👋Introduction

What is this boilerplate and why it exists?

This is a boilerplate for getting started really fast developing applications for Zendesk.

There are few boilerplates out there that tend to do the same, but I did not find them fitting my needs, mostly because some of them are bloated (with unnecessary dependencies), not well organised, using old technology, slow or just don't do enough.

This boilerplate provides few things out of the box, so you can get started developing your next app in no time:

Use any front-end framework you like

Really, pick your poison and go ahead. This boilerplate made a choice of a bundler instead of framework. The choice here is modern, industry standard by now Vite.

Live reload / HMR for local development

With all the current boilerplates out there, you can only get your builds recompile but you still have to use your mouse to click "Refresh" icon in the browser. This is not the case any more, it's a real instant (thanks to Vite) HMR - make your change, save the file, see the result.

It is blazingly fast

Thanks to Vite under the hood, all of the frameworks are transpiled really fast, you have almost instant server start and build times.

Minimal dependencies list, just enough.

I specifically opted in for some features and not the others (testing, for example). It is up to you to make the choice, as each application is a regular web-dev project, so you are free to install any tools you need for the job.

Well organised file / folder structure

Boilerplate is structured in a way that you can extend all the current compiling scripts, control the destination output etc etc. No hidden or magical logic, you are the owner of your own code.

Use different frameworks for different application locations

You might know, that Zendesk Support API supports different app locations. You are free to use different frameworks for different applications, as long as it compiles to good'ol JavaScript.

Use Zendesk's feature "server-side" apps OR bundle your app

Zendesk allows you to have a standalone web application that you can embed into their iframe and use their SDK. This boilerplate allows you to decide, whether you want to opt in for this behaviour, or you would like to build and bundle your code to Zendesk directly.

🤩 Recommendation: prefer choosing server side application whenever you can, as you are in control of hosting your own application and updating it without going through Zendesk approval process.