CLI options

The create-nestforge CLI scaffolds a project from the command line. You can run it interactively or pass flags to automate the process.

Usage

npx create-nestforge@latest

Interactive prompts

When run without flags, the CLI asks for:

1. Project name — lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes only.
2. Variant — Express + REST or GraphQL (Apollo).
3. OAuth providers — select which providers to include (currently Google).

Flags

Flag	Description	Example
--help	Show help message and exit	--help
--version	Print version and exit	--version
--project-name	Project name and target directory	--project-name my-app
--oauth-providers	Comma-separated OAuth providers: google,github	--oauth-providers google
--variant	Template variant: rest or graphql	--variant graphql
--target-dir	Override the output directory	--target-dir ./output/my-app
--git	Initialize a git repository (default)	--git
--no-git	Skip git initialization	--no-git

Automation example

npx create-nestforge@latest --project-name my-app --variant graphql --oauth-providers google

This creates my-app in the current working directory, copies the base template, and layers the GraphQL overlay on top.

What the CLI does

1. Copies templates/base into the target directory.
2. If the variant is graphql, copies the GraphQL overlay, overwriting the shared files.
3. Merges the GraphQL dependencies into package.json.
4. Sets the package.json name to the project name.
5. Creates a .env file from .env.example.

After scaffolding

The CLI prints the next steps:

cd my-app
pnpm install
cp .env.example .env
pnpm start:dev

Make sure Redis is running before starting the app. The easiest way is to use Docker Compose:

docker compose up redis

Skipping ignored files

The CLI ignores node_modules, dist, .git, coverage, .env, and pnpm-lock.yaml when copying templates. Install dependencies fresh in the generated project.