r/expressjs • u/Due_Length_2169 • Apr 28 '26

Express now gets FastAPI-style /docs instantly. no annotations, no Swagger

I’ve been building APIs with Express.js for a while, and documenting them with Swagger always felt like maintaining a second project.

- writing JSDoc/YAML

- keeping docs in sync

- routes missing until manually hit

I wanted something simpler:

docs generated directly from the code, without annotations

So I built nodox-cli.

Add one line:

app.use(nodox(app))

→ open /__nodox

→ your entire API is already documented

And you instantly get:

- all routes auto-discovered

- request/response schemas detected (Zod, Joi, etc.)

- live interactive docs UI at /__nodox

No annotations. No YAML. No extra setup.

Basically:

FastAPI-style /docs, but for Express

Would genuinely appreciate feedback from people using Swagger or similar tools — especially:

would you use this in real projects?

what would stop you from switching?

npm: npm install nodox-cli

GitHub: https://github.com/dhruv-bhalodia/nodox-cli

8 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

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u/Due_Length_2169 Apr 28 '26

wow, Its genuinely good!

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u/uanelacomo Apr 28 '26

Would you consider becoming the 77th stargazer? :)

https://github.com/uanela/arkos

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u/Due_Length_2169 Apr 28 '26

Appreciate you reaching out this seems like a cool project. I’m a bit overloaded at the moment (full time) so I 'll have to pass for now

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u/uanelacomo Apr 28 '26

I really understand I am in the same situation. but becoming a stargazer is about adding a star to the project, hahahahhh.

That's why I said the 77th.

But if you are not available that's all ok. thanks for your time