Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ (CLI, core, Express adapter)
• Python 3.10+ (FastAPI adapter only)
• SQLAlchemy or Prisma schema

CLI (published)

npm install -g @fastbackend/cli

Monorepo development

cd fastbackend
pnpm install && pnpm build

Use the local CLI:

alias fb='node /path/to/fastbackend/packages/cli/dist/index.js'

Express runtime (published)

npm install @fastbackend/express

Requires @prisma/client and a generated Prisma schema in your project.

Express runtime (local development)

cd fastbackend
pnpm --filter @fastbackend/express build

Python runtime (published)

pip install fastbackend-fastapi

Python runtime (local development)

cd fastbackend
pip install -e "packages/fastapi[dev]"

Choose an adapter

fastbackend init my-api --schema prisma --adapter express
fastbackend init my-api --schema sqlalchemy --adapter fastapi

Docker (optional)

Scaffold Docker templates when initializing:

fastbackend init my-api --schema sqlalchemy --adapter fastapi --docker
fastbackend init my-api --schema prisma --adapter express --docker

Run fastbackend generate before building the image so .fastbackend/ir.json exists in the container context.