Medusa Backend Directory Structure
In this document, you’ll learn about the directory structure of a Medusa backend. It’ll help you understand the purpose of each file and folder in your Medusa backend project.
Root Files
These are files present at the root of your Medusa backend.
.babelrc.js
Defines Babel’s configurations, which are used when running the build
command that transpiles files from the src
directory to the dist
directory.
.env
Includes the values of environment variables. This is typically only used in development. In production you should define environment variables based on your hosting provider.
.env.template
Gives an example of what variables may be included in .env
.
.gitignore
Specifies files that shouldn’t be committed to a Git repository.
.yarnrc.yml
Ensures dependencies are always installed in node-modules
. This ensures compatibility with pnpm.
index.js
Defines an entry file, which is useful when starting the Medusa backend with a process manager like pm2.
medusa-config.js
Defines the Medusa backend’s configurations, including the database configurations, plugins used, modules used, and more.
Read more: Medusa backend configurations.
package.json
Since the Medusa backend is an NPM package, this file defines its information as well as its dependencies. It will also include any new dependencies you install.
README.md
Provides general information about the Medusa backend.
tsconfig.admin.json
Defines the TypeScript configurations that are used to transpile admin customization files. So, it only works for files under the src/admin directory.
tsconfig.json
Defines the general TypeScript configurations used to transpile files from the src
directory to the dist
directory.
tsconfig.server.json
Defines the TypeScript configurations that are used to transpile Medusa backend customization files. It works for all files except for the files under the src/admin
directory.
tsconfig.spec.json
Defines TypeScript configurations for test files. These are files that either reside under a __tests__
directory under src
, or that have a file name ending with one of the following:
.test.ts
or.test.js
.spec.ts
or.test.js
yarn.lock or package-lock.json
An automatically generated file by yarn
or npm
that holds the current versions of all dependencies installed to ensure the correct versions are always installed.
If you used the create-medusa-app
command to install the Medusa backend, it’ll attempt to use yarn
by default to install the dependencies. If yarn
is not installed on your machine, it will then fall back to using npm
.
Based on the package manager used to install the dependencies, either yarn.lock
or package-lock.json
will be available, or both.
Root Directories
These are the directories present at the root of your Medusa backend.
.cache
This directory will only be available if you have the Medusa Admin installed and you’ve already started your Medusa backend at least once before. It holds all cached files related to building the Medusa Admin assets.
build
This directory will only be available if you have the Medusa Admin installed and you’ve either built your admin files or ran the Medusa backend at least once before. It holds the built files that are used to serve the admin in your browser.
data
This directory holds a JSON file used to seed your Medusa backend with dummy data which can be useful for demo purposes. The data is seeded automatically if you include the --seed
option when using either the create-medusa-app
or medusa new
commands.
You can also seed the data by running the following command:
dist
This directory holds the transpiled Medusa backend customizations. This directory may not be available when you first install the Medusa backend. It’ll be available when you run the build
command or start your Medusa backend with the dev
command.
The files under this directory are the files that are used in your Medusa backend. So, when you make any changes under src
, make sure the changes are transpiled into the dist
directory. If you’re using the dev
or medusa develop
commands, this is handled automatically whenever changes occur under the src
directory.
node_modules
This directory holds all installed dependencies in your project.
src
This directory holds all Medusa backend and admin customizations. More details about each subdirectory are included in this section.
uploads
This directory holds all file uploads to the Medusa backend. It’s only used if you’re using the Local File Service plugin, which is installed by default.
src Subdirectories
Files under the src
directory hold the Medusa backend and admin customizations. These files should later be transpiled into the dist
directory for them to be used during the backend’s runtime.
If any of these directories are not available, you can create them yourself.
admin
This directory holds all Medusa Admin customizations. The main subdirectories of this directory are:
widgets
: Holds all Medusa Admin widgets.routes
: Holds all Medusa Admin UI routes.
api
This directory holds all custom API Routes, which are defined in route.ts
or route.js
files. These files can be created in sub-directories of the api
directory based on the API Route's path.
Read more: API Routes
loaders
This directory holds scripts that run when the Medusa backend starts. For example, the scripts can define a scheduled job.
Read more: Loaders
migrations
This directory holds all migration scripts that reflect changes on the database the Medusa backend is connected to.
Read more: Migrations
models
This directory holds all custom entities, which represent tables in your database. You can create a new entity, or customize a Medusa entity.
Read more: Entities
repositories
This directory holds all custom repositories which provide utility methods to access and modify data related to an entity.
Read more: Repositories
services
This directory holds all custom services. Services define utility methods related to an entity or feature that can be used across the Medusa backend’s resources.
Read more: Services
subscribers
This directory holds all custom subscribers. Subscribers listen to emitted events and registers method to handle them.
Read more: Subscribers