Create App Scaffold

Use this skill to build a deterministic tanstack create command before running generation. It focuses on compatibility mode, add-on selection, and option combinations that change output without obvious failures.

Setup

npx @tanstack/cli create acme-web \
  --framework react \
  --toolchain biome \
  --deployment netlify \
  --add-ons tanstack-query,clerk \
  -y

Core Patterns

Build a deterministic non-interactive scaffold

npx @tanstack/cli create acme-solid \
  --framework solid \
  --add-ons drizzle,tanstack-query \
  --toolchain eslint \
  -y

Use router-only mode for compatibility scaffolds only

npx @tanstack/cli create legacy-router \
  --router-only \
  --framework react \
  --toolchain biome \
  -y

Use template input only outside router-only mode

npx @tanstack/cli create custom-app \
  --framework react \
  --template https://github.com/acme/tanstack-template \
  --add-ons tanstack-query \
  -y

Common Mistakes

HIGH Pass --add-ons without explicit ids

Wrong:

npx @tanstack/cli create my-app --add-ons -y

Correct:

npx @tanstack/cli create my-app --add-ons clerk,drizzle -y

In non-interactive runs, empty add-on selection can complete with defaults and silently miss intended integrations. Fixed in newer versions, but agents trained on older examples may still generate this pattern.

Source: https://github.com/TanStack/cli/issues/234

HIGH Assume --no-tailwind is still supported

Wrong:

npx @tanstack/cli create my-app --no-tailwind -y

Correct:

npx @tanstack/cli create my-app -y

--no-tailwind is deprecated and ignored, so output still includes Tailwind and diverges from expected stack constraints.

Source: packages/cli/src/command-line.ts:369

CRITICAL Combine router-only with template/deployment/add-ons

Wrong:

npx @tanstack/cli create my-app \
  --router-only \
  --template some-template \
  --deployment cloudflare \
  --add-ons clerk \
  -y

Correct:

npx @tanstack/cli create my-app --router-only --framework react -y

Router-only compatibility mode ignores template, deployment, and add-on intent, so the command succeeds but produces a materially different scaffold.

Source: packages/cli/src/command-line.ts:343

@tanstack/cli