next-nest-template

A production-ready monorepo boilerplate for full-stack TypeScript applications.

Next.js · NestJS · Clerk · Prisma 7 · Turborepo · Bun

Scaffold a new project with the CLI, clone this repo to contribute, or fork and customize. Auth, database sync, API validation, and frontend patterns are already wired up.

What's included

• Turborepo monorepo with Bun workspaces
• NestJS API with global validation, Clerk auth guard, and user sync
• Next.js 16 App Router with landing page, protected dashboard, and shadcn/ui sidebar
• Clerk authentication on frontend (middleware) and backend (JWT verification)
• Prisma 7 with PostgreSQL adapter, migrations, and Docker Compose for local dev
• Shared types package with class-validator DTOs used by API controllers and server actions
• Dark mode with theme toggle
• Server actions pattern for authenticated API calls from Next.js
• Scaffold CLI (create-next-nest-template) published to npm

Tech stack

Layer	Technology
Monorepo	Turborepo + Bun workspaces
API	NestJS
Frontend	Next.js 16, Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui
Auth	Clerk
Database	Prisma 7 + PostgreSQL
Types	Shared DTOs with class-validator

Project structure

This repository is the template source. It includes the scaffold CLI under packages/create.

next-nest-template/
├── apps/
│   ├── backend/                 # NestJS API (port 3001)
│   │   └── src/
│   │       ├── common/guards/   # ClerkAuthGuard
│   │       ├── common/decorators/
│   │       └── user/            # User module (Clerk ↔ DB sync)
│   └── website/                 # Next.js frontend (port 3000)
│       └── src/
│           ├── app/
│           │   ├── (landing)/   # Public landing page (/)
│           │   ├── (dashboard)/ # Protected dashboard (/dashboard)
│           │   ├── sign-in/
│           │   └── sign-up/
│           ├── _actions/        # Server actions → backend API
│           └── components/      # UI + shadcn components
├── packages/
│   ├── create/                  # create-next-nest-template CLI (template only)
│   ├── database/                # Prisma schema, migrations, client
│   └── types/                   # Shared DTOs and response types
├── docker-compose.yml           # Local PostgreSQL
└── turbo.json

When someone scaffolds a new project, the CLI removes template-only files (packages/create, publish workflow) and renames packages to their project scope. The generated app only contains apps/ and packages/database + packages/types.

Quick start

Option A — Scaffold with CLI (recommended)

npx create-next-nest-template my-app
cd my-app

The CLI asks for a project name and package manager. It then:

• Creates a ./my-app directory with scope @my-app
• Renames @next-nest-template/* packages to your project scope
• Removes template-only files (packages/create, CI publish workflow)
• Creates per-app env files (packages/database/.env, apps/backend/.env, apps/website/.env.local)
• Installs dependencies and initializes git
• Shows next steps to start PostgreSQL (docker compose up -d) and run migrations

Option B — Clone directly

Use this when contributing to the template or working from a fork:

git clone https://github.com/areeburrub/next-nest-template.git
cd next-nest-template
bun install

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and pull request guidelines.

Environment setup

cp packages/database/.env.example packages/database/.env
cp apps/backend/.env.example apps/backend/.env
cp apps/website/.env.example apps/website/.env.local

Add your Clerk keys to apps/backend/.env and apps/website/.env.local.

Variable	Description
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string
CLERK_SECRET_KEY	Clerk secret key
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY	Clerk publishable key
BACKEND_URL	API URL (http://localhost:3001)
WEBSITE_URL	Frontend URL for CORS (http://localhost:3000)

Database

docker compose up -d
bun run db:migrate:deploy

Default local connection:

postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5434/next_nest_template

Run locally

bun run dev

Service	URL
Website	http://localhost:3000
Backend	http://localhost:3001
Prisma Studio	bun run db:studio

Authentication

• Public routes: /, /sign-in, /sign-up
• Protected routes: everything else (e.g. /dashboard)
• User sync: on first protected visit, middleware calls GET /user/me to create the user in PostgreSQL from Clerk
• Backend: ClerkAuthGuard verifies Bearer tokens
• Frontend: _actions/_base.ts attaches the Clerk session token to API requests

After sign-in/sign-up, users are redirected to /dashboard.

API

Method	Route	Auth	Description
GET	/user/me	Clerk	Get or sync current user
PATCH	/user/me	Clerk	Update current user
DELETE	/user/me	Clerk	Delete current user

Scripts

Command	Description
bun run dev	Start all apps
bun run build	Build all packages and apps
bun run lint	Lint all packages
bun run db:migrate	Create and apply a migration (dev)
bun run db:migrate:deploy	Apply migrations (CI/production)
bun run db:studio	Open Prisma Studio
bun run create	Run the scaffold CLI locally (--from-local)

Run a single app:

cd apps/backend && bun run dev
cd apps/website && bun run dev

Customization

Rename for your product

Use the CLI — it renames packages, database names, and Docker resources automatically.

If you cloned manually, search and replace @next-nest-template with your scope (e.g. @my-app) across package.json files, imports, and next.config.ts.

Add a database model

1. Edit packages/database/prisma/schema.prisma
2. Run bun run db:migrate
3. Add DTOs in packages/types/src/dtos/
4. Create a NestJS module in apps/backend/src/
5. Add server actions in apps/website/src/_actions/

Add a dashboard page

apps/website/src/app/(dashboard)/my-feature/page.tsx

Register it in (dashboard)/_components/app-sidebar.tsx.

Add shadcn components

cd apps/website
bunx shadcn@latest add <component>

Validation errors (backend)

{
  "statusCode": 400,
  "error_code": "VALIDATION_FAILED",
  "message": "email: email must be an email"
}

DTOs live in packages/types with class-validator decorators.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md for:

• Local development setup
• Testing scaffold changes with --from-local
• Pull request expectations
• CLI release process

Requirements

• Node.js 20.19+ (see .nvmrc)
• Bun 1.3+
• Docker (local PostgreSQL)
• Clerk application

License

MIT