scaffold-run — Use scaffold CLI to generate projects/files

scaffold-run — Use scaffold CLI to generate projects/files

User-invocable: true Auto-triggerable: true

Triggers when: User wants to run a scaffold, generate a project, create files from a template, or use the scaffold CLI.

Workflow

1. Discover available scaffolds

scaffold list --json

Lists all scaffolds: aliases (from scaffoldrc), local (in .scaffold/), and system (cached remote repos). Use --json for programmatic output.

2. Inspect a scaffold before running

scaffold inspect <name-or-path>

Outputs JSON with questions (name, type, default, options), presets, computed values, features, and messages. Use this to understand what variables a scaffold expects.

3. Run a scaffold interactively

scaffold new <scaffold>

Launches an interactive prompt for project name and all questions. The scaffold argument can be:

• An alias name (defined in scaffoldrc)
• A short reference (gh:org/repo)
• A URL (https://github.com/org/repo)
• An absolute or relative filesystem path
• A bare name (searched in --scaffold-dir directories, default .scaffold/)

4. Run non-interactively

scaffold new --no-prompt --preset <preset-name> <scaffold> [key=value ...]

Use --no-prompt to skip all interactive prompts. Provide variables via:

• --preset <name> — loads a named preset from the scaffold's config
• Positional key[:type]=value arguments — override or supplement preset values

CLI arguments take precedence over preset values.

If no Project variable is set in non-interactive mode, a random name scaffold-test-NNNN is auto-generated.

5. Validate with dry-run

scaffold new --dry-run --no-prompt --preset default <scaffold>

Renders the scaffold fully but writes nothing to disk. Outputs JSON:

{
  "files": [{ "path": "path/to/file", "action": "create" }],
  "errors": [],
  "warnings": []
}

6. In-memory testing with snapshot

scaffold new --output-dir :memory: --no-prompt --preset default --snapshot stdout <scaffold>

Renders entirely in memory and outputs a full AST with file contents to stdout. Ideal for CI/CD validation and diffing.

7. Passing typed variables

Variables use key[:type]=value syntax. See variable-syntax.md for the full type reference.

Common examples:

scaffold new --no-prompt my-scaffold \
  Project=MyApp \
  description="A web service" \
  port:int=8080 \
  debug:bool=true \
  features:[]string=auth,api

Key flags for scaffold new

Flag	Default	Description
--no-prompt	false	Disable interactive prompts
--preset	—	Preset name for variable values
--output-dir	.	Output directory (:memory: for in-memory)
--dry-run	false	Show what would be created (JSON)
--snapshot	—	Output AST to path or stdout
--overwrite	false	Overwrite existing files
--force	true	Allow dirty git working tree

Tips

• Always scaffold inspect first to understand a scaffold's variables and presets
• Use --dry-run before real runs to verify output paths
• Combine --output-dir :memory: with --snapshot stdout for zero-disk testing
• When --no-prompt is active, hooks with run_hooks=prompt are skipped
• Pre/post messages are suppressed in --no-prompt mode