First ask yourself if the project really needs its own REST API server. 9 out of 10 times I end up using a BAAS service like parse.com where: user management (a

First ask yourself if the project really needs its own REST API server. 9 out of 10 times I end up using a BAAS service like parse.com where: user management (auth) is built-in, there is cloud code in case something must be run server-side, the free account is resourceful enough to get you started and then scaling is automatic. There will be limitations of course but if you need something faster than a pre-cooked API repo, that's the way to go.