config.md

Backend configuration

Railnode reads runtime config from the project root, using the first file that exists:

• backend.config.json
• backend.config.js
• backend.config.mjs
• backend.config.cjs

If none exists, defaults are used.

Minimal config example (ESM)

backend.config.mjs:

export default {
  port: 3000,
  // modelsDir: "src/models",
  // routesDir: "src/routes",
  // enableCrud: true,
};

Supported fields

• port (number)
• modelsDir (string) — relative to project root
• routesDir (string) — relative to project root
• enableCrud (boolean)
• db (object) — see Database adapters

Directory resolution rules

If you don’t set modelsDir / routesDir, Railnode tries:

• Models: dist/models then src/models
• Routes: dist/routes then src/routes

This supports both:

• production builds (npm run build then node dist/index.js)
• dev (railnode dev) loading TypeScript from src/

Overrides and precedence

When you call createApp({ ... }) you can provide overrides.

Effective config is merged like this:

1. File config from backend.config.*
2. Overrides passed to createApp(config)

The CLI’s railnode dev --port/--project/--models-dir/--routes-dir/--no-crud ultimately becomes createApp({ ... }) overrides.

JSON config notes

backend.config.json must be a JSON object.

Example:

{
  "port": 3000,
  "enableCrud": true,
  "db": { "adapter": "json", "json": { "dir": ".railnode/db" } }
}

If you use .js/.mjs/.cjs, export a default object:

export default { port: 3000 };