Options Reference

General Options

--yes, -y

Use default configuration and skip interactive prompts.

create-better-t-stack --yes

--template <type>

Use a predefined project template:

• none: No template (default)
• mern: MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js stack
• pern: PostgreSQL, Express, React, Node.js stack
• t3: T3 stack configuration
• uniwind: UniWind React Native template

create-better-t-stack --template t3

--manual-db

Skip automatic database setup prompts and use manual database configuration.

create-better-t-stack --manual-db

--package-manager <pm>

Choose package manager: npm, pnpm, or bun.

create-better-t-stack --package-manager bun

--install / --no-install

Control dependency installation after project creation.

create-better-t-stack --no-install

--git / --no-git

Control Git repository initialization.

create-better-t-stack --no-git

--yolo

Bypass validations and compatibility checks. Not recommended for normal use.

create-better-t-stack --yolo

--verbose

Show detailed result information in JSON format after project creation.

create-better-t-stack --verbose

--render-title / --no-render-title

Control whether the ASCII art title is shown. Enabled by default.

# Hide the title (useful in CI)
create-better-t-stack --no-render-title

--directory-conflict <strategy>

How to handle existing, non-empty target directories:

• merge: Keep existing files and merge new ones
• overwrite: Clear the directory before scaffolding
• increment: Create a suffixed directory (e.g., my-app-1)
• error: Fail instead of prompting

# Overwrite an existing directory without prompting
create-better-t-stack my-app --yes --directory-conflict overwrite

# Safely create a new directory name if it exists
create-better-t-stack my-app --yes --directory-conflict increment

--disable-analytics / --no-disable-analytics

Control whether analytics and telemetry data is collected.

# Disable analytics collection
create-better-t-stack --disable-analytics

# Enable analytics collection (default)
create-better-t-stack --no-disable-analytics

Analytics help improve Better-T-Stack by providing insights into usage patterns. When disabled, no data is collected or transmitted.

Database Options

--database <type>

Database type to use:

• none: No database
• sqlite: SQLite database
• postgres: PostgreSQL database
• mysql: MySQL database
• mongodb: MongoDB database

create-better-t-stack --database postgres

--orm <type>

ORM to use with your database:

• none: No ORM
• drizzle: Drizzle ORM (TypeScript-first)
• prisma: Prisma ORM (feature-rich)
• mongoose: Mongoose ODM (for MongoDB)

create-better-t-stack --database postgres --orm drizzle

--db-setup <setup>

Database hosting/setup provider:

• none: Manual setup
• turso: Turso (SQLite)
• d1: Cloudflare D1 (SQLite)
• neon: Neon (PostgreSQL)
• supabase: Supabase (PostgreSQL)
• prisma-postgres: Prisma Postgres
• planetscale: PlanetScale (MySQL/PostgreSQL)
• mongodb-atlas: MongoDB Atlas
• docker: Local Docker containers

create-better-t-stack --database postgres --db-setup neon

Backend Options

--backend <framework>

Backend framework to use:

• none: No backend
• hono: Hono (fast, lightweight)
• express: Express.js (popular, mature)
• fastify: Fastify (fast, plugin-based)
• elysia: Elysia (Bun-native)
• convex: Convex backend
• self: Self-hosted/custom backend

create-better-t-stack --backend hono

--runtime <runtime>

Runtime environment:

• none: No specific runtime (only with convex, none, or self backend)
• bun: Bun runtime
• node: Node.js runtime
• workers: Cloudflare Workers

create-better-t-stack --backend hono --runtime bun

--api <type>

API layer type:

• none: No API layer
• trpc: tRPC (type-safe)
• orpc: oRPC (OpenAPI-compatible)

create-better-t-stack --api trpc

Frontend Options

--frontend <types...>

Frontend frameworks (can specify multiple):

Web Frameworks:

• tanstack-router: React with TanStack Router
• react-router: React with React Router
• tanstack-start: React with TanStack Start (SSR)
• next: Next.js
• nuxt: Nuxt (Vue)
• svelte: SvelteKit
• solid: SolidJS
• astro: Astro

