What is KickJS?

KickJS is a production-grade, decorator-driven Node.js framework for TypeScript. It provides the developer experience of NestJS without the heavy dependencies — and the HTTP engine is pluggable: the same controllers, modules, and context decorators run on Express (the zero-config default), Fastify, or h3. Swap the engine in one line at bootstrap; see HTTP Runtimes.

Why KickJS?

	KickJS	NestJS	Express
DI container	Built-in (lightweight)	Built-in (heavy)	None
TypeScript decorators	Full	Full	None
DDD code generators	First-class	Partial	None
Zod validation	Native	Via pipes	None
OpenAPI from decorators	Automatic	Automatic	None
Vite HMR (backend)	Native	None	None
Bundle size	Minimal	Heavy	Minimal

Design Principles

Lightweight — No RxJS, no class-transformer, no class-validator. Just TypeScript, Zod, and decorators.

Pluggable — Everything is an adapter or interface. Swap Zod for Yup, Postgres for SQLite, Redis for in-memory. No vendor lock-in.

Generator-driven — Code generators scaffold a clean REST module (controller, service, DTOs, repository interface) so you start from a working, layered structure.

Vite-native — The only backend framework with built-in Vite hot reload that preserves connections.

Extensible CLI — kick.config.ts lets teams define project-specific commands (db:migrate, proto:gen, seed).

Architecture

@forinda/kickjs (unified: core + http + config)
       ↓ (peer dependency)
┌──────┼──────────┬───────────┬──────────┐
db  swagger  ws  devtools  ...
                                    (adapter packages)

@forinda/kickjs-cli (standalone)
@forinda/kickjs-vite (dev tooling)

• @forinda/kickjs — Unified framework: DI container, 20+ decorators, pluggable HTTP runtimes (Express / Fastify / h3), middleware, routing, logger, Zod env config
• @forinda/kickjs-swagger — OpenAPI spec generation, Swagger UI, ReDoc
• @forinda/kickjs-db — Code-first ORM (Kysely-based): schema, reversible migrations, typed queries — Postgres / MySQL / SQLite
• @forinda/kickjs-ws — WebSocket with @WsController, rooms, heartbeat
• @forinda/kickjs-devtools — Debug dashboard at /_debug
• @forinda/kickjs-ai — AI/LLM integration adapter
• @forinda/kickjs-mcp — Model Context Protocol adapter
• @forinda/kickjs-cli — Project scaffolding, DDD code generators, custom commands
• @forinda/kickjs-vite — Vite HMR plugin, envWatchPlugin, dev tooling
• @forinda/kickjs-testing — Test utilities for integration testing