Introduction

The @deessejs/cli package (deessejs on npm) is the tool you use to discover, scaffold, and authenticate against DeesseJS templates. It's the only piece of DeesseJS you install; everything else forks from the templates it scaffolds.

What the CLI does

• Browse the registry: deessejs list shows every template, optionally filtered by category.
• Inspect a template: deessejs info <slug> prints metadata plus the install line.
• Scaffold a template: deessejs init <slug> clones the repo, detects the package manager, installs dependencies.
• Sign in: deessejs auth login opens the browser for a device-flow approval. The CLI caches the resulting token at ~/.deessejs/auth.json.

That lists the full public surface. Adding new top-level commands or flags counts as a breaking change and goes through a release-train review.

Install

# Use once, no install
npx deessejs@latest init <slug>

# Or install globally
npm install -g @deessejs
deessejs init <slug>

The CLI publishes with provenance from the GitHub Actions release workflow. There's no @canary or pre-release channel; every release to npm ships as stable.

Requirements

• Node.js 20.0.0 or newer: declared in engines. npx and global installs both enforce it.
• Git: required by init. The CLI shells out to git clone.
• A package manager: pnpm, npm, yarn, or bun. init picks one based on the cloned repo. Override with --pm <name>.

What the CLI doesn't do

• It doesn't host templates. They live in GitHub repos, and the CLI just clones them.
• It doesn't manage your environment variables. Templates ship their own .env.example; you copy and fill it in.
• It doesn't deploy. After init, you build and deploy with whatever your surface uses (Vercel, EAS, Cloudflare, and similar platforms).

Where to go next

• CLI: Authentication: sign in once for features that hit the API.
• CLI: Commands Reference: every flag, every exit code.