Table of Contents generated with DocToc

• The Setup - Create the app - Optional: Remove all Meteor's templates. - Now create the appropriate directories - Optional: Initialize the main.* files. - Finally, include the packages you want to use.
• Why? - Directory Structure - Packages

A better starting template for Meteor.js

The Setup

Note: app-name corresponds to the name of your app

Create the app

meteor create app-name
cd app-name
rm app-name* 

Optional: Remove all Meteor's templates.

Note: If you remove these files, nothing will show up when you first run Meteor -- you will need to initialize your app with the various html, js, and css files first with actual code stuff and word things;.

rm app-name* 

Now create the appropriate directories

mkdir client server public lib 

Optional: Initialize the main.* files.

mkfile b main.{css,js,html}

Finally, include the packages you want to use.

(You may need to wait a few seconds after entering each of these.)

meteor add bootstrap-3
meteor add npm
meteor add d3

Why?

The typical Meteor.js template is a nice start but I've found that I then end up spending the next 5 minutes undoing their defaults and then adding/organizing things to better align with Meteor.js best practices and what I'm actually using Meteor for. A brief summary of the thought process is listed below.

Directory Structure

Per the docs,

• /server: Code in the /server directory only runs on the server.
• /client: Code in the /client directory only runs on the client
• /lib: Files in /lib are loaded before anything else.
• /public: Used to store your static assets (fonts,images, etc).

That's why we created those folders after initializing the app.

The main.* files get loaded last so we also create those files. You can always skip that step or just leave those files blank and the world will not explode.

Packages

I always load bootstrap, npm and d3. If any of these packages are server-side packages, you'll also see a packages folder pop up in your app directory.