MESA CLI

MESA CLI is an internal scaffolding tool for the MESA Group development team. It generates ready-to-code project structures for MESAPPA plugins — the modular extensions that power the MESAPPA platform.

The tool automates the tedious setup of boilerplate, security patterns, infrastructure configuration, and CI/CD pipelines, so that developers can focus on building business logic from minute one. Every generated project comes pre-configured with Claude Code AI instructions (CLAUDE.md), enabling AI-assisted development that follows MESA's coding standards and security constraints.

Why MESA CLI

• Consistent structure across all plugin projects — same conventions, same security patterns, same deploy pipeline
• Three project types: on-premise plugin, SaaS plugin, and standalone PoC with configurable stack
• Environment assistant: checks your machine for required tools and walks you through installing anything missing
• AI-ready: every project ships with CLAUDE.md files that encode MESA's development rules (V1-V11), so Claude Code understands your constraints out of the box
• Cross-platform: works on macOS and Windows

Install

npm install -g @mesagroup/mesa-cli

Quick Start

mesa init

That's it. The interactive wizard handles the rest: project type, name, description, frontend, and optional GitHub repo creation.

Non-interactive mode

mesa init my-plugin -y                          # On-prem with frontend (defaults)
mesa init my-plugin --type standalone -y        # Standalone PoC (Next.js + SQL Server + Vercel)
mesa init my-plugin --no-frontend -y            # Backend only
mesa init my-plugin --dry-run -y                # Preview without creating files

Commands

mesa setup

Verifies your development environment is ready. Checks and guides installation of:

| Tool | Required | Purpose | |------|----------|---------| | Git | Yes | Version control; also checks user.name and user.email configuration | | Node.js | Yes | Runtime | | Docker | Yes | Local database containers | | .NET SDK | No | Only needed for C# AppHost projects | | GitHub CLI (gh) | No | Repo creation; checks authentication and mesagroup org access | | Aspire CLI 13.2+ | Yes | Local dev orchestration (TypeScript AppHost) |

If something is missing, MESA CLI shows the exact install command for your OS and waits for you to install it before re-checking.

Runs automatically on the first mesa init.

mesa init [name]

Scaffolds a MESAPPA plugin or standalone PoC project. You choose between three project types:

Stack comparison

| Type | Backend | Frontend | Database | Orchestrator | Deploy | CI/CD | |------|---------|----------|----------|-------------|--------|-------| | onprem | Express | Angular 16 (MF) | SQL Server | Aspire | — | — | | saas | Azure Functions v4 | Angular 16 (MF) | Azure SQL | — | Azure | GitHub Actions | | standalone (defaults) | Next.js API routes | Next.js | SQL Server | Aspire | Vercel | GitHub Actions | | standalone + angular | Express | Angular 16 | SQL Server / PostgreSQL / MongoDB | Aspire* | Vercel / Azure | GitHub Actions | | standalone + react-vite | Express | React + Vite | SQL Server / PostgreSQL / MongoDB | Aspire* | Vercel / Azure | GitHub Actions |

* Aspire is skipped when MongoDB Atlas is selected. All backends use TypeScript. Auth is JWT (jose) for Express-based, Azure AD middleware for SaaS.

Plugin (On Premise)

For MESAPPA instances deployed on customer infrastructure with SQL Server.

• Backend: TypeScript + Express, compiled with tsc
• Frontend (optional): Angular 16 + Module Federation
• Database: SQL Server (Windows Auth or SQL Auth)
• Local dev: .NET Aspire orchestrates SQL Server container + backend + frontend
• Auth: JWT from MESAPPA host, verified with jose

Plugin (SaaS)

For cloud-hosted MESAPPA instances on Azure.

• Backend: Azure Functions v4 (TypeScript, HTTP triggers)
• Frontend (optional): Angular 16 + Module Federation
• Database: Azure SQL
• Local dev: Azure Functions Core Tools + ng serve
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions workflow (build, test, deploy)
• Auth: JWT via Azure Functions middleware

Standalone App (PoC)

For proof-of-concept applications with a configurable stack.

• Backend: Next.js API routes (full-stack) or Express (monorepo)
• Frontend: Next.js, Angular 16, or React + Vite
• Database: SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB (local Docker or Atlas)
• Local dev: Aspire orchestrates database + app services
• Deploy: Vercel or Azure (via Aspire + azd)
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions

Defaults to Next.js full-stack + SQL Server + Vercel when using --yes or accepting defaults in the wizard.

Generated structure (on-prem)

my-plugin/
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── config/env.ts          # Zod-validated env config
│   │   ├── middleware/authJwt.ts   # JWT verification
│   │   ├── routes/                # Express routing + validation
│   │   ├── services/db.ts         # MSSQL connection pool
│   │   └── server.ts              # Express + Helmet + CORS whitelist
│   ├── .env.example
│   └── package.json
├── frontend/                      # (optional)
│   ├── projects/<name>/           # Plugin library (Module Federation)
│   ├── src/app/                   # Dev shell
│   ├── webpack.config.js
│   └── package.json
├── aspire/apphost.ts              # Orchestrator
├── scripts/                       # start-local + deploy (ps1/sh)
├── docs/                          # README + env variable reference
├── .claude/CLAUDE.md              # AI rules for Claude Code
├── CLAUDE.md
├── .env.example
└── .gitignore

Generated structure (SaaS)

my-plugin/
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── functions/             # Azure Function triggers
│   │   ├── config/env.ts
│   │   ├── middleware/             # JWT auth middleware
│   │   └── services/db.ts         # Azure SQL connection
│   ├── host.json
│   ├── local.settings.json.example
│   └── package.json
├── frontend/                      # (optional, same as on-prem)
├── .github/workflows/ci.yml      # GitHub Actions CI/CD
├── scripts/
├── docs/
├── .claude/CLAUDE.md
└── .gitignore

mesa login

Authenticate with a MESA instance.

mesa login --tenant-id=mesappa

Init options

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --type <type> | Project type: onprem, saas, or standalone (default: onprem) | | --no-frontend | Skip Angular frontend generation | | --author <name> | Author name (default: git config user.name) | | --description <text> | Plugin description | | --dry-run | Preview generated files without writing | | -y, --yes | Skip prompts, use auto-generated defaults |

After scaffolding

On-prem

cd my-plugin
npm run install:all
aspire run             # SQL Server + backend + frontend + dashboard

SaaS

cd my-plugin
npm run install:all
npm run dev            # Azure Functions + Angular dev server

Security rules enforced (V1-V11)

Every generated project embeds these constraints in CLAUDE.md, so both humans and AI follow them:

• V1: No secrets in tracked files
• V2: JWT required on all endpoints (except /api/health)
• V3: All SQL uses parameterized queries
• V4: No stack traces or internal messages in HTTP responses
• V5: No file exceeds ~400 lines without splitting
• V6: Business logic in services/, routes only validate + orchestrate
• V8: .env in .gitignore, only .env.example committed
• V10: CORS with explicit origin whitelist

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/mesagroup/mesa-cli.git
cd mesa-cli
pnpm install
pnpm build          # Build CLI
pnpm dev            # Watch mode
pnpm lint           # xo + prettier
pnpm test           # vitest

Tech stack

• TypeScript + tsup (bundler)
• meow (CLI framework) + @inquirer/prompts (interactive wizard)
• chalk (terminal styling)
• pnpm 10.9.0

License

ISC