Usage

Intro

The CLI prints its wordmark, version, and key hints, then starts the prompts. Each answered prompt collapses to one line, such as ✓ Project name my-api.

Project name

$ Project name
  my-awesome-project

You can enter a name (my-api), a nested path (apps/api), or . to use the current directory. The target directory must be empty or not exist yet. A folder that only holds .git, such as a clone of an empty repository, also works.

Rules for the folder name, which becomes the package.json name:

• Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only
• Cannot be empty and cannot start or end with a hyphen

Valid examples: my-api, cool-app-v2, apps/customer-portal

Application type

$ Application type
  › Backend API  Express or NestJS
    Full-stack app

Backend framework (Backend API only)

$ Backend framework
  › Express
    NestJS

This prompt does not appear for Full-stack projects.

Frontend framework (Full-stack only)

$ Frontend framework
  › Next.js 16  App Router
    TanStack Start

Database type

$ Database
  › None  skip database setup
    MongoDB
    PostgreSQL

ORM / ODM (shown only when a database is selected)

For PostgreSQL:

$ ORM
  › Prisma  type-safe ORM
    Drizzle

For MongoDB:

$ ORM
  › Mongoose  MongoDB ODM

If you select none for database type, this prompt is skipped entirely.

Package manager

$ Package manager
  › npm
    pnpm
    bun

The package manager that ran the CLI is selected first: pnpm for pnpm dlx, bun for bunx, and npm otherwise. The generated dev script, install commands, and Docker image are tailored to your choice. With bun, the dev script uses bun --watch instead of tsx watch.

With pnpm, the CLI also writes pnpm-workspace.yaml. It holds the dependency overrides and approves the install scripts of bcrypt, esbuild, prisma, @prisma/engines, and unrs-resolver. Without that approval, pnpm 11 and later stop pnpm install with an "Ignored build scripts" error.

Docker

$ Add Docker?
    Yes   › No

If yes, three files are added: Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, and .dockerignore. With a database, Compose also runs PostgreSQL or MongoDB. See Docker.

Authentication

$ Add JWT authentication?     # Express and NestJS
$ Add Better Auth?            # Next.js and TanStack Start
    Yes   › No

Express and NestJS - JWT-based auth with jsonwebtoken and bcrypt. Always prompted regardless of database selection.

Next.js / TanStack full-stack - Better Auth with a database adapter. This prompt only appears if you selected a database. If you chose none for database, auth is skipped automatically.

Rate limiting (Express and NestJS only)

$ Add rate limiting?
    Yes   › No

If yes, every route allows 100 requests per client IP in 15 minutes, and with auth, sign-up and login allow 10. Express uses express-rate-limit; NestJS uses @nestjs/throttler. Full-stack projects are not asked: Better Auth already limits its own endpoints. See rate limiting.

GitHub Actions CI

$ Add GitHub Actions CI?
    Yes   › No

If yes, the project gets .github/workflows/ci.yml. On every push to main and every pull request it installs dependencies with your package manager, then runs build, type:check, and lint on Node.js 24. The build step sets placeholders for the variables a build needs, such as DATABASE_URL, so the workflow needs no secrets and never connects to a database. Commit your lockfile to get the same versions in CI.

AI agent instructions

$ Add AGENTS.md for AI coding agents?
    Yes   › No

If yes, the project gets an AGENTS.md, the instructions file that coding agents such as Codex, Cursor, Copilot, and Gemini CLI read, and a CLAUDE.md that imports it for Claude Code. It is written for the stack you chose: the install, dev, build, type-check, and lint commands for your package manager, the database workflow, where the code lives, and rules for the project, such as validating input, keeping secrets on the server, and running type-check and lint before a task is done. It also links the official docs for each library so an agent checks them instead of guessing. Edit it as the project grows.

VS Code settings

$ Add VS Code settings?
    Yes   › No

If yes, the project gets .vscode/settings.json, which fixes ESLint problems on save, formats with Prettier on save in Express and NestJS, and uses the project's TypeScript version. TanStack Start projects also mark the generated src/routeTree.gen.ts as read-only. .vscode/extensions.json recommends the extensions for your stack, such as ESLint, Prettier or Tailwind CSS, Prisma, MongoDB, Container Tools, and GitHub Actions, and VS Code offers to install them when you open the folder. Other editors ignore both files.

Git initialization

$ Initialize a git repository?
  › Yes     No

If yes, the CLI runs git init after generating the project files. It does not create a commit, so commit the files yourself when you are ready.

If the project folder is already inside a git repository, for example apps/api in a monorepo, the CLI skips git init so you do not get a nested repository.

Install dependencies

$ Install dependencies now?
    Yes   › No

If yes, the CLI runs your chosen package manager's install command after generating the project.

Confirmation summary

Before generating, the CLI displays a summary:

  my-awesome-api
  Stack  express · prisma · auth
  Setup  npm · git
  Path   my-awesome-api

$ Create this project?
  › Yes     No

Select Yes to start generation, or No to cancel without making changes.

Generation and next steps

The CLI generates your project based on your selections, then optionally installs dependencies and initializes git.

On success you will see output similar to:

cd my-awesome-api
npm install        # if you skipped dependency install
npm run dev