scaffold-frontend-project

name	scaffold-frontend-project
description	Use when starting a brand-new frontend project from an empty directory — scaffolds a Vite + TypeScript app (React 19 or Vue 3), pins pnpm and the active Node LTS, and installs + wires Tailwind v4, leaving a running base for the other frontend skills to build on.

Scaffold Frontend Project

1. Audit current state

ls package.json vite.config.* 2>/dev/null

• package.json + a Vite config already exist? The project is scaffolded. Don't re-create it — verify the base (steps 5–6: Node pin, pnpm, Tailwind v4) and hand off to clean-frontend-scaffolding.
• Empty dir (only VCS/editor files)? Full scaffold (steps 3–7).

This is the only skill that runs before a package.json exists, so it asks the framework instead of detecting it.

2. Decide what to do

• Empty → scaffold (steps 3–7).
• Existing project → verify base deps + config, then exit to clean-frontend-scaffolding.

3. Choose framework + name

Ask the user (AskUserQuestion):

• Framework: React 19 or Vue 3 (this plugin supports both; Vue 2 is EOL and rejected — see ../_shared/stack-versions.md).
• Project name: kebab-case (becomes the directory and package.json name).

4. Scaffold the Vite + TypeScript app

# React
pnpm create vite@latest <name> --template react-ts

# Vue
pnpm create vite@latest <name> --template vue-ts

Then cd <name> and pnpm install. Vite's *-ts templates ship React 19 / Vue 3 with TypeScript.

5. Pin the toolchain

.nvmrc:

24

package.json (merge):

{
  "packageManager": "pnpm@10.0.0",
  "engines": { "node": ">=24" }
}

24 is the active Node LTS — track the LTS line (see ../_shared/stack-versions.md). Set packageManager to your installed pnpm version so Corepack pins it for everyone and CI.

6. Install + wire Tailwind v4

pnpm add tailwindcss @tailwindcss/vite

Add the Tailwind plugin to vite.config.ts:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'; // Vue: import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react(), tailwindcss()],
});

Replace the entry stylesheet (src/index.css for React, src/style.css for Vue) with the v4 import, and make sure the app entry imports it once:

@import "tailwindcss";

Tailwind v4 is CSS-first — no tailwind.config.js by default; design tokens live in @theme (a future set-up-design-system skill owns those).

7. Verify

pnpm dev      # dev server starts, app renders with no console errors
pnpm build    # production build succeeds

Stop the dev server. Confirm a Tailwind utility applies (e.g. class="text-3xl font-bold" renders large + bold).

8. Hand off

The base is running. Continue down the skill chain — each is audit-first and idempotent:

1. clean-frontend-scaffolding — strip the Vite demo boilerplate.
2. configure-typescript — strict mode + @/ alias.
3. configure-linting — Biome + Prettier + lefthook.
4. set-up-frontend-structure — atomic-design folders.
5. set-up-state-management, set-up-error-boundaries, configure-test-stack — as the app needs them.

References

• ./scaffold-choices.md — why Vite, React 19 / Vue 3, pnpm + Corepack, Tailwind v4 CSS-first, and the don't-clobber audit guard.
• ../_shared/stack-versions.md — Node LTS, pnpm, dependency version policy.
• ../_shared/conventions.md — src/ root and @/ alias conventions.