.
• static/ directory - Compiled front end assets. Created by webpack when you run the command npm run build. The Node.js back end serves serves these assets using the express.static middleware.

Usage

# Install dependencies for front end and back end
npm install

# Build front end assets with webpack
npm run build

# Run Node.js back end server
npm start

Load up http://localhost:3000 in your browser to view the example website.

Libraries and frameworks used

• Express - "Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js".

• React - "A JavaScript library for building user interfaces".

• Webpack - A popular tool for building front end assets e.g. CSS and JavaScript.

• Sucrase - A simpler and faster alternative to Babel which brings support for JSX, TypeScript, ES modules, and more to your client side and server side JavaScript.