Learn how to integrate and use the JS-Stack CLI programmatically in your Node.js or TypeScript projects.

Programmatic API

The JS-Stack CLI can be used programmatically in your Node.js/TypeScript code.

Installation

npm install create-js-stack

Basic Usage

import { createProject } from "create-js-stack";

await createProject({
  projectName: "my-app",
  projectDir: "./my-app",
  relativePath: "./my-app",
  frontend: ["next"],
  backend: "express",
  runtime: "node",
  database: "postgres",
  orm: "prisma",
  api: "trpc",
  auth: "better-auth",
  addons: ["docker", "testing", "biome"],
  examples: [],
  packageManager: "pnpm",
  git: true,
  install: true,
  dbSetup: "none",
  webDeploy: "none",
  serverDeploy: "none",
  directoryConflict: "error",
});

Type Definitions

All types are exported from the package:

import type {
  ProjectConfig,
  Database,
  ORM,
  Backend,
  Runtime,
  Frontend,
  Addons,
  Examples,
  Auth,
  API,
  PackageManager,
} from "create-js-stack";

Validation

Validate configuration before creating project:

import { validateConfig, autoFixConfig } from "create-js-stack";

const config = {
  // ... your config
};

const validation = validateConfig(config);
if (!validation.valid) {
  console.error("Validation errors:", validation.errors);
  // Auto-fix if possible
  const fixed = autoFixConfig(config);
}

Template Processing

Process templates programmatically:

import { processTemplate } from "create-js-stack";

const content = await processTemplate(
  "templates/component.jsx.hbs",
  {
    projectName: "my-app",
    // ... other context
  }
);

Project Directory Utilities

import {
  validateProjectName,
  getProjectDir,
  handleDirectoryConflict,
} from "create-js-stack";

// Validate project name
const validation = validateProjectName("my-app");
if (!validation.valid) {
  console.error(validation.error);
}

// Get project directory
const projectDir = getProjectDir("my-app");

// Handle directory conflicts
const finalDir = await handleDirectoryConflict(projectDir, "merge");

Configuration Management

Save and load project configuration:

import { saveConfig, loadConfig } from "create-js-stack";

// Save configuration
await saveConfig("./my-app", config);

// Load configuration
const config = await loadConfig("./my-app");

Generate Reproducible Command

Generate the CLI command that would recreate a project:

import { generateReproducibleCommand } from "create-js-stack";

const command = generateReproducibleCommand(config);
console.log(command);
// Output: create-js-stack my-app --frontend next --backend express ...

Constants

Access default configurations and constants:

import { DEFAULT_CONFIG, DEPENDENCY_VERSIONS, TEMPLATE_PATHS } from "create-js-stack";

console.log(DEFAULT_CONFIG);
console.log(DEPENDENCY_VERSIONS.react);
console.log(TEMPLATE_PATHS.frontend);

Error Handling

All functions throw errors that should be caught:

import { createProject } from "create-js-stack";

try {
  await createProject(config);
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Error) {
    console.error("Failed to create project:", error.message);
  }
}

Example: Custom CLI Wrapper

import { createProject, validateConfig } from "create-js-stack";
import type { ProjectConfig } from "create-js-stack";

async function createMyProject(name: string) {
  const config: ProjectConfig = {
    projectName: name,
    projectDir: `./${name}`,
    relativePath: `./${name}`,
    frontend: ["next"],
    backend: "none",
    runtime: "node",
    database: "postgres",
    orm: "prisma",
    api: "trpc",
    auth: "better-auth",
    addons: ["testing", "biome"],
    examples: [],
    packageManager: "pnpm",
    git: true,
    install: true,
    dbSetup: "none",
    webDeploy: "none",
    serverDeploy: "none",
    directoryConflict: "error",
  };

  // Validate
  const validation = validateConfig(config);
  if (!validation.valid) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid config: ${validation.errors.join(", ")}`);
  }

  // Create project
  await createProject(config);
}

createMyProject("my-app").catch(console.error);

Programmatic API

On this page