create-what

Scaffold a new What Framework project with one command.

Usage

npm create what@latest my-app
cd my-app
npm install
npm run dev

Or with Bun:

bun create what@latest my-app

Skip prompts

npm create what@latest my-app -- --yes

Full-stack template

npm create what@latest my-app -- --fullstack
cd my-app
npm install
npm run dev   # real SSR + ISR server -> http://localhost:3000

File-routed SSR with server loaders, server actions, client hydration, and origin-first ISR (stale-while-revalidate + on-demand revalidation + poll regeneration). Buildless: the server serves the client entry and the framework as native ES modules — no bundler, works on any Node host, no CDN required.

In production, set WHAT_REVALIDATE_SECRET (the server refuses to start without it when NODE_ENV=production).

Options

The scaffolder prompts you for:

1. Project name -- directory to create
2. Template -- SPA (default) or full-stack (--fullstack / --template=fullstack)
3. React compat (SPA only) -- include what-react for using React libraries (zustand, TanStack Query, etc.)
4. CSS approach (SPA only) -- vanilla CSS, Tailwind CSS v4, or StyleX

What You Get

SPA (default)

my-app/
  src/
    main.jsx          # App entry point with counter example
    styles.css        # Styles (vanilla, Tailwind, or StyleX)
  public/
    favicon.svg       # What Framework logo
  index.html          # HTML entry
  vite.config.js      # Pre-configured Vite (What compiler or React compat)
  eslint.config.js    # eslint-plugin-what (compiler preset)
  tsconfig.json       # TypeScript config
  package.json
  .gitignore

Full-stack (--fullstack)

my-app/
  src/
    pages/            # File-routed pages (loader + page config + component)
    actions/          # Server actions (mutations + cache revalidation)
    routes.js         # Route table
    entry-client.js   # Client hydration entry
    db.js             # In-memory demo data (swap for SQLite/Postgres)
    styles.css
  server.js           # Node adapter + ISR engine + revalidate webhook
  what.config.js      # Deploy adapter + ISR defaults
  eslint.config.js    # eslint-plugin-what (recommended preset)
  package.json

With React compat enabled

The scaffold includes a working zustand demo showing a React state library running on What's signal engine.

With Tailwind CSS

Tailwind v4 is configured via @tailwindcss/vite. The counter example uses utility classes.

With StyleX

StyleX is configured via vite-plugin-stylex. The counter example uses stylex.create() and stylex.props().

Scripts

SPA

| Script | Command | |---|---| | npm run dev | Start Vite dev server | | npm run build | Production build | | npm run preview | Preview production build | | npm run lint | ESLint (eslint-plugin-what) |

Full-stack

| Script | Command | |---|---| | npm run dev | SSR + ISR server with auto-restart on change | | npm start | Same server, no watcher (production entry point) | | npm run lint | ESLint (eslint-plugin-what) |

Links

• Documentation
• GitHub

License

MIT