nik

Create a new package based on an existing one

Nik (as in "nick") lets you quickly start a new project based on an existing Node package. Host your project templates on npmjs.org or GitHub and you can set up a new project in a snap. In an empty directory:

nik some-app-template

If you want to create a new directory for the new project, use the --directory or -d option (see nik --help for usage).

nik some-app-template --directory my-app

If you want to start a project based on a specific release of a package, use the nik <pkg>@<version> syntax:

nik some-other-cool-module@2.3.5

The examples above use Node package names from the npm registry. You can also use nik to create a new project from any Node package on GitHub with nik <github username>/<github project>:

nik some-user/some-package

With nik, you can bootstrap a project from a npm hosted package (with or without a version), a local package, a tarball URL, or any GitHub hosted Node package. Any of the following forms will work:

nik <pkg>
nik <pkg>@<tag>
nik <pkg>@<version>
nik <pkg>@<version range>
nik <folder>
nik <tarball file>
nik <tarball url>
nik <git:// url>
nik <github username>/<github project>

Get it

Install nik globally with the following:

npm install -g --production nik

Note that nik only works with Node 7 and up.

Use it

Create a new directory for your new package:

mkdir foo

Now change into that directory, and nik a package to start with:

cd foo
nik bar

You'll be prompted for a few questions (similar to npm init). When you're done, you'll have a new module ready to be pushed up to GitHub or published anywhere else.

Credit where credit is due

The point of nik is not to use someone else's work without permission or proper attribution. Make sure you read the license of the package you're starting with (the same license is applied to your package by default). And give proper credit to the original author.

Motivation

The primary motivation of nik is to make it easy to start a new project with some existing scaffolding. Think of it as Yeoman-extra-light or npm init on steroids. The idea is that people will host templates or project scaffolding on on npmjs.org or GitHub, and you can use nik to bootstrap your project.

Please submit an issue if you encounter any trouble. Contributions or suggestions for improvements welcome!