EkoLite

Building real time backend applications often requires stitching together multiple libraries for routing, validation, WebSockets, authentication, database integration, and event handling. This increases complexity, slows development, and leads to inconsistent architectures.

Create a lightweight backend framework that provides sensible defaults for real time applications while remaining flexible, type safe, and easy to extend.

I designed and built the framework from the ground up. I was responsible for the architecture, API design, WebSocket protocol, testing strategy, developer experience, documentation, package publishing, and overall project direction.

• 1

  Designing a strongly typed pub/sub system that remained simple for developers while supporting scalable real time communication.

• 2

  Balancing framework flexibility with opinionated defaults that improve developer productivity.

• 3

  Creating a modular architecture where components such as authentication, routing, and event handling could evolve independently without introducing breaking changes.

• 4

  Maintaining high test coverage while developing framework level abstractions.

Built EkoLite on Fastify with MongoDB integration, a typed RPC and pub/sub protocol over WebSockets, file upload support, modular plugin architecture, and a developer friendly API. The framework emphasizes convention over configuration while allowing developers to customize behavior when necessary.

• Developer experience is as important as framework performance. Small API design decisions have a significant impact on usability.

• Strong typing can eliminate entire classes of runtime bugs when designed thoughtfully.

• Writing tests before implementing framework features leads to more stable abstractions and easier refactoring.

• Building infrastructure software requires careful attention to extensibility because public APIs are difficult to change once adopted.