Anesis

Anesis is a Rust CLI for scaffolding JavaScript and TypeScript projects from remote Anesis templates and extending them with project addons.

It supports:

• creating a new project from a template
• checking cached templates and addons for updates before use
• authenticating against the Anesis service
• publishing GitHub repositories as Anesis templates
• installing cached addons and running addon commands inside a project
• upgrading the CLI from GitHub Releases with anesis upgrade
• notifying you when a newer Anesis version is available

Official website

The official Anesis website is anesis.vercel.app.

Use it as the main guide for learning and using Anesis:

• Docs cover installation, authentication, templates, addons, publishing, and reference material.
• Templates lists available project starters.
• Addons lists reusable workflow addons.

This README keeps a quick CLI reference for the repository and package users. The website contains the full, up-to-date usage guide.

Installation

Quick install

Linux and macOS:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anesis-dev/anesis/main/install.sh | bash

Windows PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anesis-dev/anesis/main/install.ps1 | iex

Unix installers place the anesis binary in ~/.local/bin. Cargo installs it in ~/.cargo/bin. Make sure the relevant directory is in your PATH.

Install with npm

npm install -g anesis-cli

The npm package downloads the matching prebuilt Anesis binary during postinstall.

Install with cargo

cargo install anesis

Manual install from GitHub Releases

Download the latest release artifact for your platform:

• Linux x86_64
• Linux ARM64
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Windows x86_64

Getting started

Most remote operations require authentication first:

anesis login

Create a new project from a template:

anesis new my-app react-vite-ts

Anesis checks whether the cached template is current before generating the project. If a newer template version exists, it updates the local cache first.

Command overview

Top-level commands:

anesis new <NAME> <TEMPLATE_NAME>
anesis template <COMMAND>
anesis login
anesis logout
anesis account
anesis addon <COMMAND>
anesis upgrade
anesis completions <SHELL>
anesis use <ADDON_ID> <COMMAND>

Template management:

anesis template install <TEMPLATE_NAME>
anesis template list
anesis template remove <TEMPLATE_NAME>
anesis template publish <GITHUB_REPOSITORY_URL>
anesis template update <GITHUB_REPOSITORY_URL>

Addon management:

anesis addon install <ADDON_ID>
anesis addon list
anesis addon remove <ADDON_ID>
anesis addon publish <GITHUB_REPOSITORY_URL>
anesis addon update <GITHUB_REPOSITORY_URL>

Addon execution:

anesis use <ADDON_ID> <COMMAND>

Example:

anesis addon install drizzle
cd my-app
anesis use drizzle init

Upgrade Anesis itself:

anesis upgrade

Install shell completions:

anesis completions zsh

Supported shells are bash, zsh, fish, and powershell.

Aliases:

• anesis n ... for anesis new ...
• anesis t ... for anesis template ...
• anesis a ... for anesis addon ...
• anesis in for anesis login
• anesis out for anesis logout

Common workflows

Install or refresh a template in the local cache:

anesis template install react-vite-ts

When you run anesis new, Anesis also refreshes the template cache automatically if a newer version is available.

List cached templates:

anesis template list

Remove a cached template:

anesis template remove react-vite-ts

Show the authenticated account:

anesis account

Publish a GitHub repository as a template:

anesis template publish https://github.com/owner/repo

Update a published template:

anesis template update https://github.com/owner/repo

Install an addon:

anesis addon install drizzle

Run an installed addon command:

anesis use drizzle init

When you run an addon command such as anesis use drizzle init, Anesis checks for a newer cached addon version first. If the add-on updated and the command is marked once: true, Anesis prompts you to re-run it.

List installed addons:

anesis addon list

Remove a cached addon:

anesis addon remove drizzle

Publish a GitHub repository as an addon:

anesis addon publish https://github.com/owner/repo

Update a published addon:

anesis addon update https://github.com/owner/repo

Upgrade the CLI to the latest release:

anesis upgrade

After most commands, Anesis performs a background version check and prints a short upgrade notice when a newer CLI release is available.

Install shell completions:

anesis completions zsh

Supported shells are bash, zsh, fish, and powershell.

Local data and generated files

Anesis stores local state under ~/.anesis/:

• cached templates in ~/.anesis/cache/templates
• cached addons in ~/.anesis/cache/addons
• template cache index in ~/.anesis/cache/templates/anesis-templates.json
• addon cache index in ~/.anesis/cache/addons/anesis-addons.json
• CLI version-check cache in ~/.anesis/version_check.json
• authentication data in ~/.anesis/auth.json

When addon commands run inside a project, Anesis records execution state in anesis.lock in the project root, including the add-on version used for each executed command.

Templates

Published templates are expected to include an anesis.template.json manifest in the template root. Anesis uses that manifest to track template metadata such as template name, version, and source repository.

Template files ending with .tera are rendered during project generation and written without the .tera suffix.

Available template variables:

• project_name
• project_name_kebab
• project_name_snake

Addons

Installed addons are expected to include an anesis.addon.json manifest. Anesis uses addon manifests to define:

• user inputs
• project detection rules
• command variants
• file modification steps such as create, copy, inject, replace, append, delete, rename, and move

License

Licensed under either of these:

• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT)
• Apache License 2.0 (LICENSE-Apache)