references/, through to a green first CI run and a package npm can publish over OIDC.scaffold-nextjs), folder structure or module contracts for an existing codebase (use codebase-architecture), auditing an existing CLI's ergonomics (use dx-audit), or shipping a release of an existing package (use autoship).The templates encode the house toolchain. Substitute project values and verify template APIs against installed package versions; repair proven incompatibilities instead of blindly reproducing them. The toolchain is the opinion: tsdown not tsup, vitest not jest, oxlint and oxfmt via ultracite not eslint or prettier, node:util styleText not chalk, @clack/prompts not ora. Swapping any of them or restructuring the layout produces a repo the templates' notes no longer describe.
| File | \nRead When | \n
|---|---|
references/scaffold-configs.md | \nStep 3: package.json, tsconfig, tsdown, gitignore, license, changeset config, GitHub Actions | \n
references/scaffold-source.md | \nSteps 4-5: src/cli.ts, src/index.ts, src/types.ts, AGENTS.md, README.md, skills/SKILL.md | \n
references/agent-friendly-cli.md | \nStep 4, only when a command takes an identifier, path, or URL, or mutates state: input validation, dry-run, confirmation, schema | \n
references/post-scaffold.md | \nSteps 6-8: post-scaffold commands, the lefthook.yml replacement, validation checklist, GitHub and npm bootstrap, troubleshooting | \n
Copy this checklist to track progress:
\nScaffold progress:\n- [ ] Step 1: Gather project info\n- [ ] Step 2: Create directory structure\n- [ ] Step 3: Generate config files\n- [ ] Step 4: Generate source files\n- [ ] Step 5: Generate docs and skill\n- [ ] Step 6: Run post-scaffold commands\n- [ ] Step 7: Validate scaffold\n- [ ] Step 8: Bootstrap GitHub and npm (with the user's go-ahead)\nAsk only for what the user didn't provide:
\n| Variable | \nExample | \nDefault | \nUsed in | \n
|---|---|---|---|
{{name}} | \nmd-tools | \nrequired | \npackage.json name, README title, npm package | \n
{{description}} | \nCLI tool to convert content to markdown | \nrequired | \npackage.json, README, SKILL.md | \n
{{bin}} | \nmd | \nsame as {{name}} | \npackage.json bin field, CLI examples, skills folder | \n
{{repo}} | \nacme/md-tools | \nrequired | \npackage.json repository, GitHub repo, npm trusted publisher | \n
{{author}} | \nYour Name | \nrequired | \npackage.json, LICENSE | \n
{{year}} | \n2026 | \ncurrent year | \nLICENSE | \n
{{repo}} must be the exact GitHub owner/name: npm provenance rejects a publish whose repository.url differs from the repo it came from.
{{name}}/\n .changeset/\n .github/\n workflows/\n src/\n skills/{{bin}}/\nLoad references/scaffold-configs.md. Generate every file there, replacing each {{placeholder}}:
package.json, tsconfig.json, tsdown.config.ts, .gitignore, LICENSE.md, .changeset/config.json, .changeset/README.md, .github/workflows/ci.yml, .github/workflows/npm-publish.yml
Load references/scaffold-source.md. Generate:
src/cli.ts: Commander entry point with agent-friendly defaults (--output text|json, --no-input, stdout data / stderr log split, JSON error envelope)src/index.ts: Public API exportssrc/types.ts: Shared type definitionsWhen a command takes an identifier, path, or URL, or mutates state, also load references/agent-friendly-cli.md and copy the matching pinned pattern. Skip it for a CLI with no such command.
From the same references/scaffold-source.md, generate:
AGENTS.md: commands, architecture, gotchas, agent invariantsREADME.md: install, usage, API, agent skill install, licenseskills/{{bin}}/SKILL.md: agent skill definitionUse AGENTS.md directly; do not create a CLAUDE.md wrapper or symlink.
