lershi-minimal-app

A modern, minimal CLI tool to scaffold new projects with a single command—just like npx create-next-app!

Features

• Multiple templates (e.g., default, html)
• Interactive prompts (or -y to skip)
• Git initialization
• Dependency installation (npm, yarn, pnpm, bun)
• Clean, colored output

Project Structure

lershi-minimal-app/
├── src/
│   ├── cli.ts        # CLI entry point: argument parsing, prompts, main logic
│   ├── logger.ts     # Unified logging and spinner output
│   ├── scaffold.ts   # Core logic: copies templates, replaces placeholders
│   ├── utils.ts      # Helper: validates project name
│   └── version.ts    # Auto-generated: contains the CLI version
├── templates/
│   ├── default/      # Default template files
│   └── html/         # HTML template files
├── dist/             # Compiled output (after build)
│   ├── cli.js
│   ├── logger.js
│   ├── scaffold.js
│   ├── utils.js
│   └── version.js
├── README.md         # This file
├── package.json      # Scripts, dependencies, config
└── ...

How Each File Works

• src/cli.ts: Handles CLI arguments, prompts, and calls the scaffolder. Uses commander, enquirer, and logger.
• src/logger.ts: Provides colored output and spinners for a great UX.
• src/scaffold.ts: Copies the chosen template, replaces ${name} placeholders, and returns the new project path.
• src/utils.ts: Validates the project name and checks for existing directories.
• src/version.ts: Auto-generated: contains the CLI version.
• templates/: Add folders here for new templates (e.g., templates/react/).

How to Add a New Template

1. Create a new folder in templates/ (e.g., templates/express/).
2. Add your starter files (e.g., README.md, package.json, etc.).
3. Use ${name} in files to auto-replace with the project name.
4. Scaffold with:

   npx lershi-minimal-app my-app -t express

Development & Deployment

• Build:

  npm run build

• Test:

  npm test

• Publish to npm:

1. npm run changeset
2. npm run version
3. npm run prebuild
4. git add . && git commit -m "release: version bump and changelog"
5. git push
6. npm run publish:prod

Next Steps

• Add more templates to templates/
• Add more prompts or features in src/cli.ts
• Extend logging or validation as needed

Versioning: Keeping the CLI Version in Sync

Why do we generate src/version.ts?

• Reading package.json at runtime can fail after build/publish, causing errors like:

  Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '.../dist/package.json'

• Instead, we generate src/version.ts at build time, which exports the version from package.json.
• The CLI imports this version directly:

  import { version } from './version.js';

Why the .js extension?

• In ESM (with "type": "module"), Node.js requires explicit file extensions in imports.
• Using import { version } from './version.js'; ensures the import works after build and publish.

Summary

• No runtime file reads or path issues.
• The version is always in sync with package.json.
• The CLI works reliably with npx, local, and global installs.