Native Frameworks:

• native-bare: React Native (bare setup)
• native-uniwind: React Native with UniWind (NativeWind alternative)
• native-unistyles: React Native with Unistyles

No Frontend:

• none: Backend-only project

# Single web frontend
create-better-t-stack --frontend tanstack-router

# Web + native frontend
create-better-t-stack --frontend next native-uniwind

# Backend-only
create-better-t-stack --frontend none

Authentication

--auth <provider>

Choose authentication provider:

• better-auth: Better-Auth authentication (default)
• clerk: Clerk authentication (only with Convex backend)
• none: No authentication

create-better-t-stack --auth better-auth
create-better-t-stack --auth clerk
create-better-t-stack --auth none

Note:

• better-auth requires a backend framework (cannot be none)
• if you choose a database, you should also choose an ORM
• clerk is only available with Convex backend
• Authentication is automatically set to none when using --backend none

Payments

--payments <provider>

Payments provider:

• none: No payments integration
• polar: Polar payments integration

create-better-t-stack --payments polar --auth better-auth

Note: Polar payments requires Better-Auth authentication.

Addons

--addons <types...>

Additional features to include:

• none: No addons
• pwa: Progressive Web App support
• tauri: Desktop app support
• starlight: Starlight documentation site
• fumadocs: Fumadocs documentation site
• biome: Biome linting and formatting
• lefthook: Git hooks with Lefthook
• husky: Git hooks with Husky
• turborepo: Turborepo monorepo setup
• ultracite: Ultracite configuration
• oxlint: Oxlint + Oxfmt (linting & formatting)
• ruler: Centralize your AI rules with Ruler
• mcp: Install MCP servers and templates with add-mcp
• opentui: OpenTUI components
• wxt: WXT browser extension framework
• skills: Install AI agent skills for coding assistants (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, etc.)
• portless: Named .localhost URLs for each dev server — no port numbers, no conflicts

create-better-t-stack --addons pwa biome husky
create-better-t-stack --addons portless

Examples

--examples <types...>

Example implementations to include:

• none: No examples
• todo: Todo app example
• ai: AI chat interface example

create-better-t-stack --examples todo ai

Deployment

--web-deploy <setup>

Web deployment configuration:

• none: No deployment setup
• cloudflare: Cloudflare Workers deployment (via Alchemy infrastructure as code)

create-better-t-stack --web-deploy cloudflare

Note: Alchemy uses TypeScript to define infrastructure programmatically. See the Deploying to Cloudflare with Alchemy Guide for details.

--server-deploy <setup>

Server deployment configuration:

• none: No deployment setup
• cloudflare: Cloudflare Workers deployment (when runtime is workers, via Alchemy infrastructure as code)

create-better-t-stack --server-deploy cloudflare

Note: Alchemy uses TypeScript to define infrastructure programmatically. See the Deploying to Cloudflare with Alchemy Guide for details.

History

history

View your project creation history. Projects are tracked locally using platform-specific directories:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/better-t-stack/history.json
• Linux: ~/.local/share/better-t-stack/history.json
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\better-t-stack\Data\history.json

# Show last 10 projects
create-better-t-stack history

# Show last 5 projects
create-better-t-stack history --limit 5

# Output as JSON
create-better-t-stack history --json

# Clear all history
create-better-t-stack history --clear

Options:

• --limit <number>: Number of entries to show (default: 10)
• --clear: Clear all project history
• --json: Output history as JSON

Option Validation

The CLI validates option combinations and will show errors for incompatible selections. See the Compatibility page for detailed rules.

Examples

Full Configuration

create-better-t-stack \
  --database postgres \
  --orm drizzle \
  --backend hono \
  --runtime bun \
  --frontend tanstack-router \
  --api trpc \
  --auth better-auth \
  --addons pwa biome \
  --examples todo \
  --package-manager bun \
  --web-deploy cloudflare \
  --server-deploy cloudflare \
  --install

Minimal Setup

create-better-t-stack \
  --backend none \
  --frontend tanstack-router \
  --addons none \
  --examples none