Backfire

Every new backend starts the same way: auth, password hashing, input validation, security middleware, error handling, all before a single line of actual product logic gets written. We were rebuilding that same foundation on client project after client project, so we set out to build Backfire, a CLI that could generate a production-ready Node.js backend in under a minute, complete with authentication and security best practices already wired in, then open-source it so any developer could skip the same boilerplate we were tired of writing.

We designed and built Backfire end-to-end as an npm package, starting with an interactive CLI wizard that asks what a project needs, TypeScript or JavaScript, which optional features, and generates a complete Express and MongoDB backend from those answers.

Every generated project ships with a real authentication system, JWT auth, bcrypt password hashing and protected routes, wrapped in security middleware covering rate limiting, input validation, XSS and NoSQL injection protection out of the box.

On top of the core, we built optional feature toggles for file uploads, email integration, Swagger docs, Jest tests and Docker support, then published the whole thing as @cwt-build/backfire under an MIT licence so it's free for any developer to use.

Backfire is live on npm as @cwt-build/backfire, MIT-licensed and open source on GitHub, with real developers running `npx @cwt-build/backfire` to scaffold their own backends instead of starting from a blank server.js file. It's also become our own starting point internally, the same boilerplate we used to write by hand on every client project now takes one command.