• Scalable - From single-page dashboards to enterprise apps, Astral allows for a flexible application structure to fit any need.

• Minimal - While some critical development details have been enforced, the majority of backend tools and architecture choices have been intentionally omitted. This allows for any database, middleware, and other logic to be set in as seen fit by the developer.

• Fast - The fully isomorphic stack with server-side rendering for all front-end components helps makes applications blazing fast. A simple, yet powerful, approach to development and production keeps the focus on application logic instead of infrastructure administration.

This is not what might be considered as a 'starter kit' for React applications. It is best suited for those familiar with React and Redux.

Astral is not yet available as an npm package. Once aquired from github, run...

$ npm install

$ npm run dev

• Note, that the application is located in config/proc.js

Your application will now be available at https://localhost:3000 The webpack dev server runs on :3001

In development mode, webpack is integrated into the run-time. Hot module reloading through webpack occurs with no interference, as well as recompiling of any backend components necessary. Once in development, no interaction with the command line should be needed to restart the application unless a critical error occurs.

1. Namespace -- To prevent object namespace collisions with other modules, the configuraton variable NAMESPACE is defined. For example, this is used to attach variables to the request object in express. See base middleware for the usage example.

The application is designed to accomodate (to a certain point) any folder structure you wish. An example is located in /src/app. Global files in /src (such as routes.jsx, reducers.jsx, et. cetera) will need to be altered to properly include relevent pieces.

Some critical design decisions have been left to the developer.

• Database: While v2 may include some generic database connectors, v1 leaves the database choice and general API design to you.

• Redux updates: We highly recommend using some Redux middleware to support asynchronus updates to the store and connected React components. Our personal choice is redux-saga, but redux-thunk is another good option for this.

We are working hard to push towards our v1 release, with hopes it will be finished by the end of March. Still to do is the production deployment configuration, express middlware configuration, and backend logging using winston. We're considering a front-end logging transport but that has yet to be decided.