Projgen

Projgen is a powerful, template-driven CLI tool for scaffolding new projects. Instead of manually setting up boilerplate code every time, you define a JSON template once and let Projgen handle the rest — running commands, writing files, patching configs, and cloning repositories.

Installation

npm install -g @projgen/cli

Or run directly without installing:

npx @projgen/cli create ./my-template.json

Usage

Create

projgen create [templatePath] [skipPrompts]

Aliases: projgen c projgen cr

Example:

projgen create ./templates/test.json

Projgen will validate the template, prompt you for any defined variables, and then execute all steps in order.

You can add -y to skip all Variables Prompts that are optional or have a default value and will only get prompted for required variables without default value.

Add

Used to add a template to the local registry.

projgen add [templatePath] [alias]

Aliases: projgen a

parameter	description
templatePath	the path to a json file containing the template
alias	a optional property to define the alias used to reference the template in the cr command

If no alias is provided, template.id is used.

This command fails if the alias is already getting used in the registry or if there is already a template with the same id. -> Templates are stored in a file with template.id as filename, that's why you can't have duplicate ids.

Example:

projgen add ./some-template.json myTemplate

now the template in some-template.json can be run using projgen c myTemplate

List

Used to list the contents of the local registry (Registry Version, Templates and Linked Registries)

projgen list

Aliases: projgen ls

Remove

Used to remove a template from the registry.

projgen remove

Aliases: projgen rm

Template Structure

A template is a JSON file that defines variables (user prompts) and steps (actions to scaffold the project).

{
  "id": "my-template",
  "name": "My Template",
  "description": "A short description of what this template creates",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": "Your Name",
  "variables": [...],
  "steps": [...]
}

Variables

Variables are prompted to the user interactively before any steps run. They can be referenced inside step fields using {{variableName}} syntax.

Type	Description
string	Free-text input, supports default and required
number	Numeric input, supports default and required
boolean	True/false toggle, supports default
select	Single or multi-select from a list of options

Example:

{
  "variables": [
    {
      "name": "projectName",
      "type": "string",
      "message": "What is the name of your project?",
      "required": true
    },
    {
      "name": "framework",
      "type": "select",
      "message": "Which framework would you like to use?",
      "options": ["react", "vue", "svelte"],
      "multiple": false,
      "required": true
    }
  ]
}

Steps

Steps are executed in order after all variables have been collected. Each step supports an optional when condition to control whether it runs.

---

run — Execute a shell command

{
  "type": "run",
  "command": "npm install",
  "cwd": "./my-project"
}

Parameter	Required	Description
type	Required	Is run to define Run step
when	Optional	Any potential conditionals
command	Required	The command to Run
cwd	Optional	Path to the directory to run the command from

---

write — Write a file

Creates the file if it doesn't exist, overwrites it if it does.

{
  "type": "write",
  "path": "src/index.ts",
  "content": "console.log('Hello, {{projectName}}!');"
}

Can also be used with a URL instead of content to simplify writing a bigger file. Is best used with something like (gist)[https://gist.github.com/] for sharing.

{
  "type": "write",
  "path": "src/index.ts",
  "url": "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/LorisRue/ae20c81981af5c3d7aa7f2139b30a89c/raw/ee9ceda05a598c5cd0601d6cd40d86f1c8729686/example"
}

Parameter	Required	Description
type	Required	Is write to define Write step
when	Optional	Any potential conditionals
path	Required	The Path to the file to write
content	Optional*	The text to write to the file
url	Optional*	A URL to pull the text from

*Either content or url have to be set. If both are set, url gets priority.

---

patch-text — Edit a text file

Modify specific parts of an existing file.

