Snippit

A simple file snippet template management tool with flexible local configurations.

Snippit is developed by Equals Labs at Equals Collective.

Getting started

For command line usage:

$ npx snippit Refer to CLI usage

For use as a module:

$ npm i snippit or $ yarn add snippit Refer to module usage

---

CLI usage

npx snippit <snippet-name> <[path/]name> [variables]

<snippet-name>  Snippet name to look up
<path/name>     Write destination & core name variable
[variables]     Additional variables to pass to snippets

Options:
  --version   Show version number
  -h, --help  Show help

Examples:
  snippit exampleSnippet Name --variable="foo"
    Builds snippet files with assigned name and variable

  snippit exampleSnippet path/to/write/Name
    Builds snippet files at path with assigned name

All paths are relative to the current working directory and the {{@name}} variable is drawn from the last path segment.

If no segmented path is specified in the <path/name> the current directory is used.

---

Module usage

Install package locally: $ npm i snippit

const snippit = require('snippit');

const snippetName = `example`;
const destination = `target_directory`;
const variables = {
  foo: 'bar',
};

const { errors, files } = snippit(snippetName, destination, variables);

---

Snippet configurations

Snippet configurations are stored in files named snippits.json as JSON objects. These contain the snippet generation directives for files and directories.

snippit.json configurations are read from the current working directory or destination working upwards until a configuration is found with the requested snippet name. This allows you to keep snippet configurations out of project files if needed.

Global snippet configurations can be placed in a .snippit directory in your user home directory under the naming structure: SnippetName.snippit.json. These will only be used if no matching parent snippits.json applies.

Note: Global snippet configurations may only contain one directive as their file name defines the snippet name.

Example snippits.json configuration

{
  // Top level object items are individually named snippet rules
  "test": {
    // This would create a named directory:
    "{{@name}}_example": {
      "{{@name}}.tsx": "export const {{@name}}Template = () => console.log('This is {{@name}}.tsx')",
      "{{@name}}.module.scss": ".{{@name}} { display: none; }",
      // A sub directory:
      "tests": {
        "{{@name}}.spec.ts": "// This is a test file for {{@name}}"
      }
    }
  },
  "func": {
    // Flat files can be created without containing directories
    "{{@name}}.tsx": "export const {{@name}}Func = () => console.log('This is {{@name}}.ts')"
  },
  "varfunc": {
    "{{@name}}.variable-test.tsx": [
      // Arrays may also be used in place of strings for multiline content
      "export const {{@name}}{{@var}} = () => {",
      "  console.log('Required variable: {{@var}}');",
      "  console.log('Optional variable: {{@?optionalVar}}');",
      "}"
    ]
  }
}

Example global SnippetName.snippit.json configuration

{
  "{{@name}}.{{@DATE:Y}}-{{@DATE:M}}-{{@DATE:D}}.ts": [
    "// Content for {{@name}}",
    "// Can include date/time variables: {{@TIME:H}}:{{@TIME:M}}"
  ]
}

Variables

snippit.json variables are denoted by a {{@variableName}} syntax.

By default, you are always provided with {{@name}} via the CLI but additional variables can be set to increase flexibility.

Variables are explicitly required by default. To make an optional variable prepend it with ? (e.g. {{@?variableName}}). Unset optional variables are wiped from the output.

Predefined variables

Additional predefined variables are provided to allow for more dynamic file naming and content:

Variable	Output
{{@DATE:Y}}	Current full year: YYYY
{{@DATE:M}}	Current month: MM
{{@DATE:D}}	Current date: DD
{{@TIME:H}}	Current hour: HH
{{@TIME:M}}	Current minute: MM
{{@TIME:S}}	Current second: SS
{{@TIME:MS}}	Current milliseconds: SSSS

Caveats

Existing files will not be overwritten and will flag errors if found. However, existing directories will simply have any valid new files written to them.

Note: All file names are relative to the current directory or destination. For security, any potential breakout selectors (i.e ../, /, ~/) will be removed or normalized.