Build Your Own Frontend Scaffolding CLI Tool with Node.js

Have you ever wanted to create your own frontend scaffolding tool — just like create-react-app, but tailored to your stack and preferences? In this guide, I'll show you how to build a CLI tool called create-frontend-site that prompts users, clones templates, installs dependencies, and gets projects ready to roll. Let’s dive in!

🔧 Step 1: Initialize Your Project

Start by setting up a basic Node.js project:

mkdir create-frontend-site

cd create-frontend-site

npm init -y

Install the CLI essentials:

npm install inquirer commander chalk

🧠 Step 2: Create the CLI Script

Create a file named index.js:

#!/usr/bin/env node

const inquirer = require("inquirer");

const fs = require("fs");

const path = require("path");

const { execSync } = require("child_process");

const chalk = require("chalk");

async function main() {

  console.log(chalk.blue("🚀 Welcome to create-frontend-site!"));

const answers = await inquirer.prompt([

    {

      type: "input",

      name: "projectName",

      message: "Project name:",

    },

    {

      type: "list",

      name: "framework",

      message: "Choose your framework:",

      choices: ["React", "Vue", "Svelte"],

    },

    {

      type: "confirm",

      name: "typescript",

      message: "Use TypeScript?",

      default: true,

    },

  ]);

const targetDir = path.join(process.cwd(), answers.projectName);

  const templateDir = path.join(__dirname, "templates", answers.framework.toLowerCase(), answers.typescript ? "ts" : "js");

if (!fs.existsSync(templateDir)) {

    console.error(chalk.red("❌ Template not found for that combo."));

    process.exit(1);

  }

fs.mkdirSync(targetDir, { recursive: true });

  fs.cpSync(templateDir, targetDir, { recursive: true });

console.log(chalk.yellow("📦 Installing dependencies..."));

  execSync("npm install", { cwd: targetDir, stdio: "inherit" });

console.log(chalk.green("\n✅ Project is ready!"));

  console.log(\\nNext steps:\\n  cd ${answers.projectName}\\n  npm run dev);

}

main();

Make the script executable:

chmod +x index.js

📁 Step 3: Add Template Projects

Inside your project folder, create a structure like this:

templates/

├── react/

│   ├── js/

│   │   └── package.json, index.html, src/

│   └── ts/

├── vue/

├── svelte/

Each subfolder should be a minimal starter template. Here’s an example for react/js/package.json:

{

  "name": "frontend-app",

  "scripts": {

    "dev": "vite"

  },

  "dependencies": {

    "react": "^18.0.0",

    "react-dom": "^18.0.0"

  },

  "devDependencies": {

    "vite": "^4.0.0"

  }

}

📦 Step 4: Setup package.json for CLI

Update your root package.json:

{

  "name": "create-frontend-site",

  "version": "1.0.0",

  "description": "Scaffold your custom frontend app",

  "bin": {

    "create-frontend-site": "./index.js"

  },

  "keywords": ["cli", "scaffold", "frontend", "template"],

  "author": "Your Name",

  "license": "MIT",

  "dependencies": {

    "chalk": "^5.0.0",

    "commander": "^10.0.0",

    "inquirer": "^9.0.0"

  }

}

🚀 Step 5: Publish to npm

Login and publish your package:

npm login

npm publish --access public

Once published, users can run:

npx create-frontend-site

🎉 You now have your own frontend scaffolding CLI!

🔄 Optional Improvements

• Use ejs templates for file customization.
• Add Git init and first commit.
• Support mono-repo setups.
• Add plugins or themes system.

💬 Final Thoughts

Creating a custom scaffolding tool is a game-changer for teams and personal projects. Whether you want to enforce standards or boost your speed, building your own CLI is surprisingly straightforward — and super fun.

If this post helped you, consider supporting me: buymeacoffee.com/hexshift