Boilerplate code is a simple term meaning that it is a "ready-to-use starter pack".
It can be either for a project boilerplate, or an architecture boilerplate, it's quite broad.
The important idea behind it is that you save time and have a working setup to start experimenting with !
The term "Boilerplate" goes back to my old stomping grounds in Chicago. The American Press Association shared a building with a metal plant that rolled sheet metal into boilers. The APA had its pressing running all day, churning out syndicated content in what the printers jokingly referred to as their own "boilerplate factory". Just like the identical boilers coming off the metalworkers' assembly line, the syndicated content was the same in every publication it appeared in, and was often little more than filler.
Boilerplate code is code that's the same in every program. It's the initialization routines or basic class structure you either copy & paste into every project or have generated for you. It needs to be there for everything to run, but you didn't code it and it doesn't mean anything in the context of your project.
A good, basic example is how every C program has a main function: int main(int argc, char** argv). It's not unique to your program‚ and it doesn't reflect what your code actually does. But it needs to be there or else C doesn't know where to start your program or what value to return to the operating system.
You can think of it like the core of your project, the structure that your project is based on ex:
<html> <head> <!-- title of the website --> <link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <title>Title</title> </head> <body> </body> </html>
This is what we call boilerplate, it is the same as "starter kit" for html/CSS/JS
Building the web since 1996. Full-stack developer, feral & abused cat socializer, tech history buff. Director of Engineering at 10up.
Ankit Singh
In most simple terms, boilerplate code is that code which you have to write repeatedly every time you start building something using any framework or some combination of frameworks before writing any actual business logic of your application. That's why developers create starter packs or scaffoldings of frameworks so that you jump right into writing the business logic and you don't have to waste time writing the same configuration code repeatedly which doesn't involve any critical thinking. Examples are Yeoman generators, React boilerplates and Express generators. These boilerplates essentially include opinionated set of libraries and directory structures which are configurable as your application scales.