Relay Fullstack
A modern starter kit for building full-stack applications with Relay, GraphQL, Express, and React.
What is Relay Fullstack?
Relay Fullstack is a modern starter kit for building full-stack JavaScript applications. It integrates Relay, GraphQL, Express, and React to provide a pre-configured foundation, solving the problem of manually setting up and connecting these tools. The kit includes hot reloading, a Yeoman generator for customization, and deployment scripts for production.
Developers and teams looking to quickly start a new project using Relay and GraphQL with a React frontend and Node.js/Express backend. It's ideal for those who want a production-ready setup without spending time on tooling integration.
It offers a comprehensive, unopinionated stack out of the box with hot reloading and easy customization, reducing initial setup time. Unlike building from scratch, it ensures best practices and compatibility between Relay, GraphQL, and React.
Overview
:point_up::running: Modern Relay Starter Kit - Integrated with Relay, GraphQL, Express, ES6/ES7, JSX, Webpack, Babel, Material Design Lite, and PostCSS
Use Cases
Best For
- Quickly starting a new Relay and GraphQL project
- Learning full-stack development with Relay and React
- Building data-driven React applications with a Node.js backend
- Prototyping applications with a modern JavaScript stack
- Teams needing a standardized project foundation
- Deploying Relay applications to platforms like Heroku
Not Ideal For
- Projects not using GraphQL or Relay (e.g., REST-based APIs or other data-fetching methods)
- Teams preferring a minimalist, build-from-scratch approach without pre-integrated tools
- Applications requiring extensive server-side rendering beyond basic setup, as it's not highlighted in the README
- Developers needing a different styling solution than Material Design Lite without significant customization
Pros & Cons
Pros
Pre-configured with Relay, GraphQL, Express, Webpack, and more, eliminating manual tool integration as described in the README.
Uses React Transform HMR for real-time screen updates during development, improving iteration speed.
Offers a Yeoman generator to tailor the stack with databases and Flow, though some features are work-in-progress.
Includes scripts for minification and deployment to platforms like Heroku, simplifying the build process.
Cons
The Yeoman generator's database, Flow, and sub-generator integrations are explicitly noted as work-in-progress, limiting current customization.
Requires separate installation of Watchman, adding an extra step and potential compatibility hurdles.
Heavily reliant on Relay and GraphQL; switching to other data layers would require significant rework.
Includes Material Design Lite by default, which may not suit all design needs without extensive CSS overrides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
Node.js API Starter Kit💥 Monorepo template (seed project) pre-configured with GraphQL API, PostgreSQL, React, and Joy UI.
Relay Starter KitBarebones starting point for a Relay application.
Simple Relay StarterA very simple starter for React Relay using Browserify
Relay SkeletonReact, Relay, GraphQL project skeleton
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