Yeoman and ExpressJS

Question

I want to know if there is some boilerplate code to use a frontend workflow tool like Yeoman with a backend framework like ExpressJS, if I want to maintain the same codebase for both the front and back ends.

Basically I want to know -

• How do the boilerplate code produced by yeoman and express fit in together. Is there a way to integrate the two? (How does the gruntfile fit into the express project)

• Can I substitute yeoman's default watch with an express server which reloads pages on update?

Answer 1

Yeoman is currently focused on front-end app development, but we're going to explore back-end integration in the future.

Answer 2

No, actually there isn't any right now.

But you can combine express.js with the component package manager. There is some work left, and you cant use yeoman components in component.

To answer your questions

• You can look for components in the component repo that you have used in yeoman. Not the same, but might be a solution.
• Use the module supervisor for this. You can get it via npm

Answer 3

I haven't found an easy way of integrating my own Express + H5BP + Angular + Grunt skeletons into Yeoman, and eventually just settled for creating a repo here: https://github.com/ericclemmons/genesis-skeleton

From what I've read, there are projects underway to add express generators, but eventually stacks are going to get complex enough to where you'll have to maintain your own starter app, rather than generating it.