archetype-engine
Advanced tools
Type-safe backend generator for Next.js. Define entities once, get Drizzle schemas, tRPC APIs, Zod validation, and React hooks instantly.
The missing backend layer for AI-generated frontends.
Define entities in TypeScript. Get production-ready backends instantly.
const Product = defineEntity('Product', {
fields: {
name: text().required().min(1).max(200),
price: number().required().positive(),
stock: number().integer().min(0).default(0),
}
})
Run npx archetype generate → get:
| Tool | What it does | What you still write |
|---|---|---|
| Prisma | Database schema → Types | API, validation, hooks |
| tRPC | Type-safe API | Schema, validation, CRUD |
| Zod | Validation schemas | Database, API, hooks |
| Archetype | Schema → Everything | Business logic only |
You're not replacing tools—you're generating the boilerplate.
# 1. Create a new Next.js project
npx create-next-app@latest my-app && cd my-app
# 2. Install Archetype
npm install archetype-engine
# 3. Initialize with a template
npx archetype init
# Choose from:
# - SaaS Multi-Tenant (Workspace, Team, Member)
# - E-commerce (Product, Order, Customer)
# - Blog/CMS (Post, Author, Comment)
# - Task Management (Project, Task, Label)
# 4. Generate code
npx archetype generate
# 5. Push to database and run
npx drizzle-kit push
npm run dev
🎉 Done! You now have a fully functional backend with type-safe APIs.
From a single entity definition, Archetype generates:
generated/
├── db/
│ └── schema.ts # Drizzle ORM tables (type-safe SQL)
├── schemas/
│ └── product.ts # Zod validation schemas
├── trpc/routers/
│ ├── product.ts # Full CRUD API:
│ │ # - list (with pagination, filters, search)
│ │ # - get (by ID)
│ │ # - create, createMany
│ │ # - update, updateMany
│ │ # - remove, removeMany
│ └── index.ts # Router aggregation
├── hooks/
│ └── useProduct.ts # React Query hooks:
│ # - useProducts(), useProduct(id)
│ # - useCreateProduct(), useUpdateProduct()
│ # - useRemoveProduct(), etc.
├── tests/ # 🆕 Auto-generated tests
│ ├── product.test.ts # - CRUD operation tests
│ └── setup.ts # - Validation & auth tests
├── docs/ # 🆕 Auto-generated API docs
│ ├── openapi.json # - OpenAPI 3.0 specification
│ ├── swagger.html # - Interactive Swagger UI
│ └── API.md # - Markdown documentation
└── seeds/ # 🆕 Auto-generated seed data
├── product.ts # - Realistic sample data
├── index.ts # - Dependency management
└── run.ts # - CLI seed script
15 lines of entity code → 1,400+ lines of production-ready backend.
Define once:
const Order = defineEntity('Order', {
fields: {
orderNumber: text().required().unique(),
status: enumField('pending', 'paid', 'shipped'),
total: number().required().positive(),
},
relations: {
customer: hasOne('Customer'),
items: hasMany('OrderItem'),
},
behaviors: {
timestamps: true,
},
protected: 'all', // Requires authentication
})
Use immediately:
// In your React component
const { data: orders } = useOrders({
where: { status: 'pending' },
orderBy: { field: 'createdAt', direction: 'desc' }
})
const { mutate: createOrder } = useCreateOrder()
createOrder({
orderNumber: 'ORD-001',
status: 'pending',
total: 99.99
})
No API boilerplate. No manual validation. No CRUD repetition. Just works.
npx archetype view| Template | Perfect For | Entities Included |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS Multi-Tenant | Team collaboration apps | Workspace, Team, Member + roles |
| E-commerce | Online stores, marketplaces | Product, Customer, Order, OrderItem |
| Blog/CMS | Content platforms, news sites | Post, Author, Comment |
| Task Management | Todo apps, kanban boards | Project, Task, Label |
📚 Full docs: archetype-engine.vercel.app
Popular guides:
Tools like v0.dev, Bolt.new, and Cursor generate beautiful UIs but:
You get a gorgeous frontend that doesn't connect to anything real.
Archetype generates the missing backend layer:
Use case: Generate UI with v0 → Add backend with Archetype → Deploy to production.
Archetype provides a suite of commands organized by namespace to avoid conflicts with your Next.js project:
npx archetype init # Interactive setup with entity templates
npx archetype generate # Generate all code from entities
npx archetype view # View ERD diagram in browser (port 3333)
npx archetype docs # View OpenAPI/Swagger UI (port 3334)
npx archetype validate # Validate manifest without generating
npx archetype init)New projects automatically get these npm scripts:
{
"scripts": {
// Archetype - Generation & Docs
"archetype:generate": "archetype generate",
"archetype:view": "archetype view",
"archetype:docs": "archetype docs",
"archetype:check": "archetype validate",
// Database - Schema & Data
"db:push": "drizzle-kit push",
"db:studio": "drizzle-kit studio",
"db:seed": "tsx generated/seeds/run.ts",
"db:seed:reset": "tsx generated/seeds/run.ts --reset",
// Testing
"test:api": "vitest run generated/tests"
}
}
Initial setup:
npm run archetype:generate # Generate code
npm run db:push # Create database schema
npm run db:seed # Add sample data
npm run dev # Start dev server
Development loop:
# Edit archetype/entities/product.ts
npm run archetype:generate # Regenerate code
npm run db:push # Update schema
npm run dev # Test changes
Documentation & validation:
npm run archetype:view # View entity relationships
npm run archetype:docs # Browse API endpoints
npm run archetype:check # Validate entity definitions
We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for:
MIT - Use freely in commercial and open-source projects.
Built with ❤️ for developers tired of writing boilerplate.
FAQs
Type-safe backend generator for Next.js. Define entities once, get Drizzle schemas, tRPC APIs, Zod validation, and React hooks instantly.
We found that archetype-engine demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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