create-owd is the installer CLI tool for Open Web Desktop, a modular framework for building web-based desktop experiences and digital gardens.

Usage

# Start interactively and choose your preferred setup type
npm create owd
# or specify the target folder directly
npm create owd my-desktop

You can also pass arguments to skip prompts and configure the setup directly:

# Recommended: clone the entire owdproject/client workspace repository
npm create owd my-desktop --clone

# Start from the standard template only
npm create owd my-desktop --template

What happens

1. Clones the entire owdproject/client repository from GitHub (recommended), or copies the official template starter structure.
2. Runs pnpm install to setup all dependencies.
3. Automatically opens the interactive control panel UI (desktop).

After setup

cd my-desktop
pnpm desktop    # Open the control panel (TUI) to manage packages and dev server
pnpm run dev    # Or start the Nuxt dev server directly

Add apps, modules, and themes

Use the OWD CLI commands inside your project to easily install, import, and configure modules:

pnpm desktop add app-todo
pnpm desktop add module-fs
pnpm desktop add theme-nova

Development

From the OWD client monorepo, sync the shared scaffold before publishing:

node create-owd/scripts/vendor-scaffold.js

prepack runs this automatically when publishing create-owd to npm.