CLI reference

npm create lattice@latest [name] [options]
lattice [name] [options]                     # if installed globally

Anything you do not pass is asked for. Pass everything and it never prompts — see Non-interactive use.

Options

Flag	Value	Notes
--stack <id>	see --list	Which template.
--database <id>	mongodb postgres mysql sqlite file memory	Only for stacks that persist — express and fastify.
--format <fmt>	json ndjson yaml	Only with --database file. Default json.
--styling <id>	plain scss bootstrap tailwind	Frontend stacks only. Default plain.
--client <id>	react-vite react-vite-ts	Makes it fullstack: frontend into client/.
--package <pkg>	e.g. com.example.api	Java/Kotlin base package. Default at.htlvillach.<name>.
--port <n>	default 3000	Backend port. The client, if any, takes this plus 2000.
--generator <id>	see --list	Delegate to the framework's own tool.
--enterprise		Add the overlay.
--owner <name>	default your-org	GitHub owner for the overlay's badges.
--no-install		Skip dependency installation.
--no-database-start		Do not docker compose up -d database. The compose file and .env are still written.
--force		Scaffold into a non-empty directory.
--list		Show every stack, database and generator.
--version		Print the version.
--help		Show the options.

Flags are declared, so a typo is an error

$ lattice my-api --stack express --databse postgres
✖ Unknown option "--databse". Run --help to see the options.

An argument parser that ignores what it does not recognise turns a typo into a silently different project. This one exits non-zero.

The same holds for values:

$ lattice my-api --stack expres
✖ Unknown stack "expres". Run with --list to see the options.

…but a flag with a safe default is not demanded

--styling is the exception, and deliberately so. A missing --database is an error because there is no safe default: picking one silently builds the project against storage nobody asked for, and finding out costs a rewrite. plain is exactly what the frontend templates shipped before the choice existed, so a script that says nothing gets what it got before:

$ lattice shop --stack react-vite < /dev/null
✔ Scaffolded shop

A misspelled --styling is still an error. Defaulting when a flag is absent is not defaulting when it is wrong.

A missing answer is not guessed

In a non-interactive environment — a script, a CI job, anything without a TTY — a flag you left out is an error rather than a hang or a default:

$ lattice my-api --stack express < /dev/null
✖ "Database:" needs an answer, but stdin is not interactive.
  Pass it as a flag. Options: mongodb, postgres, mysql, sqlite, file, memory
$ echo $?
1

lattice doctor

lattice doctor [path]

Scores an existing project against the conventions rather than scaffolding a new one. A subcommand rather than a flag because it is a different verb with a different output — and because treating doctor as a project name would scaffold a folder called doctor, which nobody wants.

doctor scores; it never refuses. The things that genuinely break a project are caught by the structural gate during scaffolding, which rejects rather than warns. Everything that is merely worth knowing lives here.

Examples

# A REST API on Postgres, container started, dependencies installed
lattice my-api --stack express --database postgres

# The same thing with no Docker and nothing to install
lattice my-api --stack express --database sqlite --no-install

# A React app styled with Tailwind, mapped onto the same class contract
lattice shop --stack react-vite --styling tailwind

# Persist to newline-delimited JSON instead of running a database
lattice notes --stack express --database file --format ndjson

# Fullstack: Express at the root, typed React in client/, both installed
lattice shop --stack express --database sqlite --client react-vite-ts

# Spring Boot on port 8080 with your own package name
lattice orders --stack spring-boot --port 8080 --package com.example.orders

# Delegate to the real tool, then add the overlay
lattice web --generator sveltekit --enterprise --owner my-org

# Throwaway project for a CI job
lattice demo --stack fastify --database memory --no-database-start

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	The project was scaffolded, and everything reported succeeded.
1	Refused or failed. Nothing was left behind at the destination.

That second row is the part worth trusting. Generation happens in a staging directory and is renamed into place atomically, so a failure does not leave a half-written project that looks real — the worst possible output, because the only safe thing to do with it is delete it, and nothing tells you that you must.