Introducing Crudora - A CRUD Framework for Express.js Developers

Overview

Building REST APIs involves a lot of repetitive work: CRUD operations, validation, pagination, wiring up the database. Crudora exists to cut that down for TypeScript and Express.js developers.

Crudora is an automatic CRUD API generator built on top of Prisma ORM. Define a model, register it, and you have working REST endpoints in minutes instead of hours, without giving up flexibility once you need to customize something.

Why Crudora

1. Zero configuration

Install the package, define your models, and Crudora handles the rest: CRUD endpoints, Prisma schemas, even environment configuration, without hours of boilerplate first.

2. Type-safe by default

Crudora leans on TypeScript and Prisma for full type safety across the project, which means fewer runtime surprises and better autocomplete in your editor.

3. Built-in features

Request validation via Zod, pagination, filtering, and field security all ship with Crudora, so you’re not pulling in three extra libraries to cover the basics.

4. Lifecycle hooks

Need to hash a password before it hits the database, or send a welcome email after a user is created? Crudora’s lifecycle hooks (beforeCreate, afterUpdate, and others) give you a place to hook in custom logic at each step.

5. Room to extend

Crudora automates the repetitive parts without locking you into a rigid structure. Custom routes, middleware, and overriding default behavior are all straightforward.

Key features

Automatic CRUD generation

Define a model, register it with Crudora, and it generates working REST endpoints for listing, creating, updating, and deleting records.

class User extends Model {
  static tableName = "users";
  static fillable = ["name", "email", "password"];
  static hidden = ["password"];
}

const server = new CrudoraServer({ port: 3000, prisma });
server.registerModel(User).generateRoutes().listen();

Flexible model definitions

Models support attributes like fillable (for mass assignment), hidden (to keep sensitive fields out of API responses), and timestamps (to manage createdAt and updatedAt automatically).

Pagination and filtering

Built-in support for pagination (skip, take) and filtering (where, orderBy) keeps your APIs scalable without extra setup.

Automatic validation

Crudora uses Zod under the hood to validate incoming requests, generating both strict (create) and partial (update) validation schemas from your model definitions.

Field security

Mark sensitive fields like passwords or API keys as hidden and they’re excluded from every API response automatically.

CLI tool

# Initialize a new project
npx crudora init

# Generate Prisma Client
npx crudora generate

# Push schema changes to the database
npx crudora push

Getting started with Crudora

Step 1: Install dependencies

npm install crudora prisma @prisma/client
# or
yarn add crudora prisma @prisma/client

Step 2: Define your models

Create model classes that extend Crudora’s Model base class:

import { Model } from "crudora";

class User extends Model {
  static tableName = "users";
  static primaryKey = "id";
  static timestamps = true;
  static fillable = ["name", "email", "password"];
  static hidden = ["password"];

  static async beforeCreate(data: any): Promise<any> {
    data.password = await hashPassword(data.password);
    return data;
  }
}

Step 3: Register models and start the server

import { CrudoraServer } from "crudora";
import { PrismaClient } from "@prisma/client";

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

const server = new CrudoraServer({
  port: 3000,
  prisma,
});

server
  .registerModel(User)
  .generateRoutes()
  .listen(() => {
    console.log("Server running on port 3000");
  });

That’s it, Crudora generates REST endpoints for the User model automatically.

Advanced usage

Custom routes

Crudora doesn’t stop you from adding routes outside the generated CRUD set:

server.get("/health", (req, res) => {
  res.json({ status: "ok", timestamp: new Date() });
});

Lifecycle hooks

static async beforeCreate(data: any): Promise<any> {
  data.password = await hashPassword(data.password);
  return data;
}

static async afterCreate(data: any, result: any): Promise<any> {
  await sendWelcomeEmail(result.email);
  return result;
}

Schema generation

Generate Prisma schemas programmatically from your models:

const schema = server.getCrudora().generatePrismaSchema("postgresql");
console.log(schema);

Conclusion

Crudora combines TypeScript, Express.js, and Prisma into a CRUD framework that stays type-safe and customizable while cutting out most of the repetitive setup. It’s not trying to replace your architecture, just the boilerplate around it.

Source and docs are on GitHub.

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Note: Crudora is currently in alpha and not yet recommended for production use. Issues and pull requests are welcome.