Bootstrapping new projects comes with some friction. Even if it only takes a couple of commands, taking the time to come up with a project name or waiting for packages to install can disrupt your flow.

If you regularly create scratchpad projects using the same template, it's helpful to always have an empty project ready.

That's what nextpage does: it prepares a spare project for you, so it's ready when you need it. You can start working immediately while another spare project is bootstrapped in the background.

Quick Start

Run the nextpage to initialize the current directory:

npx @myandrienko/nextpage

A .nextpage subdirectory is created with the default configuration:

.nextpage
├ template     ← project structure
│ └ README.md
├ open         ← launch an editor, IDE...
└ prepare      ← install dependencies

Run nextpage again to bootstrap and open your first project:

npx @myandrienko/nextpage

A spare project is also created.

Slightly Slower Start

Install globally from npm:

npm install -g @myandrienko/nextpage
pnpm add -g @myandrienko/nextpage

Run the nextpage command in the directory where you store your scratchpad projects:

nextpage

This will initialize the scratchpad directory by adding the .nextpage subdirectory:

.nextpage
├ template
│ └ README.md
├ open
└ prepare

Running the nextpage command again at this point will bootstrap and open your first project (using the default template) and prepare a spare project.

You can configure how the project opens and customize the bootstrapping process by editing the files in the .nextpage subdirectory.

Configuration

The open script opens a prepared project. In this script, you probably want to launch your favorite editor or IDE. You may also want to execute additional commands, like launching a dev server:

.nextpage/open:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
code . # open project in vscode
npm run dev # start dev server

When this script is executed, cwd is the prepared project's directory. The randomly generated project name is also passed to the script via the $NEXTPAGE environment variable, though you likely won't need it.

The prepare script contains the bootstrapping steps. It is used to prepare a spare project. First, the .nextpage/template directory is used to create a new directory with a randomly generated name. Then, the prepare script is executed in this directory.

For example, for a Node project you might want to have a template with a package.json file and install dependencies in the prepare script:

.nextpage
├ template
│ └ package.json
├ open
└ prepare

.nextpage/prepare:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
npm install

Ensure that the open and prepare files are executable; otherwise, they will be ignored.

Since the bootstrapping steps are executed in advance, there's always a randomly named spare project prepared. Its name is stored in the .nextpage/next file. Do not edit this file manually.