Moonrepo Project Generators Skill

Moonrepo Project Generators

Overview

Use this skill to create, inspect, and run Moon templates for repeatable project scaffolding.

This is built around Moon’s generator system: moon generate, moon templates, moon template, template.yml, and generator.templates in .moon/workspace.yml.

When to Use

You need a reusable scaffold for apps/packages/config.
Teams are copy-pasting old projects and drifting from standards.
You want consistent prompts/variables and destination rules.
You need to share templates across repos (git/npm/archive/file/glob locations).

Core Workflow

Verify template locations in .moon/workspace.yml:

generator:
  templates:
    - './templates'
    - 'file://./other/templates'
    - 'git://github.com/org/repo#main'
    - 'npm://@org/templates#1.2.3'

List and inspect available templates:

moon templates
moon templates --json
moon template <id>
moon template <id> --json

Create a new template scaffold:
```
moon generate <name> --template
```

Define schema in template.yml:

title: 'npm package'
description: |
  Scaffolds an npm package with baseline files.
destination: 'packages/[name]'
variables:
  name:
    type: 'string'
    default: ''
    required: true
    prompt: 'Package name?'

Render with safety flags first:

moon generate <id> --to ./packages/example --dry-run
moon generate <id> --to ./packages/example --defaults
moon generate <id> --to ./packages/example -- --name '@company/example'

Template Authoring Rules

A template is a directory with a template.yml/template.yaml file at its root.
Template ID is folder name unless overridden by id.
destination can standardize output and supports [varName] interpolation.
Variables support: array, boolean, string, object, number, enum.
Prompt behavior:
- Interactive by default.
- --defaults uses configured defaults.
- CLI variable overrides are passed after -- and names must match variable names exactly.
- Boolean vars can be negated with --no-<arg>.
- Array vars can be repeated (--tag a --tag b).
- Object vars are not supported via CLI args; set via prompt/default.

High-Value File Features

Interpolation in paths: src/[type].ts → src/bin.ts.
Partials: include partial in filename/path so they are not generated.
Raw templates: add .raw extension to bypass rendering.
Frontmatter controls in file content:
- force: true overwrite existing destination file.
- to: ... remap output file path.
- skip: ... conditionally skip file generation.

Shared Template Strategies

Local workspace folder (./templates) for single-repo usage.
git://...#revision when centralizing templates in a shared repo.
npm://...#version when distributing versioned templates.
https://...archive.zip or glob locators when needed for external or multi-template layouts.

Pitfalls and Recovery

Template not found: run moon templates, then confirm generator.templates paths and ordering.
Wrong destination: check destination and --to; use --dry-run before write.
Variable not applied: ensure variable name matches CLI arg name exactly after --.
Unexpected overwrite prompts: use explicit --force or per-file frontmatter force intentionally.
Template drift across repos: pin shared templates to git revision or npm version.

Quick Validation Loop

moon templates --json
moon template <id> --json
moon generate <id> --to <dest> --dry-run
moon generate <id> --to <dest> --defaults

Sources

moonrepo docs: docs/guides/codegen
moonrepo docs: docs/commands/generate
moonrepo docs: docs/commands/template
moonrepo docs: docs/commands/templates
moonrepo docs: docs/config/workspace#generator
moonrepo docs: docs/config/template

Agent Skills: Moonrepo Project Generators

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files