I was just going through some old Node.js code, and I thought I'd share how I usually organize Express-based apps.

express-app.js

'use strict';

var
  app,
  appConfig,
  cors,
  express
;

appConfig = require('./app-config');
cors      = require('cors');
express   = require('express');

app = express();

app.set('_app.config', appConfig);

app.set(
  '_app.helpers',
  require('./app-helpers')
);

[
  'method-override',

  {
    args: [
      'dev'
    ],

    name: 'morgan'
  },

  'compression',
  'body-parser'
].forEach(function (middleware) {
  var
    _tmp00
  ;

  if (typeof middleware === 'string') {
    _tmp00 = middleware;

    middleware = {
      args: [],
      name: _tmp00
    };
  }

  if (middleware.func) {
    app.use(
      middleware.func.apply(null, middleware.args)
    );
  } else {
    app.use(
      require(middleware.name).apply(null, middleware.args)
    );
  }
});

app.use(
  cors(appConfig.api.cors)
);

(function () {
  var
    appEndpointsDir,
    routeObjects,
    routePaths
  ;

  appEndpointsDir = './endpoints';
  routeObjects    = [];

  routePaths = {
    ping: '/ping'
  };

  /**
   * Test route.
   */
  routeObjects.push({
    action: function (request, response) {
      response.send('PONG!');
    },

    method: 'get',
    path: routePaths.ping
  });

  routeObjects.forEach(function (route) {
    var
      args,
      routeAction,
      routeMethod,
      routeMiddleware
    ;

    args            = [];
    routeAction     = route.action ? route.action : null;
    routeMethod     = route.method ? route.method : 'all';
    routeMiddleware = route.middleware ? route.middleware : null;

    args.push(route.path);

    if (routeMiddleware) {
      args.push(routeMiddleware);
    }

    if (routeAction) {
      if (typeof routeAction === 'function') {
        routeAction = routeAction.bind(app);
      } else if (typeof routeAction === 'string') {
        routeAction = require(appEndpointsDir + routeAction)[routeMethod].bind(app);
      }

      args.push(routeAction);
    }

    app[routeMethod].apply(app, args);
  });
}).call(this);

app.listen(appConfig.api.port, '127.0.0.1');
console.log('Server is now listening at: http://127.0.0.1:' + appConfig.api.port + '!');