Kickstart Backend is a Visual Studio Code extension that generates a ready-to-use project structure for Node.js applications.
It scaffolds both Frontend and Backend folders and ensures a clean, consistent setup with .gitkeep handling for empty directories.
✨ Features
Creates Frontend and Backend root folders.
Generates a well-structured Backend/src with subfolders:
config/
controller/
dao/
models/
routes/
services/
utils/
tests/
Adds:
.env
app.js
README.md
.gitignore (with node_modules and .env)
Inserts .gitkeep files into empty subfolders to keep them tracked by Git.
Automatically removes .gitkeep when a new file/folder is created inside.
If the workspace already has folders, the extension asks whether to scaffold inside an existing folder or at the root.
🚀 Commands
The following commands are available in the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P):
Kickstart Backend: Generate Folders – Creates the default folder structure in your workspace.
Kickstart Backend: Watch Folders – Starts a watcher for your workspace folders.
Kickstart Backend: Stop Watcher – Stops the currently active watcher.
Kickstart Backend: Create Folder In SubFolder – Choose a subfolder to scaffold inside.
Kickstart Backend: Watch Folder In SubFolder – Watch a specific subfolder for changes.
🛠️ Usage
Install Kickstart Backend from the VS Code Marketplace.
Open your project/workspace in VS Code.
Open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and run any of the commands above.
If prompted, select the target folder (root or a subfolder).
Your scaffolded structure or watcher will start immediately.
🛠️ Extension Settings
Currently, no configuration is required.
Future updates may include:
