Package Skeleton CLI

The Package Skeleton CLI is a command-line interface that allows you to initialize a PHP package skeleton by replacing placeholders in files with the values you provide.

Installation

⚠️ The CLI currently works only on macOS with ARM architecture.

Downloading the CLI

Using cURL:

curl -L "https://github.com/coyotito-mx/package-skeleton-cli/releases/latest/download/skeleton.tar.gz" -o skeleton.tar.gz

tar -xzf skeleton.tar.gz && chmod +x skeleton

Using wget:

wget "https://github.com/coyotito-mx/package-skeleton-cli/releases/latest/download/skeleton.tar.gz" -O skeleton.tar.gz

tar -xzf skeleton.tar.gz && chmod +x skeleton

Then you can move the binary to your PATH:

mv skeleton /usr/local/bin/

Usage

✅ The CLI initializes packages in the current working directory or a specified --path. You can initialize from existing files or bootstrap from a template using --bootstrap.

The placeholders must follow the format: {{placeholder}}. You can apply modifiers to format values before replacement:

{{placeholder|modifier[,modifier]}}

Running the CLI

Initialize a package with vendor, package name, and author details:

skeleton init \
  acme \
  blog \
  "Acme\\Blog" \
  "John Doe" \
  "john@doe.com" \
  "A blogging package for Laravel" \
  --path="$HOME/projects/my-package"

Or use prompts:

skeleton init
# Prompts: vendor, package, namespace (optional), author, email (fetched from git config, if available), description

Note: The testing framework prompt appears only when dependencies are installed (i.e., without --no-install).

To skip confirmation:

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --proceed

To skip Composer dependency installation:

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --no-install

To skip creating a LICENSE file when it does not exist:

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --skip-license

To exclude specific files/directories from processing:

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --exclude="composer.json" \
  --exclude="package.json"

To bootstrap from a skeleton template (vanilla or laravel):

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --bootstrap=vanilla

To force bootstrapping into a non-empty directory:

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --bootstrap=laravel \
  --force

Placeholders and Modifiers

Available Placeholders

• vendor - Package vendor (e.g., acme)
• package - Package name (e.g., blog)
• namespace - Package namespace (auto-generated from vendor\package, or custom)
• description - Package description
• author - Package author name
• email - Author's email address
• license - License name (defaults to MIT)
• version - Package version (defaults to 0.0.1)
• year - Current year
• class - Class name (defaults to package name in PascalCase). Used primarily in filenames

Namespace Format Requirements

The namespace argument must follow this pattern: Vendor\Package

• Must have exactly two parts separated by a backslash
• Each part must start with an uppercase letter
• Each part can contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9)
• Invalid example: acme\blog, Acme_Blog, Acme/Blog ❌
• Valid example: Acme\Blog, MyVendor\MyPackage ✅

If not provided, the namespace will be auto-generated as Vendor\Package based on the vendor and package arguments.

Global Modifiers

• upper - Converts to UPPERCASE
• lower - Converts to lowercase
• title - Converts to Title Case
• snake - Converts to snake_case
• kebab - Converts to kebab-case
• camel - Converts to camelCase
• pascal - Converts to PascalCase (StudlyCase)
• slug - Converts to slug-format
• ucfirst - Converts first character to uppercase
• acronym - Generates acronym (e.g., "John Doe" → "JD")

⚠️ Modifier Order Matters! The order of chained modifiers affects the output.

John Doe → JOHN-DOE

{{author|upper,slug}} → john-doe     (incorrect)
{{author|slug,upper}} → JOHN-DOE     (correct)

Replacer-Specific Modifiers

namespace Replacer

• escape - Escapes \ to \\ (e.g., Acme\Blog → Acme\\Blog)
• reverse - Reverses \ to / (e.g., Acme\Blog → Acme/Blog)

Note: Modifiers are applied to each part of the namespace separately (vendor and package).

version Replacer

• major - Extracts major version (e.g., 2 from 2.5.3)
• minor - Extracts minor version (e.g., 5 from 2.5.3)
• patch - Extracts patch version (e.g., 3 from 2.5.3)
• pre - Extracts pre-release (e.g., alpha from 1.0.0-alpha)
• meta - Extracts build metadata (e.g., abc123 from 1.0.0+abc123)
• prefix - Adds v prefix if not present (e.g., 1.0.0 → v1.0.0)

email Replacer

• upper - Converts email to uppercase while preserving @ and .

class Replacer

• Used only in filename contexts
• Converts to kebab-case in filenames (e.g., {{class}} → my-class.php)
• Default value is transformed from package name (e.g., blog → Blog → blog in filename)
• Supports all global modifiers when used in content

