MESA CLI

Command-line tool for scaffolding MESAPPA on-prem plugin projects — complete with TypeScript + Express backend, optional Angular 16 frontend with Module Federation, and .NET Aspire orchestration.

Works on macOS and Windows.

Install

pnpm install -g .

Or link locally for development:

pnpm build && pnpm link --global

Quick Start

# Interactive — walks you through name, description, frontend, GitHub repo
mesa init

# Non-interactive with defaults
mesa init my-plugin -y

# Backend-only (no Angular frontend)
mesa init my-plugin --no-frontend -y

# Preview without writing files
mesa init my-plugin --dry-run -y

Commands

mesa setup

Checks that all required development tools are installed and guides you through fixing anything missing.

Checks performed:

• Node.js (required)
• pnpm (required)
• Git (required) — also verifies user.name and user.email are configured
• GitHub CLI (gh) — verifies authentication and org access to mesagroup
• Docker Desktop (required for local SQL Server)
• .NET Aspire CLI (optional, for orchestration)

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

mesa setup runs automatically on first use of mesa init.

mesa init [name]

Scaffolds a complete MESAPPA plugin project:

my-plugin/
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── config/env.ts          # Zod-validated env config
│   │   ├── middleware/authJwt.ts   # JWT verification (jose)
│   │   ├── routes/health.ts       # Health check with DB probe
│   │   ├── routes/index.ts        # API router
│   │   ├── services/db.ts         # MSSQL connection pool (Aspire-aware)
│   │   └── server.ts              # Express + Helmet + CORS
│   ├── .env.example
│   ├── nodemon.json
│   ├── package.json
│   └── tsconfig.json
├── frontend/                      # (if --no-frontend is not set)
│   ├── projects/<name>/src/
│   │   ├── lib/<name>.module.ts
│   │   ├── lib/<name>.component.ts
│   │   ├── lib/<name>.service.ts
│   │   ├── lib/models.ts          # MESAPPA V9 interfaces
│   │   └── public-api.ts
│   ├── src/app/                   # Dev shell app
│   ├── angular.json
│   ├── webpack.config.js          # Module Federation
│   ├── proxy.conf.js
│   ├── package.json
│   └── tsconfig.json
├── aspire/
│   └── apphost.ts                 # .NET Aspire orchestrator
├── scripts/
│   ├── start-local.ps1
│   ├── start-local.sh
│   └── deploy.ps1
├── docs/
│   ├── README.md
│   └── env-vars.md
├── .claude/CLAUDE.md              # AI coding rules for Claude Code
├── CLAUDE.md                      # Project-level AI instructions
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
└── package.json                   # Root workspace scripts

Options:

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --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, the CLI optionally creates a GitHub repo on mesagroup and pushes the initial commit.

mesa login

Authenticate with a MESA instance.

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --tenant-id <id> | Tenant ID (default: MESA_INSTANCE env var or default) |

Generated Project — Getting Started

cd my-plugin

# Install all dependencies
npm run install:all

# Start with Aspire (recommended)
aspire run

# Or start manually
cd backend && npm run dev
cd frontend && npm start     # if frontend is present

Prerequisites for Generated Projects

| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | Docker Desktop | SQL Server container | | .NET SDK 10+ | Aspire orchestrator | | Aspire CLI | dotnet tool install -g aspire.cli | | Node.js 20+ | Runtime | | pnpm | Package manager |

Development

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 prompts)
• chalk (terminal styling)
• zod (env validation in generated projects)

License

ISC