🛠️ Developer Experience (DX)

Making it easy and enjoyable for developers to be productive.

First 5 minutes

A new developer should be able to:

1. Clone the repo
2. Run one command to install dependencies
3. Run one command to start the app
4. See the app working locally

# README.md
## Quick start
git clone <repo>
npm install
npm run dev
# App runs at http://localhost:3000

DX essentials

Code formatting (automated)

• Prettier + ESLint with auto-fix on save
• Pre-commit hook with lint-staged
• Zero debate about code style

Type safety

• TypeScript in strict mode
• Zod or similar for runtime validation
• Generated types from API schemas

Fast feedback loops

• Hot reload in development
• Fast test runner (Vitest > Jest)
• CI pipeline under 10 minutes
• Instant linting in IDE

Documentation

• Clear README with setup instructions
• API documentation (auto-generated from code)
• ADRs for architectural decisions
• Runbook for common operations

Tooling checklist

• [ ] Package manager locked (package-lock.json / pnpm-lock.yaml)
• [ ] .nvmrc or .tool-versions for runtime version
• [ ] .env.example with all required env vars
• [ ] Pre-commit hooks (husky + lint-staged)
• [ ] Editor config (.editorconfig, recommended extensions)
• [ ] Docker Compose for local dependencies
• [ ] Seed script for development data

Onboarding checklist for new devs

• [ ] Access to repo, CI, project board
• [ ] Local dev environment running
• [ ] Completed first "good first issue"
• [ ] Walkthrough of architecture and key patterns
• [ ] Assigned a buddy for questions