\nLoad references/post-scaffold.md. Run the command sequence in the order given, including the lefthook.yml overwrite between ultracite init and the first commit.
Run the validation checklist in references/post-scaffold.md. Every item is a command whose output is the evidence; the checklist includes publint, arethetypeswrong, the hook exercised against real files, and the placeholder sweep.
For a local scaffold, stop after Step 7. If the user already requested remote setup or publication, carry out that authorized scope. Otherwise present the prepared repository/package identity before asking to create or publish it. Otherwise follow \"Bootstrap GitHub and npm\" in references/post-scaffold.md: create and push the repo, enable Actions-created PRs, publish 0.0.1 once by hand so the package exists, then register the workflow as a trusted publisher. Terminal evidence is a green CI run on the pushed commit and npm view {{name}} version printing 0.0.1. From here every release belongs to autoship.
Runtime: @clack/prompts, commander
Development (in the package.json template): @changesets/cli, @types/node, tsdown, typescript, vitest
Added by ultracite init, never listed by hand: ultracite (pinned exact by init), oxlint, oxfmt, lefthook, plus the check, fix, and prepare scripts. By-hand entries produce duplicate scripts and version skew against what init installs.
.mjs by default. With platform: node (the default) fixedExtension is on, so a config without outputOptions.entryFileNames: \"[name].js\" builds dist/cli.mjs, dist/index.mjs, and dist/index.d.mts, and bin and exports point at files that do not exist. The outputOptions block in the template is what keeps them .js; do not trim it as noise.src/cli.ts. tsdown's banner injects #!/usr/bin/env node; a source shebang doubles it in dist/cli.js. The two build entries stay separate: the CLI entry has the banner and dts: false, the library entry has dts: true and no banner.ultracite init --quiet without --linter oxlint installs Biome. Quiet mode defaults the linter to Biome instead of prompting, so the repo silently ends up on the wrong toolchain. Pass every flag in the post-scaffold command.git init before ultracite init. Init adds prepare: lefthook install and runs it at once; lefthook install writes into .git/hooks and fails without a repo.lefthook.yml before the first commit. It runs npx ultracite fix with no file arguments, so a one-line change reformats the whole tree (31 files in the reference repo), and its **/*.ts globs never match root files, so package.json and tsdown.config.ts edits bypass the hook entirely. Adding {staged_files} alone makes it worse: a JSON-only commit (the shape of the changesets bot's Version Packages commit) then hits oxlint with no lintable file and exits 1. Use the version in references/post-scaffold.md, with *.{...} globs, never **/.touch <file> && git add <file> stages nothing. An unchanged file has no staged diff, so the hook skips and the check proves nothing. Exercise the hook with npx lefthook run pre-commit --file <path>.\"test\": \"vitest run\" without --passWithNoTests exits 1 on a repo with zero test files, so the first CI run goes red.@changesets/cli@3 pairs with changesets/action@v2 and the publish-script: input. @v1 cannot drive changesets v3, and @v2 given the v1 publish: input versions the package and then completes green without publishing. The templates carry the matching pair; do not downgrade one side.E404 or ENEEDAUTH until Step 8's one-time manual npm publish has created the package and the workflow is registered. That publish happens before any changeset exists, so it is the one manual publish autoship's rules do not forbid.node-version: 24. Lowering it to 22 breaks publishing with ENEEDAUTH.console.log breaks a consumer parsing --output json. Never prompt when stdin is not a TTY: honor --no-input and take every value as a flag, or the process hangs under a pipe.autoship: every release after the bootstrap publish: changeset, CI watch, Version Packages PR, publish verification, and diagnosis of a release that did not publish.dx-audit: audit the CLI's flags, errors, and types once real commands exist.agents-md: grow the generated AGENTS.md as the codebase gains structure.readme-creator: rewrite the README once there is a real usage story to tell.Maintenance only: evals/evals.json contains regression scenarios for changes to this skill; it does not load during a user task.