Quickstart

Get a project on screen in under a minute.

1. Create a project

Run the scaffolder:

npx create-nestforge@latest

Answer the prompts for a project name, variant, and OAuth providers — Express + REST or Express + GraphQL — or skip them for automation:

npx create-nestforge@latest --project-name my-app --variant graphql --oauth-providers google

The project is created in the current directory, named after the project. The CLI copies the template, sets the package name, and creates a .env from the example.

2. Install dependencies

cd my-app
pnpm install

3. Configure the environment

cp .env.example .env

4. Run with Docker (recommended)

The compose.yaml brings up the whole stack — the app, Redis, Postgres, and a Traefik reverse proxy — with nothing else installed locally:

docker compose up --build

By default the app builds from Dockerfile.dev and runs in watch mode (start:dev). It is served through Traefik at http://localhost.

For a production image, set NODE_ENV=production to build from Dockerfile.production:

NODE_ENV=production docker compose up --build -d

Only need infrastructure, not the app? Start individual services:

docker compose up redis

5. Run manually

This route requires Redis running locally:

docker run -p 6379:6379 redis:latest

Then start the app:

pnpm start:dev

The app runs at http://localhost:3000, with interactive API docs at http://localhost:3000/api-docs. The page is a Scalar UI rendered from the Swagger/OpenAPI document, so you can browse endpoints and try requests in one place. In the GraphQL variant, Apollo Sandbox is at http://localhost:3000/graphql.

Lint and format

Run the project linter:

pnpm lint

The generated project uses oxlint for fast, focused checks and Prettier for formatting.

Next steps

Read the Introduction for what is inside, or head to the GitHub repository for the full API surface.