Install & create

Prerequisites

• Bun 1.2 or later
• Docker, if you want the default Postgres. Without it, point DATABASE_URL at a Postgres you already have and pass --no-docker.

The happy path

Once create-pleyn and htmx-contract are on npm:

bun create pleyn my-app
cd my-app
bun run dev

That is the whole setup. The CLI copies the template, writes a .env with a real SECRET_KEY, installs, starts Postgres, waits until it accepts connections, migrates, seeds a demo account, and builds the stylesheet.

Sign in with whatever the CLI printed (by default demo@example.com / pleyn-demo-password). Then bun run ok until it is green. Read AGENTS.md before changing anything — it is short on purpose.

Until the packages are published

bun create pleyn resolves htmx-contract from the registry. Until that publish lands, generating with a full install is a 404 dressed as a setup failure.

From a checkout of this repository:

bun packages/create-pleyn/index.ts my-app --no-install --no-git

Then point the generated app at the workspace library (or any local path), install, migrate, seed, and build CSS yourself. The CLI overview lists every step the scaffolder would have run.

--no-docker is available whenever Postgres is already running somewhere else.

Flags

See the flags reference — generated from the same list the CLI prints for --help, so it cannot quietly drift.