create-ernest-bot

A powerful Command Line Interface (CLI) tool designed to quickly scaffold new WhatsApp bot projects, powered by Ernest Tech House. Bootstrap your next bot with battle-tested templates, setting you up for success in minutes!

✨ Why create-ernest-bot?

Developing WhatsApp bots can involve repetitive setup tasks. create-ernest-bot aims to solve this by providing:

• 🚀 Rapid Project Creation: Get a new bot project up and running in seconds
• 📋 Curated Templates: Start with robust, pre-configured templates designed for reliability
• ⚡ Automated Setup: Handles dependency installation, package.json customization, .gitignore creation, and Git initialization for you
• 🎯 Focus on Development: Spend less time on boilerplate, more time on building your bot's unique features

🚀 Installation & Usage

create-ernest-bot is designed to be used with npx, which is the recommended way to run one-off CLI tools without installing them globally. This ensures you always use the latest version available on npm.

Quick Start

Open your terminal and run:

npx create-ernest-bot my-new-bot-project

• Replace my-new-bot-project with your desired project name
• The CLI will then guide you through an interactive template selection process

Using a Specific Template

If you already know which template you want, you can specify it directly:

npx create-ernest-bot my-awesome-bot --template bailys

📚 Available Templates

Currently, create-ernest-bot offers the following template:

• bailys: A robust and efficient starter template for WhatsApp bots, providing a solid foundation with essential features and clear structure. (More details will be in the README.md generated within the project)

We are constantly working on adding more templates to support various use cases and bot libraries!

📦 What You Get (Generated Project Structure)

After running create-ernest-bot, you'll have a new directory (my-new-bot-project in the example) with:

• The chosen template's files (e.g., src/, package.json, etc.)
• A pre-configured package.json with your project's name
• A .gitignore file to keep your repository clean
• All necessary npm dependencies already installed
• An initialized Git repository with an initial commit

▶️ Getting Started with Your New Bot Project

Once create-ernest-bot finishes, follow these simple steps to get your bot running:

1. Navigate into your new project directory:

cd my-new-bot-project

2. Configure your bot:

Edit the .env file:

• Rename .env.example to .env
• Fill in your API keys, tokens, and other sensitive details

3. Start your bot in development mode:

npm run dev

(This usually includes auto-restarting on code changes for a smooth development experience.)

💖 Support Ernest Tech House & Pease Ernest

This CLI and the bot templates are crafted with passion and dedication. Your support is entirely optional but incredibly appreciated. It fuels continuous development and helps us bring more awesome tools to you!

Ways to contribute:

• M-Pesa Paybill: 200999 Account: 0163160094307
• PayPal: [email protected]
• GitHub: Star our CLI repository: create-ernest-bot
• WhatsApp Channel: Join for updates and community support: Ernest Tech House Channel

Thank you for your consideration and for being a part of the Ernest Tech House community! 🙏

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a list of changes and version history.

📜 License

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