Onboarding

onboard is the env setup step. It fills in your .env and hands you the start command. compose and template offer to run it for you at the end of an install, and you can run it directly any time you want to re-check your environment.

Docker and database migrations are not part of onboard: create, compose, and template handle those during the install itself.

Usage

npx @hype-stack/cli onboard

Run it from your project root (the folder with stack.json), or point it elsewhere with --cwd.

What it does

1. Env setup - walks every .env.example in the project and prompts for any variable that's empty or still a placeholder. Values are written into the matching .env file.
2. Pack tips - prints setup tips from the packs you installed.
3. Start command - prints pnpm dev so you know where to go next.

Env prompting

onboard only asks for env sections that belong to packs you actually installed. It reads stack.json, which records the onboarding sections each installed pack declares, and prompts for those plus the base template sections (Config, Databases, Sentry, Resend).

This matters when you switch variants. If you started on the WorkOS starter and later moved to Better Auth, the append-only install leaves an old # Workos section in .env.example. onboard skips it instead of asking for WorkOS keys you no longer need, and shows a skipped (pack not installed) note so the skip is visible.

Sections from the base template always prompt. Press Enter on any prompt to leave it blank and move on.

Flags

In CI

For a non-interactive run, use --yes. It creates .env from .env.example without prompting:

npx @hype-stack/cli onboard --yes

When to re-run

onboard is idempotent and safe to run again. Existing .env values are kept: press Enter on any prompt to leave the current value alone. Run it after adding new packs, pulling a fresh checkout, or switching starter variants.