create-tui

A CLI tool for creating OpenTUI projects from templates.

Installation

# Use with bun (no installation required)
bun create tui my-tui-project

What It Does

When you run create-tui, the CLI performs the following steps:

1. Template Validation — Validates the template exists on GitHub
2. Project Directory Setup — Creates the project directory (or prompts to delete if it already exists)
3. Template Download — Downloads the selected template from GitHub
4. Package Configuration — Updates package.json with your project name
5. Dependency Installation — Installs all dependencies using your package manager
6. Git Initialization — Optionally initializes a git repository
7. Update Check — Checks for newer versions and notifies you if an update is available

Usage

Interactive Mode

bun create tui

This will prompt you for:

• Project name
• Template choice (Core, React, Solid, or Custom)

With Arguments

# Create a React project
bun create tui -t react my-react-app

# Create a Core project
bun create tui -t core my-core-app

# Create a Solid project
bun create tui -t solid my-solid-app

Template Formats

The CLI supports three formats for specifying templates:

1. Aliases (Built-in Templates)

Simple names for the official templates:

bun create tui -t core my-project
bun create tui -t react my-project
bun create tui -t solid my-project

2. Shorthand (owner/repo)

Use any GitHub repository with a shorthand syntax:

# Use a repository root as template
bun create tui -t username/my-template my-project

# Use a nested directory within a repository
bun create tui -t username/repo/path/to/template my-project

3. Full GitHub URL

For maximum clarity or when you need to specify a branch:

# Repository root
bun create tui -t https://github.com/username/repo my-project

# Specific branch and path
bun create tui -t https://github.com/username/repo/tree/main/templates/starter my-project

# With verbose output to see detailed progress
bun create tui -t https://github.com/username/repo -v my-project

All templates must have a package.json file at the template root.

Available Templates

Built-in Templates (Aliases)

| Alias | Description | | ------- | ----------------------------------------- | | core | OpenTUI project with core functionality | | react | OpenTUI project with React integration | | solid | OpenTUI project with Solid.js integration |

Custom Templates

Any public GitHub repository can be used as a template. Use either shorthand (owner/repo/path) or full GitHub URLs.

Arguments

| Argument | Description | Required | | -------------- | -------------------------------------- | -------- | | project-name | The folder to bootstrap the project in | No |

Options

| Option | Alias | Description | | -------------- | ----- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | --template | -t | Template: alias (core, react, solid), shorthand (owner/repo), or GitHub URL | | --no-git | | Skip initializing a git repository | | --no-install | | Skip installing dependencies | | --verbose | -v | Show detailed progress during template validation and download | | --help | -h | Show help information | | --version | | Show version number |

Update Notifications

The CLI automatically checks for newer versions after each run. If an update is available, you'll see a notification with the command to update:

Update available! 1.0.0 -> 1.1.0
Run bun add -g create-tui@latest to update

This check is non-blocking and times out after 3 seconds to avoid slowing down the CLI.

Development

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Run in development mode
bun run dev

# Build for production
bun run build

License

MIT