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Installation

npm install @create-node-app/core

Requires Node.js >= 22.

This is the engine package. For the interactive CLI, use create-awesome-node-app instead.

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Usage

Scaffold a project programmatically

import { createNodeApp, getTemplateDirPath } from "@create-node-app/core";

await createNodeApp(
  "my-app",
  {
    projectName: "my-app",
    template: "react-vite-boilerplate",
  },
  (options) => Promise.resolve(options),
);

Check environment info

import { printEnvInfo } from "@create-node-app/core";

await printEnvInfo();
// Prints OS, CPU, Node, npm, browsers, etc. Then exits.

Validate the Node.js version

import { checkNodeVersion } from "@create-node-app/core";

checkNodeVersion(">=22", "my-tool");
// Exits with a red error message if the version doesn't match.

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API Reference

All exports from @create-node-app/core:

Functions

Signature	Description
createNodeApp(programName, options, transformOptions)	Main scaffolding orchestrator. Resolves the template, copies files, merges configs, installs deps, and initializes git.
checkNodeVersion(requiredVersion, packageName)	Compares process.version against a semver range. Exits with code 1 if too old.
checkForLatestVersion(packageName)	Fetches the latest version from the npm registry. Falls back to npm view. Returns null if both fail.
printEnvInfo()	Prints OS, CPU, binaries, and browser info to stdout, then exits.
getPackagePath(templateOrExtension, name?, ignorePackage?)	Resolves a file path inside a template/extension directory (usually package.json). Handles GitHub URLs, file:// URLs, and legacy slugs.
getTemplateDirPath(templateOrExtensionUrl)	Resolves the template directory. Looks for a template/ subdirectory first, falls back to the resolved root.
getTemplateBaseDirPath(templateOrExtensionUrl)	Returns the parent of the template/ directory (where cna.config.json lives).
downloadRepository(options)	Clones or pulls a Git repo into a cache dir, then copies files to the target. Supports offline mode, deduplication, and error formatting.
loadTemplateCnaConfig(templateUrl)	Loads the optional cna.config.json from a template's base directory.

Types

Type	Shape
CnaOptions	{ projectName, info?, verbose?, packageManager?, install?, template?, templatesOrExtensions?, ... }
CnaOptionsTransform	(options: CnaOptions) => Promise<CnaOptions>
CnaConfig	{ customOptions?: CnaCustomOption[] }
CnaCustomOption	{ name, type, message?, initial?, ... }
TemplateOrExtension	{ url: string; ignorePackage?: boolean }

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How It Works

createNodeApp()
  ├── checkNodeVersion()
  ├── printEnvInfo() if info flag
  ├── resolve templates/extensions via getTemplateDirPath()
  ├── download Git repos via downloadRepository()
  ├── load cna.config.json via loadTemplateCnaConfig()
  ├── merge package.json files via lodash.merge
  ├── copy/process template files (Lodash interpolation, .if-npm, .append, etc.)
  ├── install dependencies (npm/yarn/pnpm/bun)
  ├── git init
  └── format + lint:fix post-install

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Platform Notes

Windows compatibility

The core engine supports Windows, but some behaviors differ from Linux/macOS:

• Executable resolution — On Windows, execFileSync uses CreateProcess internally, which consults PATHEXT (.com;.exe;.bat;.cmd;...). The bare command name (e.g., npm, bun) is passed without extension; Node.js resolves the correct binary via PATH + PATHEXT.
• File permissions — fs.chmod for the executable bit (0o111) is silently ignored on Windows, where POSIX permission semantics don't apply. Template files retain their original mode as a best-effort operation.
• Long paths — Scaffolding a project with a path longer than ~200 characters on Windows automatically uses the \\?\ prefix to bypass the MAX_PATH (260 char) limit.
• File URLs — The engine normalizes file:///C:/path, file:///C:path (drive-relative), and file:////server/share (UNC) to native Windows paths.
• Case-insensitive skip list — The internal file-filter skips package.json, package-lock.json, etc. using case-insensitive matching to account for the Windows filesystem.
• Recommended shell — Use Git Bash or WSL when working with templates that rely on POSIX permission bits (e.g., husky hooks, shell scripts). Running via cmd.exe or PowerShell works for basic scaffolding but may not preserve executable bits.

Architecture

The package is organized into these modules:

Module	Responsibility
index.ts	Barrel export and main createNodeApp orchestration
installer.ts	Project directory creation, dep installation, git init, post-install scripts
loaders.ts	File discovery, classification (.template, .append, conditional prefixes), and processing
package.ts	Deep-merges package.json from multiple templates/extensions
paths.ts	URL resolution — GitHub branches, file://, legacy slugs, cache at ~/.cna/
git.ts	Clone/pull with deduplication, offline support, error formatting
config.ts	Reads optional cna.config.json for custom CLI prompts
helpers.ts	Package manager detection, online check, path/naming utilities

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Related

• create-awesome-node-app — Interactive CLI built on this core
• Create Node App — Monorepo
• Templates catalog

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License

MIT © Create Node App Contributors