Template-NEXT

Overview

Template-NEXT is a CLI that generates a production-ready Next.js project in one command. It bakes in the choices I make on every build (TypeScript, sensible folder structure, linting, and a component layer) so the first commit is real work, not configuration.

Rather than cloning a repo and inheriting its git history and stale dependencies, the CLI scaffolds a fresh project with everything already configured. I use it across my own work, so every project I start shares the same sensible defaults.

The problem

Every new project starts the same way: wire up TypeScript, pick a styling approach, set up linting and formatting, drop in a few base components, and untangle the defaults you never wanted. It's an hour of repetitive setup before a single feature exists, and it quietly drifts out of sync from project to project.

Approach

Rather than a sprawling boilerplate, I built an opinionated minimum. The CLI wraps create-next-app, then layers on a pinned, known-good setup: a fixed shadcn/ui preset, next-themes dark mode, Prettier and editor settings, resolved in a single install pass. Versions are pinned for reproducible builds, with a --latest opt-out.

Key features

• Scaffolds Next.js 16 with the App Router, a src directory, and Turbopack.
• A pre-configured shadcn/ui preset with next-themes dark mode.
• Interactive prompts, or fully non-interactive with --yes, and your choice of package manager.
• Selectable components and skip flags (--no-themes, --no-prettier, --skip-git, --skip-install).
• Pinned versions by default, with --latest when you want the newest.

Tech stack

The CLI itself is a small ESM Node tool built with Commander, Clack prompts, Chalk and Ora, with its own test suite. What it generates is the modern Next.js stack I reach for on every project.

Getting started

One command scaffolds the whole project. Run it, answer the prompts, and start building.

$ npx @edward-hyde/template-next

Outcome

Template-NEXT became my default starting point and the foundation for several shipped projects. It’s published on npm and openly documented with a versioned changelog: read the getting-started guide, browse the latest releases on the blog, or see the code on GitHub.