Vulcan Express

Vulcan Express helps you build GraphQL-based applications with Express.

Need a full-stack setup?

You may also like our Next.js starter

What's in the box?

Vulcan Express provides:

• A GraphQL API endpoint set up with Apollo Server, so you can start coding back-end features immediately.
• Schema-based helpers and hooks to quickly generate and consume your own GraphQL API.

Join the Slack and meet Vulcan contributors

Check the full documentation

A word about Vulcan.js aka Vulcan Meteor

You can't teach an old dog new tricks! Vulcan Express is a port of "Vulcan.js", the Meteor framework from Sacha Greif. It inherits years of experience, with a modernized architecture that replaces Meteor by Express (+ optionnaly React or Next.js).

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Install and run in 5 minutes

git clone -b main https://github.com/VulcanJS/vulcan-express
cd vulcan-express
yarn
yarn run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Setup your own git repository

When creating your own application, you'll want to host the code on your own Git repository (on GitHub, BitBucket, etc.).

Point git to your own repository

Rename "origin" to "upstream", so you can use your own git repository as the main "origin", and Vulcan Express official repo as "upstream".

git remote rename origin upstream
# Then do what you need to create your own origin remote
# git remote add origin <your-own-git-repository-url>

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Contribute or raise an issue

This starter is read-only! Please avoid opening pull requests against it.

All developments happen in our monorepo "Vulcan NPM" here.

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Next steps

Roll your own Mongo database

As a default, Vulcan Express will connect to a sample in-memory database. To create your own application, you'll want to use your own databse.

0. I am a Windows user (if using Mac or Linux skip to 1.)

If you use Windows, you might want to either:

• Install Ubuntu as a dual boot (virtual machine are technically fine but way slower and could lead to a poor development experience)

• Setup the Linux subsystem in order to be able to run Docker on Windows

• Install MongoDB using the Windows installer

Run a Mongo server using Docker

It will run Mongo in your current terminal, or create and run a Mongo image if it's the first time your run the command.

Note: you should always start your database before you run the application.

yarn run start:mongo

See Docker installation instruction for Ubuntu here if you don't have Docker yet.

We advise to use MongoDB Compass to visualize your database content.

Update your app to the latest version of Vulcan Express

Beware: Vulcan Express is a boilerplate, the possibility to update automatically is not guaranteed. You may have to apply the updates by hand, comparing Vulcan Express latest version to your own code. Always double-check that the merge didn't break your app!.

# Get the latest version of Vulcan Express locally
git fetch upstream
# Merge to your own code (favouring your own code as a default in case of conflict)
git merge upstream/main -X ours

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They support Vulcan Core, Vulcan Express, Vulcan Next and Vulcan Meteor

Contributors

This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute.

Backers

Thank you to all our backers! 🙏 [Become a backer]

Sponsors

Support this project by becoming a sponsor. Your logo will show up here with a link to your website. [Become a sponsor]

Technical supports

They give time and share knowledge to support the project.

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