Generate projects from templates

[ryelle]

Right now the templates directory is pretty empty, but I added a branch with a child-theme template. It uses the mustache template syntax that @wordpress/create-block uses, so it would be nice to add a CLI command that could generate a project from the template like create-block does.

Maybe wporg-repo-tools becomes something you install globally, so that you can run $ repo-tools/generate child-theme and it prompts you for all the required values, then generates a child-theme in your current directory? Or something like that :)

[coreymckrill]

It's pretty lightweight as dependencies go, so installing it globally and requiring it in composer.json (for the configs, at least) seems fine. I like the idea of having a CLI command for generating a new project 👍

[ryelle]

It looks like we can use @wordpress/create-block with a custom template directory --template or with some other custom config. Worth experimenting so we maybe don't need to rewrite a template-generator.

[ryelle]

I think it would be good to create templates for the following (❗ are priorities IMO)

• ❗ A new child theme
• ❗ A new block plugin
• A new entire env repo (at least the skeleton with directories set up for adding themes, plugins, etc)
• A new regular plugin, maybe?
• A block inside wporg-mu-plugins/mu-plugins/blocks, which might be tricky given how it's currently set up

I think we want the script to generate the files & package.json, but whether it should also do a composer.json & wporg-repo-tools depends on where it's going, so maybe let that be optional.

Unfortunately, create-block can only be used to create block-plugins, it doesn't handle other kinds of projects and we can't customize the prompts.

[ryelle]

So here's where we kind-of stand on this. There isn't one single tool suggestion, and I'm not sure if that's really a bad thing.

• ✔️ A new child theme — the PHP script in Add a basic child theme template #20. Spins up a simple 3-file theme. No build process, could probably add PostCSS step if we wanted. Could also add a JS step (if we want to bundle blocks, open question).
• ✔️ A new block plugin — @wordpress/create-block with the default template. @wordpress/scripts build process.
• ✔️ A mu-plugins block — @wordpress/create-block with the template in Add a basic block template for mu-plugins blocks #21. No build process because the parent project should have one.
• 🔴 A new env repo —nothing yet.
• ❓ A new regular plugin — I'm not sure what would be a good template.