Operation	Description
replace	Replace matched text (use empty string to delete)
insert-after	Insert content after the matched text
insert-before	Insert content before the matched text
append	Append content to the end of the file
prepend	Prepend content to the beginning of the file

{
  "type": "patch-text",
  "path": "README.md",
  "operation": "append",
  "content": "\n## License\nMIT"
}

You can also fetch content from a URL instead of providing it inline:

{
  "type": "patch-text",
  "path": ".eslintrc.json",
  "operation": "replace",
  "find": "{}",
  "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/my-org/configs/main/.eslintrc.json"
}

Parameter	Required	Description
type	Required	Is run to define Run step
when	Optional	Any potential conditionals
path	Required	Path to file to patch
operation	Required	The operation to perform (mentioned above)
find	Optional*	A string to search for in the file to perform the operation to.
content	Optional**	The text to patch (replace, insert...).
url	Optional**	The Url to get the text to patch from

*find is required for all operations except for append and prepend, since they are relative to the entire file. **Either content or url have to be set. If both are set, url gets priority.

Use content="" and operation="replace" to remove the text defined in find

---

patch-json — Edit a JSON file

Surgically modify JSON config files using a path array.

Operation	Description
set	Set a value at a path, creating it if it doesn't exist
append	Append a value to an array or object (key-value) at a path
remove	Remove the value at a path

Example JSON:

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "vitest",
    "build": "tsc"
  }
}

Template Step Example

{
  "type": "patch-json",
  "path": "package.json",
  "operation": "set",
  "jsonPath": ["scripts", "test"],
  "value": "vitest run"
}

You can also access a index of an array by just using the index as a string.

{
  "arr": [
    {
      "something": "a thing",
      "someObject": { "oneAttribute": "Some wrong thing" }
    },
    { "something": "another thing" }
  ]
}

{
  "type": "patch-json",
  "path": "example.json",
  "operation": "set",
  "jsonPath": ["arr", "0", "someObject", "oneAttribute"],
  "value": "Some right thing"
}

This would turn "Some wrong thing" into "Some right thing"

To access the test property inside that example JSON, use jsonPath: ["scripts", "test"]. That points to package.json.scripts.test.

Parameter	Required	Description
type	Required	Is run to define Run step
when	Optional	Any potential conditionals
path	Required	Path to json file to patch
operation	Required	The operation to perform (mentioned above)
jsonPath	Required	The "json path" to the entry to change (see example).
value	Optional*	The value to insert

*value is required for set and append, but will be ignored for remove

---

Conditional Steps

Any step can include a when array to conditionally execute based on variable values. The step will only execute if all conditions are met.

{
  "type": "run",
  "command": "npm install tailwindcss",
  "when": [
    {
      "variable": "useTailwind",
      "operator": "eq",
      "value": true
    }
  ]
}

Parameter	Description
variable	The name of a variable defined in the variables array
operator	the operator to use (see below)
value	The value to check for (not needed for isNull and isNotNull)

Available operators:

Operator	Name	Description	Valid Datatypes
eq	Equals	Checks if variable is equal to value	All
neq	Not Equals	Checks if variable is not equal to value	All
gt	Greater Than	Checks if variable is greater than value	Number
lt	Less Than	Checks if variable is less than value	Number
gte	Greater Than or Equal	Checks if variable is greater than or equal to value	Number
lte	Less Than or Equal	Checks if variable is less than or equal to value	Number
contains	Contains	Checks if an array variable contains the value	Array
notContains	Does Not Contain	Checks if an array variable does not contain the value	Array
isNull	Is Null	Checks if variable content is null	All (value ignored)
isNotNull	Is Not Null	Checks if variable content is not null	All (value ignored)
matches	Matches Regex	Checks if a string variable matches a regex pattern	String
notMatches	Does Not Match Regex	Checks if a string variable does not match a regex pattern	String

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• npm

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Projgen/core.git
cd core
npm install

Scripts

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start in development mode (watch)
npm run build	Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm start	Run the compiled code from dist/
npm test	Run tests with Vitest
npm run lint	Lint the codebase with ESLint
npm run format	Format code with Prettier

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.