CLI Arguments and Options

SYNOPSIS
  skeleton init [options] [--] <vendor> <package> <namespace> <author> <email> <description>

Arguments
  vendor                       The name of the package vendor (prompted if not provided)
  package                      The name of the package (prompted if not provided)
  namespace                    The package namespace (auto-generated as Vendor\Package if not provided)
  author                       The package author (fetched from `git config user.name` or prompted)
  email                        The package author email (fetched from `git config user.email` or prompted)
  description                  The package description (prompted if not provided)

Options
      --bootstrap[=BOOTSTRAP]  Initialize a new package from skeleton template (options: laravel, vanilla)
      --class[=CLASS]          The class name to use in replacements (defaults to package name)
      --force                  Force bootstrapping even if target directory is not empty (use with --bootstrap)
      --proceed                Accept the configuration and proceed without confirmation
      --no-install             Skip installing composer dependencies
      --skip-license           Skip creating a LICENSE file if one does not exist
      --path[=PATH]            The path to initialize the package in (defaults to current working directory)
      --exclude[=EXCLUDE]      Paths to exclude when processing files (multiple values allowed)
  -h, --help                   Display help for the command
      --silent                 Do not output any messages
  -q, --quiet                  Only errors are displayed. All other output is suppressed
  -V, --version                Display this application version
      --ansi|--no-ansi         Force (or disable --no-ansi) ANSI output
  -n, --no-interaction         Do not ask any interactive question
      --env[=ENV]              The environment the command should run under
  -v|vv|vvv, --verbose         Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output, and 3 for debug output

Excluded Paths (Default)

By default, the following paths are excluded from placeholder replacement:

• .git
• .DS_Store
• vendor
• node_modules

Add custom exclusions with --exclude:

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "Description" \
  --exclude="dist" \
  --exclude="build" \
  --exclude=".env"

Author Information

The CLI automatically fetches author information from git configuration:

git config user.name "John Doe"
git config user.email "john@doe.com"

If git config is not available, you'll be prompted interactively.

Testing Framework Selection

When dependencies are enabled (without --no-install), you'll be prompted to choose your testing framework:

• Pest (default) - Modern, elegant testing for PHP
• PHPUnit - Industry-standard PHP testing framework

The selected framework's dev dependencies will be automatically installed.

If --no-install is used, this prompt is skipped and no testing framework dependencies are installed.

CLI Removal Prompt

At the end of a successful init run, the CLI always asks:

Do you want to remove this CLI now?

If you answer yes, the CLI removes the invoked executable file. If it cannot resolve or delete that executable, it shows a warning and continues.

Remove content

To remove content you can use a tag named <remove></remove>, and all the content between this tag would be removed, also the spaces after the close tag will be removed.

# Lorem ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras sem libero, rutrum ut congue quis, cursus quis lectus.

<remove>Etiam tempor ac lacus in congue.</remove>

Ut lobortis eros a ipsum varius, eget tristique risus laoreet. Vestibulum ultricies augue ligula, vitae imperdiet urna tempus non.

and the result should be something like:

# Lorem ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras sem libero, rutrum ut congue quis, cursus quis lectus.

Ut lobortis eros a ipsum varius, eget tristique risus laoreet. Vestibulum ultricies augue ligula, vitae imperdiet urna tempus non.

Examples

Example 1: Initialize with all prompted values

$ skeleton init --path="$HOME/projects"
Enter the package vendor name: acme
Enter the package name: blog
Enter the package namespace (Optional, press Enter to auto-generate): Acme\Blog
Enter the package description: A blogging package
(Author and email fetched from git config, if available)

...

Do you want to proceed with this configuration?: Yes

...

Which testing framework do you want to use? [pest/phpunit]: pest

...

Package [Acme\Blog] initialized successfully!

Do you want to remove this CLI now?: No

Example 2: Initialize with all arguments provided

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "Jane Doe" "jane@example.com" "A blogging package" \
  --proceed \
  --path="$HOME/projects"

Example 3: Initialize without dependencies

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "A blogging package" \
  --no-install \
  --proceed

Example 4: Initialize with a custom class name

skeleton init acme blog "Acme\\Blog" "John Doe" "john@doe.com" "A blogging package" \
  --class="BlogManager" \
  --proceed

Contributing

If you would like to contribute to the Skeleton CLI, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your feature or bugfix.
3. Make your changes and add tests.
4. Ensure all tests pass: composer test
5. Run code standards: composer lint:with-style
6. Submit a pull request.

Testing

Run tests with:

composer test         # Run all tests
composer test:ci      # Run tests in CI mode

Check code standards with:

composer lint         # Run PHPStan (level 5)
composer style        # Check code formatting with Pint

Fix code formatting:

composer fix           # Auto-fix code formatting

License

The Skeleton CLI is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.