Backend Setup Stack

Skill: Docker + PostgreSQL + Node.js + ORM Stack Setup

Objective

Scaffold a containerized local development ecosystem connecting an Express backend to a Dockerized PostgreSQL instance via Prisma or Sequelize, with automated version-controlled migrations and a verified health endpoint.

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Phase 1 — Capability Check & ORM Selection

Check your environment first:

• Do you have filesystem write access? Can you run shell commands?
• If yes: execute commands directly and report outputs.
• If no: print every command and file content verbatim; ask the user to run them and paste results back.

ORM Selection Rules (strictly in order):

1. If the user explicitly writes Sequelize (case-insensitive) → use Sequelize.
2. If both ORMs are mentioned or the request is ambiguous → ask: "Which ORM do you prefer: Prisma or Sequelize?"
3. Otherwise → default to Prisma.

Record your state. Create or update .claude_history/setup_status.md with:

• Chosen ORM and framework
• DB connection string template
• Checklist of phases (unchecked at start, checked as you complete them)

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Phase 2 — Structural Scaffolding

Run or print these commands in order:

# 1. Confirm Docker
docker --version
docker compose version        # or: docker-compose --version

# 2. Init npm (skip if package.json already exists)
npm init -y

# 3. Install runtime dependencies
npm install express

# 4. Install ORM dependencies
# For Prisma:
npm install @prisma/client && npm install -D prisma

# For Sequelize:
npm install sequelize pg pg-hstore && npm install -D sequelize-cli

# 5. Install dev tooling
npm install -D nodemon

# 6. Ensure a dev script exists
npm pkg set scripts.dev "nodemon server.js"

# 7. Initialize the ORM
# For Prisma:  npx prisma init
# For Sequelize: npx sequelize-cli init

> If Docker is missing: Stop. Instruct: "Install Docker Desktop at https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop then re-run this skill." Do not continue.

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Phase 3 — Configuration Generation

Generate all configuration files using the variable map below. See [references/prisma-config.md](references/prisma-config.md) for Prisma-specific config and [references/sequelize-config.md](references/sequelize-config.md) for Sequelize-specific config.

Default variable map

| Variable | Default value | |----------------|---------------| | DB_USER | postgres | | DB_PASSWORD | postgres | | DB_HOST | localhost | | DB_PORT | 5432 | | DB_NAME | app_db | | HOST_DB_PORT | 5432 | | PORT | 3000 |

.env file

DB_USER=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=postgres
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=5432
DB_NAME=app_db
HOST_DB_PORT=5432
PORT=3000
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/app_db?schema=public"
SHADOW_DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/app_db_shadow?schema=public"

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.9'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file:
      - .env
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
    ports:
      - "${HOST_DB_PORT}:5432"
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${DB_USER} -d ${DB_NAME}"]
      interval: 2s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 15
volumes:
  pgdata:

> Key: The healthcheck replaces the manual retry loop — Docker will gate > dependent services automatically. If you are running migrations from the host > (not inside a container), still wait for pg_isready to succeed before running > them (see Phase 4).

server.js

Use the ORM-specific template from the relevant reference file. The shared structure is:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;

// ORM client initialised here (see reference file)

app.get('/health', async (req, res) => {
  try {
    await /* ORM health check */;
    res.status(200).json({ status: 'ok' });
  } catch (err) {
    res.status(500).json({ status: 'error', message: err.message });
  }
});

app.get('/', (_req, res) => res.send('Backend is running.'));

app.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Server on http://localhost:${PORT}`));

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Phase 4 — Migration & Verification Gate

Do not mark this skill complete until every step in this gate passes.

# 1. Start the database
docker compose up -d

# 2. Wait for PostgreSQL readiness (host-based)
until pg_isready -h localhost -p ${HOST_DB_PORT} -U ${DB_USER}; do
  echo "Waiting for Postgres…"; sleep 2;
done

# 3. Check for existing migration metadata
#    Prisma:    SELECT 1 FROM _prisma_migrations LIMIT 1;
#    Sequelize: SELECT 1 FROM "SequelizeMeta" LIMIT 1;
#    If the table exists → do NOT run the init migration.
#    Instead: follow the baseline migration flow in the ORM reference file.

# 4. Run migrations
# Prisma:    npx prisma migrate dev --name init
# Sequelize: npx sequelize-cli db:migrate

# 5. (Prisma only) Generate the client
npx prisma generate

# 6. Start the server and verify the health endpoint
npm run dev &
sleep 3
curl -sf http://localhost:3000/health && echo "✅ Stack is healthy"

> On success: update .claude_history/setup_status.md — check off all phases.

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Phase 5 — Error Mitigation

Consult the table below when a step fails. Attempt the fix once; if it fails again, write setup_error.log with the exact CLI output and stop.

| Failure | Diagnosis | Fix | |---|---|---| | docker: command not found | Docker not installed | Install Docker Desktop; abort until available | | Postgres not accepting connections after 30 s | Container unhealthy | Run docker compose logs db; paste output | | Auth error on migration | Wrong .env credentials | Run psql postgresql://$DB_USER:$DB_PASSWORD@$DB_HOST:$DB_PORT/$DB_NAME -c '\l' | | Prisma shadow DB permission denied | DB user lacks CREATEDB | Grant CREATEDB or add explicit SHADOW_DATABASE_URL (see references/prisma-config.md) | | npm run dev not found | Missing dev script | Run npm pkg set scripts.dev "nodemon server.js" then retry | | Migration schema error (2nd retry) | Invalid schema syntax | Write setup_error.log; halt and ask user to review schema |

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Reference files

Read the relevant file for ORM-specific details — do not load both:

• Prisma setup, schema, seed, shadow DB: [references/prisma-config.md](references/prisma-config.md)
• Sequelize setup, models, migrations, config: [references/sequelize-config.md](references/sequelize-config.md)
• DB environment variable conventions: [context/db-conventions.md](context/db-conventions.md)
• Express server rules: [context/express-rules.md](context/express-rules.md)

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: WESTsyre21
• Source: WESTsyre21/setup-backend-stack
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.