feathersCreating an app
In the quick start we created a Feathers application in a single file to get a better understanding of how Feathers itself works.
The Feathers CLI allows us to initialize a new Feathers server with a recommended structure and generate things we commonly need like authentication, a database connection or new services. You can find the complete example in the feathers-chat repository.
Generating the application
You can create a new Feathers application by running npm create feathers <name>. To create a new Feathers application called feathers-chat we can run:
sh
npm create feathers@pre feathers-chat
npm create feathers@pre feathers-chat
If you never ran the command before you might be asked to confirm the package installation by pressing enter.
warning
Since the generated application is using modern features like ES modules, the Feathers CLI requires Node 16 or newer. The npx feathers --version command should show 5.0.0-pre.34 or later.
First, choose if you want to use JavaScript or TypeScript. When presented with the project name, just hit enter, or enter a name (no spaces). Next, write a short description for your application. Confirm the next questions with the default selection by pressing Enter. When asked about authentication methods, let's include GitHub as well so we can look at adding a "Log In with Github" button.
tip
If you want to use MongoDB instead of SQLite (or another SQL database) for this guide, select it in the Database dropdown in the main menu.
Once you confirm the last prompt, the final selection should look similar to this:
Note
SQLite creates an SQL database in a file so we don't need to have a database server running. For any other selection, the database you choose has to be available at the connection string.
Sweet! We generated our first Feathers application in a new folder called feathers-chat so we need to go there.
sh
cd feathers-chat
cd feathers-chat
tip
Most generated files have a page in the App Structure guide which contains more information about the file and what it does. See for example the package.json file.
Running the server and tests
The server can be started by running
sh
npm run compile
npm run migrate
npm start
npm run compile
npm run migrate
npm start
sh
npm run compile
npm start
npm run compile
npm start
sh
npm start
npm start
After that, you will see the Feathers logo at
http://localhost:3030
http://localhost:3030
Note
You can exit the running process by pressing CTRL + C
The app also comes with a set of basic tests which can be run with
sh
npm test
npm test
There is also a handy development command that restarts the server automatically whenever we make a code change:
sh
npm run dev
npm run dev
Note
Keep this command running throughout the rest of this guide so it will reload all our changes automatically.
What's next?
In this chapter, we've created a new Feathers application. To learn more about the generated files and what you can do with the CLI, have a look at the CLI guide after finishing the Getting Started guide. In the next chapter we will learn more about Feathers services and databases.