Scaffold

Bootstrap any software stack with sensible defaults

Quick Start • Features • Templates • Creating Templates • Contributing

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What is Scaffold?

Scaffold is a source-agnostic, composable project bootstrapper that lets you:

• 🚀 Start projects instantly with production-ready templates
• 🔧 Compose features by layering modules on top of base templates
• 🌐 Use any source — GitHub, GitLab, local files, or any git repo
• 📦 Zero dependencies — single binary, works everywhere

Unlike framework-specific CLIs or heavy platform solutions, Scaffold works with any technology stack and pulls templates from anywhere.

Quick Start

# Using npx (no installation required)
npx @makemore/scaffold myapp

# Or install the CLI globally
brew install makemore/tap/scaffold  # macOS
# Then run:
scaffold init myapp

Interactive Mode

Just run scaffold init and follow the prompts:

? Select a template:
  ❯ django     - Django REST API with authentication, Cloud Tasks, S3 storage
    nextjs     - Next.js 15 with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui

? Project name: my-awesome-app
? Project slug: my_awesome_app
? Description: An awesome new project
? GCP Project ID: my-gcp-project

✓ Project created at ./my-awesome-app

Non-Interactive Mode

Perfect for CI/CD or scripting:

scaffold init myapp \
  --base django \
  --var project_name="My App" \
  --var project_slug=my_app \
  --var gcp_project=my-gcp-project

Use Any Source

# GitHub shorthand
scaffold init myapp --base github:org/repo

# GitLab
scaffold init myapp --base gitlab:org/repo

# Any git URL
scaffold init myapp --base git:https://git.company.com/templates/base

# Local path (great for development)
scaffold init myapp --base file:./my-templates/django

# With subdirectory and branch
scaffold init myapp --base github:org/repo//templates/django#v2.0

Features

🧩 Composable Modules

Layer features on top of your base template:

scaffold init myapp \
  --base django \
  --add github:org/modules//celery \
  --add github:org/modules//stripe

Each module can add files, modify existing ones, and define its own variables.

📝 Smart Variable Substitution

Templates use simple {{ variable }} syntax:

# settings.py
PROJECT_NAME = "{{ project_name }}"

# scaffold.yaml
variables:
  - name: project_name
    description: Name of your project
    required: true
  - name: database
    type: choice
    choices: [postgres, mysql, sqlite]
    default: postgres

🔄 Directory Renaming

Use __variable__ in directory names:

__project_slug__/
  settings.py
  urls.py

Becomes:

my_app/
  settings.py
  urls.py

🎯 Post-Generation Actions

Templates can define actions to run after generation:

actions:
  - name: install
    type: command
    command: pip install -r requirements.txt
  - name: migrate
    type: command
    command: python manage.py migrate
  - name: welcome
    type: message
    message: |
      🎉 Your project is ready!

      Run: cd {{ project_slug }} && python manage.py runserver

Templates

Official Templates

Template	Description
django	Django REST API with auth, Cloud Tasks, S3, GCP deployment
nextjs	Next.js 15 with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui

Using Custom Templates

Any git repository with a scaffold.yaml can be used as a template:

# Your company's internal templates
scaffold init myapp --base git:git@github.com:company/templates.git//django

# Community templates
scaffold init myapp --base github:awesome-user/cool-template

Creating Templates

Basic Structure

my-template/
├── scaffold.yaml          # Template manifest
├── README.md
├── __project_slug__/      # Renamed to project slug
│   └── settings.py
└── requirements.txt

scaffold.yaml

name: my-template
description: A great template for starting projects
type: base
version: "1.0.0"

variables:
  - name: project_name
    description: Human-readable project name
    required: true

  - name: project_slug
    description: Python package name
    required: true

  - name: author
    description: Author name
    default: Anonymous

  - name: license
    type: choice
    choices:
      - MIT
      - Apache-2.0
      - GPL-3.0
    default: MIT

files:
  exclude:
    - "*.pyc"
    - "__pycache__"
    - ".git"

actions:
  - name: welcome
    type: message
    message: "Project {{ project_name }} created successfully!"

Variable Types

Type	Description
string	Free-form text input (default)
choice	Select from predefined options
confirm	Yes/no boolean

Installation

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install makemore/tap/scaffold

Download Binary

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Using npx

No installation required:

npx @makemore/scaffold myapp

CLI Reference

scaffold init [name] [flags]

Flags:
  -b, --base string      Base template (name, URL, or path)
  -a, --add strings      Additional modules to layer
  -v, --var strings      Variables in key=value format
  -o, --output string    Output directory (default: current directory)
  -y, --yes              Skip confirmation prompts
  -h, --help             Help for init

scaffold list           # List available templates
scaffold version        # Show version

Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21+
• Node.js 18+ (for npx wrapper)

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/makemore/scaffold.git
cd scaffold

# Build the CLI
cd cli
go build -o scaffold .

# Run tests
go test ./...

Running Template Tests

# Test Django template
./tests/templates/test_django.sh --no-docker

# Test Next.js template
./tests/templates/test_nextjs.sh --no-docker

Release Process

Creating a New Release

1. Update version in relevant files if needed

2. Create and push a tag:

   git tag v0.1.0
   git push origin v0.1.0

3. GitHub Actions will automatically:

   • Build binaries for all platforms (darwin/linux/windows × amd64/arm64)
   • Create a GitHub release with the binaries attached
   • Generate release notes from commits

4. Publish the npm wrapper:

   Option A — Using 2FA (interactive):

   cd create-scaffold
   npm version 0.1.0
   npm publish
   # Enter your 2FA code when prompted

   Option B — Using a granular access token:

   # Create a token at https://www.npmjs.com/settings/tokens
   # Select "Granular Access Token" with publish permissions
   # Enable "Bypass 2FA for automation"
   npm config set //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=YOUR_TOKEN
   npm publish

Platform Binaries

Each release includes binaries for:

• scaffold-darwin-amd64 — macOS Intel
• scaffold-darwin-arm64 — macOS Apple Silicon
• scaffold-linux-amd64 — Linux x64
• scaffold-linux-arm64 — Linux ARM64
• scaffold-windows-amd64.exe — Windows x64

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get started:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests: cd cli && go test ./...
5. Commit: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
6. Push: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
7. Open a Pull Request

Adding a New Template

1. Create a new directory in templates/
2. Add a scaffold.yaml manifest
3. Add template files with {{ variable }} placeholders
4. Add tests in tests/templates/
5. Update templates.yaml to register the template

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

Inspired by cookiecutter, degit, and the many framework-specific scaffolding tools that came before.

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Made with ❤️ by MakeMore