stackzap

A powerful CLI to scaffold production-ready full-stack projects in seconds.

Stop wasting time wiring up boilerplate. stackzap gives you a full-stack project — frontend, backend, database, ORM, styling, and caching — ready to go with a single command.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Quick Start
• Modes
  • Preset Mode
  • Custom Mode
• Supported Technologies
• Presets Reference
• Generated Project Structure
• CLI Reference
• Environment Variables
• Security
• Requirements
• Changelog
• Contributing
• License

Installation

Global install (recommended):

npm install -g stackzap

Or run without installing:

npx stackzap init

Verify installation:

stackzap --version

Quick Start

stackzap init

The interactive CLI will guide you through every choice. That's it — your project is ready to cd into and npm run dev.

Modes

stackzap offers two ways to get started:

Preset Mode

One-click famous stacks. Pick a preset and stackzap handles all the wiring automatically.

> How do you want to start?  Preset
> Project name?               my-app
> Select preset               MERN Stack
> Package manager?            npm

See Presets Reference for the full list.

Custom Mode

Full control. Pick each layer of your stack individually.

> How do you want to start?  Custom
> Project name?               my-app
> Frontend                    Next.js
> Styling                     Tailwind
> Backend                     Fastify
> Database                    PostgreSQL
> ORM / Driver                Prisma
> Add Redis caching?          Yes
> Package manager?            pnpm

Supported Technologies

Frontend Frameworks

| Technology | Scaffold Method | Notes | |------------|----------------|-------| | React | Vite | Fast dev server, HMR | | Next.js | create-next-app | Pages Router, JavaScript | | Vue.js | Vite | Composition API ready | | Nuxt.js | nuxi | Full-stack Vue framework | | SvelteKit | sv create | Compiler-based, minimal bundle |

Backend Frameworks

| Technology | What Gets Installed | Boilerplate | |------------|-------------------|-------------| | Express | express, cors, dotenv | server/index.js with health endpoint | | Fastify | fastify, @fastify/cors, dotenv | server/index.js with health endpoint | | Hono | hono, @hono/node-server, dotenv | server/index.js with health endpoint | | NestJS | @nestjs/cli | Full NestJS scaffold in server/ |

Databases & ORMs

| Database | ORM / Driver | Packages Installed | Setup | |----------|-------------|-------------------|-------| | MongoDB | Mongoose | mongoose | — | | PostgreSQL | Prisma | prisma, @prisma/client | npx prisma init | | PostgreSQL | Drizzle | drizzle-orm, drizzle-kit, pg | Config + starter schema | | SQLite | Prisma | prisma, @prisma/client | npx prisma init --datasource-provider sqlite | | SQLite | better-sqlite3 | better-sqlite3 | — |

Styling

| Technology | Packages Installed | Notes | |------------|-------------------|-------| | Tailwind CSS | tailwindcss@3, postcss, autoprefixer | Auto-initializes config | | CSS Modules | — (built-in) | Creates example .module.css | | Sass / SCSS | sass | — | | shadcn/ui | Tailwind + tailwind-merge, clsx, class-variance-authority, lucide-react | React / Next.js only | | Chakra UI | @chakra-ui/react, @emotion/react, @emotion/styled, framer-motion | React / Next.js only |

Optional Add-ons

| Technology | Packages Installed | Generated Files | |-----------|-------------------|-----------------| | Redis | ioredis | src/lib/redis.js connection helper |

Presets Reference

| Preset | Frontend | Backend | Database + ORM | Styling | Extras | |--------|----------|---------|---------------|---------|--------| | T3 Stack | Next.js | — | PostgreSQL + Prisma | Tailwind | tRPC, NextAuth | | MERN Stack | React | Express | MongoDB + Mongoose | Tailwind | — | | PERN Stack | React | Express | PostgreSQL + Prisma | Tailwind | — | | MEVN Stack | Vue.js | Express | MongoDB + Mongoose | Tailwind | — |

Generated Project Structure

Exact structure depends on your choices, but here's a typical MERN + Tailwind output:

my-app/
├── node_modules/
├── public/
├── server/
│   └── index.js          # Express server with health endpoint
├── src/
│   └── ...               # Frontend source files
├── .env                  # Auto-generated with sensible defaults
├── package.json
├── postcss.config.js
├── tailwind.config.js
└── vite.config.js

CLI Reference

Usage: stackzap [command] [options]

Commands:
  init          Scaffold a new project interactively

Options:
  -V, --version Display version number
  -h, --help    Display help

Example

# Interactive project setup
stackzap init

# Check installed version
stackzap --version

Environment Variables

stackzap auto-generates a .env file based on your stack choices:

| Variable | When Generated | Default | |----------|---------------|---------| | PORT | Always | 5000 | | MONGO_URI | MongoDB selected | mongodb://localhost:27017/my-app | | DATABASE_URL | PostgreSQL selected | postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb | | DATABASE_URL | SQLite + Prisma selected | file:./dev.db | | REDIS_URL | Redis enabled | redis://localhost:6379 | | NEXTAUTH_SECRET | T3 preset | your-secret-here | | NEXTAUTH_URL | T3 preset | http://localhost:3000 |

Security

stackzap is built with safety in mind:

• Input validation — Project names are restricted to [A-Za-z0-9_-]. Path traversal patterns (.., /, \) and dot-prefixed names are blocked.
• Directory overwrite guard — Refuses to scaffold into an existing directory.
• Node.js version check — Exits cleanly with a message if Node < 14.
• No eval — All scaffolding runs trusted npm packages via child processes. No remote code execution.
• Pinned dependency ranges — All installed packages use caret (^) ranges for stability.

Requirements

| Requirement | Minimum | |------------|---------| | Node.js | >= 14.0.0 | | Package Manager | npm, yarn, or pnpm |

Changelog

2.0.0

• Added preset stacks: T3, MERN, PERN, MEVN
• Added frontends: Vue.js, Nuxt.js, SvelteKit
• Added backends: Fastify, Hono, NestJS
• Added databases: PostgreSQL (Prisma/Drizzle), SQLite
• Added styling: CSS Modules, Sass, shadcn/ui, Chakra UI
• Added optional Redis caching layer
• Two-mode prompt architecture (Preset vs Custom)
• Context-aware .env generation
• Boilerplate server files for Express, Fastify, Hono

1.1.0

• Gradient ASCII banner and visual upgrade
• Step progress indicators during installation
• Boxed success summary with stack details

1.0.0

• Initial release
• React, Next.js, Express, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Tailwind CSS

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/new-framework)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add new framework support')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/new-framework)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

MIT — made by shaury