lattice

Pick a stack, pick a database, get a project that already runs.

A zero-dependency scaffolder whose output boots on the first command — no npm install, no .env to copy, no database to remember to start.

npm create lattice@latest

◆ lattice · project scaffolder

?  Project name:            my-api
?  What are you building?   Backend / API
?  Language:                JavaScript
?  Framework:               Express (any database)
?  Database:                PostgreSQL

✔ Scaffolded my-api (35 files)
    stack     JavaScript · Express (any database)
    database  PostgreSQL · host port 5432
✔ Wired up (.env written, postgres adapter, compose file)
✔ Installed dependencies in my-api (npm)
✔ PostgreSQL is running (docker compose)

Next steps

  cd my-api
  npm run dev

That is the point. No npm install, no cp .env.example .env, no "remember to start the database first". The project you land in boots.

Where to go

• Getting started

  Install it, scaffold your first project, and understand what the four lines of output actually did.

• Stacks

  The ten built-in templates, the 28 external generators, and why those are two different tiers rather than one long list.

• Guides

  Choosing a database, health probes and graceful shutdown, the enterprise overlay, and how a release actually reaches npm.

• CLI reference

  Every flag, what it refuses, and what it does when you leave it out.

What makes it different

It boots. Most scaffolders hand you a directory and a README of things to do next. lattice does those things: it installs dependencies with the project's own package manager, writes a real .env rather than an .env.example, and starts the database container.

It picks a free port. If something already listens on 27017, the Mongo container is published on 27018 and .env is written to match. A scaffolder that hardcodes the port either fails to bind — or, much worse, silently connects your new project to a database that was already running there.

It waits for the database to be healthy, not merely started. docker compose up -d returns while Postgres is still initialising, so the next command you run dies on a refused connection and it looks like the scaffold is broken.

The database is a choice, not a rewrite. Six options behind one six-method repository interface, so the routes, the controllers, the services and the test suite are identical whichever you pick. See Choosing a database.

It has no dependencies. Not a small number — none. npm create lattice@latest downloads and runs the package before showing you a single prompt, and every dependency on that path is time you wait for. The reasoning is written down in ADR-0001.

What it does not claim

The built-in stacks and the external generators are not the same thing, and the difference is the point:

	Built-in stack	--generator
Held to CONVENTIONS.md	yes	no
Built and tested in CI on every push	yes	weekly
Needs the network	no	yes
Needs that toolchain installed	no	yes
Output verified by lattice	yes	no

A generator delegates to the framework's own official tool and then layers lattice's overlay on top. That is broad and current and not verified here — which is why it is opt-in. See Generators.

C and C++ have no official scaffolding tool to delegate to — there is no cargo new for CMake — so lattice claims neither tier for them rather than inventing a layout and calling it standard. That is a gap, stated as one.