Open Source · MIT Licensed

KickJS

The Adaptive Node.js Framework

Decorator-driven APIs on Express 5. REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, queues — pick what you need. TypeScript-first, pluggable, production-ready.

Get Started Why KickJS?GitHub

npx @forinda/kickjs-cli new my-api

src/index.ts

import { bootstrap, helmet, cors } from '@forinda/kickjs'
import { modules } from './modules'

export const app = bootstrap({
  modules,
  middleware: [helmet(), cors(), express.json()],
})

KickJSThe Adaptive Node.js Framework

Build REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, or microservice APIs — your way. Decorator-driven, pluggable, and production-ready on Express 5.

Migration from Express

🔌 Adaptive Architecture

REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE, or queues — pick what you need. Swap adapters without changing your code. One framework, every pattern.

🎯 Decorator-Driven DX

@Controller, @Query, @WsController, @Job — familiar patterns from Spring Boot and NestJS. TypeScript-first with full type safety.

📦 16 Packages, Pick What You Need

Core, HTTP, Swagger, GraphQL, WebSocket, Drizzle, Prisma, Queue (BullMQ/RabbitMQ/Kafka), OTel, Multi-tenant, and more. Install only what you use.

⚡ Vite HMR + DevTools Dashboard

Zero-downtime hot reload in dev. Built-in web dashboard at /_debug with health, metrics, routes, DI state, and WebSocket stats.

🛠 CLI That Scaffolds Everything

kick new (5 templates), kick g module/resolver/job (18+ files), kick add (16 packages), kick inspect (live debugging). One command to rule them all.

🔍 Auto OpenAPI + GraphiQL

Swagger UI and ReDoc from decorators + Zod. GraphiQL playground with zero config. @ApiQueryParams documents filterable/sortable fields.

🏗 Pluggable Everything

Template engines (EJS, Pug, Handlebars), queue providers (BullMQ, RabbitMQ, Kafka, Redis Pub/Sub), DB adapters, custom decorators, and a plugin system.

🚀 Production-Ready

Vue-inspired reactivity, OpenTelemetry tracing, rate limiting, sessions, CSRF, file uploads, multi-tenancy, graceful shutdown, and VS Code extension.

Built on Proven Patterns

We studied 6 frameworks in the Vite ecosystem and borrowed the best ideas from each.

01

React Router

Let Vite own the dev server

The build tool handles ports, HMR, and module loading. Your framework just plugs in.

02

TanStack Start

Virtual modules for auto-discovery

Instead of manually registering every file, the framework discovers and imports them for you.

03

Vinxi

Persist state across hot reloads

Database connections and long-lived resources survive code changes seamlessly.

04

Vue.js

Reactivity isn't just for the frontend

Composable state management with ref, computed, and watch — anywhere in your stack.

05

Spring Boot

Elegant inversion of control

Decorator-driven DI with clear, declarative patterns that scale to large codebases.

06

Laravel

Ship everything out of the box

Auth, mail, queues, caching, scheduling — plus a CLI that scaffolds entire features.

07

NestJS

Decorators + DI in TypeScript

Module system and guard patterns that work beautifully with TypeScript type safety.

08

Express.js

The foundation, not replaced

Built on Express 5. We add structure on top without hiding the tool underneath.