cma-cli (Create MERN App CLI)

A simple and powerful CLI tool to scaffold a modern MERN stack application with a single command. Stop wasting time on boilerplate and focus on your code.

Why cma-cli?

cma-cli provides a production-ready MERN stack template with a clean and organized structure, essential developer tooling, and a great developer experience out of the box.

Features

• Interactive CLI: An easy-to-use command-line interface to get you started in seconds.
• Flexible Initialization: Choose to initialize client-only, server-only, or both parts of your MERN stack.
• JavaScript & TypeScript: Choose between a JavaScript or a TypeScript template with full type safety.
• Modern Stack: React, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB with the latest best practices.
• Multiple Package Managers: Support for bun, pnpm, yarn, and npm with intelligent detection and fallback.
• Vite Powered: A fast and modern build tool for the frontend with hot reload.
• Tailwind CSS v4: A utility-first CSS framework with built-in dark mode support.
• Git Integration: Automatic Git repository initialization with GitHub integration.
• Concurrent Development: Optional setup to run both client and server simultaneously.
• Production Ready: Security middleware, error handling, and optimization out of the box.

Installation

You can install cma-cli either locally or globally.

1. Local Installation and Usage

Run the following command:

npx cma-cli

2. Global Installation and Usage

First, install the CLI globally:

npm install -g cma-cli

Once installed, you can create a new MERN stack application anywhere by running:

cma-cli

The CLI will then prompt you with a few questions to configure your project:

1. Project Name: The name of your project (use "./" for current directory).
2. Language: Choose between JavaScript and TypeScript.
3. Package Manager: Select from bun, pnpm, yarn, or npm (automatically detects available options).
4. Initialize Parts: Choose to initialize client-only, server-only, or both parts.
5. Concurrently: Set up scripts to run both client and server simultaneously (when both parts are selected).
6. Install Dependencies: Automatically install all dependencies.
7. Initialize Git: Initialize a new git repository with optional GitHub integration.

After the setup is complete, you can navigate to your new project and start the development server.

Templates & Initialization Options

cma-cli provides flexible templates with multiple initialization options:

Language Templates

• JavaScript: A complete MERN stack template using JavaScript.
• TypeScript: A fully type-safe MERN stack template with strict TypeScript configuration.

Initialization Options

• Full Stack (Both): Complete MERN stack with both client and server in separate directories.
• Client Only: React frontend with Vite, Tailwind CSS, and routing (no backend).
• Server Only: Express backend with MongoDB, security middleware, and API structure (no frontend).

Package Manager Support

• bun ⚡ Fastest - Ultra-fast JavaScript runtime and package manager
• pnpm 🚀 Very Fast - Efficient disk space usage with symlinks
• yarn ⚡ Fast - Reliable dependency management with offline support
• npm 📦 Standard - The default Node.js package manager

All templates include production-ready configurations, testing setup, and development tools optimized for your chosen package manager.

Contributing

We welcome contributions to cma-cli! Please see the CONTRIBUTING.md file for detailed guidelines.

Development Setup

To set up your development environment, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/prasoonk1204/cma-cli.git
2. Install dependencies: npm install in the root directory.
3. Link the CLI: npm link to use your local cma-cli version globally.

Making Changes

Refer to CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed instructions on reporting bugs, suggesting enhancements, and submitting code contributions.

Project Structure

The project is structured as follows:

• bin/: Contains the CLI's executable files and logic.
• templates/: Holds the JavaScript (js/) and TypeScript (ts/) project templates.
  • Each template has a client/ (React frontend) and server/ (Node.js/Express backend) directory.

Release Process

The release process involves:

1. Ensuring all changes are merged into the master branch.
2. Updating the version number in package.json.
3. Creating a new Git tag for the release.
4. Publishing the package to npm.

For more details, please refer to the project maintainers.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Authors

• Prasoon Kumar
  • Github: @prasoonk1204
  • Twitter: @kenma_dev
• Prantor Das
  • GitHub: @Prantor-Das
  • Twitter: @akashi_sde