First Project

This walkthrough creates a project, previews what the CLI can generate, and shows where to look after the scaffold finishes.

1. Create a project

Run the wizard:

npm create better-fullstack@latest my-app

Accept the defaults for a TypeScript starter, or change the prompts to match the stack you want.

2. Preview without writing

Use --dry-run when you want to inspect the generated file tree first:

npm create better-fullstack@latest my-app -- --dry-run

The dry run is useful before trying a new ecosystem, deployment target, or multi-ecosystem stack.

3. Scaffold from a command

Explicit flags make the scaffold repeatable. This example creates a Next.js self-backend project and skips install/Git so you can review files first:

npm create better-fullstack@latest my-app -- \  --ecosystem typescript \  --frontend next \  --backend self \  --runtime none \  --database postgres \  --orm drizzle \  --auth better-auth \  --api trpc \  --db-setup none \  --ai none \  --payments none \  --examples none \  --addons none \  --ai-docs none \  --version-channel stable \  --no-install \  --no-git

4. Install dependencies

If you used --no-install, install manually inside the project:

cd my-app

npm install

Language-native ecosystems use their own tools:

cargo build
uv sync
go mod tidy
./mvnw test
./gradlew test

5. Inspect the project

Generated projects include:

• bts.jsonc with the selected stack and schema reference.
• Framework, package, and config files for the selected ecosystem.
• A reproducible command printed by the CLI.
• Optional AI docs such as CLAUDE.md, Agents.md, or .cursorrules.
• README and setup notes where the selected templates provide them.

6. Add supported features later

Inside a generated project, use add for supported addons:

npm create better-fullstack@latest add -- --addons mcp skills

The add command reads bts.jsonc, skips addons already present, and prints install guidance when dependencies are not installed automatically.

Next

• CLI Create lists every scaffold flag.
• CLI Add explains existing-project addon updates.
• Ecosystems compares the supported project families.