Description

A lightweight, opinionated, and highly flexible Node.js backend framework built on top of Express.js. XRohrJS is designed to streamline the development of resilient, live-service APIs by enforcing a centralized configuration structure and providing a modular, event-driven architecture.

Problems

• Struggled with repetitive boilerplate (like cors, body-parser) for every new Express project, leading to inconsistent setups and wasted development time.
• Lacked a standardized project structure in vanilla Express, resulting in disorganized, hard-to-maintain codebases as applications scaled.
• Faced the "all-or-nothing" dilemma between vanilla Express (often too minimal) and heavy, complex frameworks (often overkill for medium-sized projects).

Solutions

• Automated all common boilerplate via aconfig-driven architecture, making a single xrohr.config.js file the "single source of truth" for server setup.
• Enforced a clean, opinionated project structure by automatically loading routes, middleware, and events from their designated directories.
• Provided "batteries-included" optional modules(like SparkLite, Rheos, Memoria) that can be enabled or disabled, creating the perfect middle-ground framework.

Tech Stack

Key Learnings

• Mastered advanced design patterns (like Factory, Singleton) to solve complex asynchronous initialization problems and manage application state.
• Learned to prioritize Developer Experience (DX) by designing a clean, intuitive public API and abstracting complex internal logic via encapsulation.
• Gained deep experience inframework-level architecture, understanding the trade-offs between flexibility (like vanilla Express) and opinionated design (like NestJS).

Related Links