Interactive Usage

How the CLI Works

better-ts-stack is entirely interactive. There are no subcommands or flags - just run the command and answer the prompts. The CLI generates a complete, configured project based on your choices.

Run npx better-ts-stack and follow the prompts. That is the only interface.

Prompt Flow

Welcome screen

You will see an animated banner with the product name and a brief welcome message.

Project name

? Project name:
  my-awesome-project

Rules:

Must be a valid directory name
Cannot be empty, cannot contain spaces, cannot start with a dot
Use hyphens or underscores for multi-word names

Valid examples: my-api, cool-app-v2, customer_portal

Application type

? Application type:
  (*) Backend API
  ( ) Full-stack

Option	What it generates
Backend API	Express.js server (prompts for framework next)
Full-stack	Next.js 16 or TanStack Start (prompts for framework)

Full-stack generates a single project at the root of your chosen directory, not a separate backend/ + frontend/ monorepo.

Backend framework (Backend API only)

? Select a backend framework:
  (*) Express
  ( ) NestJS (coming soon)

Available now: Express.js

Coming soon: NestJS - selecting it shows a warning and re-prompts.

This prompt does not appear for Full-stack projects.

Frontend framework (Full-stack only)

? Select a frontend framework:
  (*) Next.js 16 (App Router)
  ( ) TanStack Start (React)      (Release Candidate)

Option	What it generates
Next.js 16	App Router, `next dev`/`next build`, standalone server
TanStack Start	File-based routing, `vite dev`, served by `srvx`

Database type

? Select a database:
  (*) none
  ( ) postgresql
  ( ) mongodb

Choice	Availability
none	Backend and Full-stack
PostgreSQL	Backend and Full-stack
MongoDB	Backend and full-stack (Mongoose)

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

For PostgreSQL:

? Select an ORM for postgresql:
  (*) prisma
  ( ) drizzle

ORM	Available in
Prisma	Backend (Express) and Full-stack (Next.js and TanStack Start)
Drizzle	Backend (Express) and Full-stack (Next.js and TanStack Start)

For MongoDB:

? Select an ORM for mongodb:
  (*) prisma
  ( ) mongoose

ODM	Notes
Mongoose	Express, Next.js, and TanStack

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

Package manager

? Select a package manager:
  (*) npm
  ( ) pnpm
  ( ) bun

The generated dev script and install commands are tailored to your choice. With bun, the dev script uses bun --watch instead of tsx watch.

Docker

? Use Docker?
  ( ) yes  (*) no

If yes, three files are added: Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, and .dockerignore.

Authentication

? Add authentication?
  ( ) Yes  (*) No

Express backend - 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.

Git initialization

? Init git?
  (*) yes  ( ) no

If yes, the CLI runs git init and creates an initial commit after generating the project files.

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 box:

Project Name:    my-awesome-api
Target Dir:      ./my-awesome-api
App Type:        Backend API
Framework:       express
Database:        postgresql-prisma
Auth:            Yes
Docker:          No
Package Mgr:     npm
Git Init:        Yes
Install Deps:    No

? Looks good? Ready to build?
  (*) 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

After Generation

Scripts - Backend (Express)

npm run dev        # tsx watch src/index.ts (hot reload)
npm run build      # tsc (compile TypeScript to dist/)
npm run start      # node dist/index.js
npm run lint       # eslint src
npm run format     # prettier --write "src/**/*.ts"
npm run type:check # tsc --noEmit

With database (Prisma):

npm run prisma:generate
npm run prisma:migrate
npm run prisma:studio

With database (Mongoose): no additional scripts - connection is handled in src/lib/db.ts.

With Docker:

npm run docker:build
npm run docker:up
npm run docker:down
npm run docker:logs

Scripts - Full-stack (Next.js)

npm run dev    # next dev
npm run build  # next build
npm run start  # next start
npm run lint   # eslint

Scripts - Full-stack (TanStack Start)

npm run dev         # vite dev
npm run build       # vite build (dist/server/server.js + dist/client)
npm run start       # srvx --prod -s ../client dist/server/server.js
npm run type:check  # tsc --noEmit
npm run lint        # eslint src

With database (Prisma):

npm run prisma:generate
npm run prisma:migrate
npm run prisma:studio

With database (Drizzle):

npm run db:generate
npm run db:migrate
npm run db:studio

Tips

Use descriptive project names - they become folder names and package.json names
Start with defaults - PostgreSQL + Prisma + Express is the most tested combination
Add Docker from the start - easier than retrofitting it later
Check .env.example - copy it to .env and fill in values before starting the server
Review the generated code - all files are plain TypeScript; edit them freely

The CLI generates production-ready code as a starting point. Always review and test before deploying.

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