How do I install the Scaffold skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add robzilla1738/scaffold in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Scaffold skill do?

Greenfield or extend a Next.js app with Tailwind v4, tRPC, TanStack Query, optional Clerk, Neon/Drizzle, Vercel, and intake-selected add-ons (AI SDK, Resend, Stripe, Sentry, PostHog) fully installed and build-green. Use for /scaffold or new project setup. It is listed under Web & Frontend on SkillMD.

Is Scaffold safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Scaffold?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Scaffold free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Scaffold?

robzilla1738 (@robzilla1738) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Scaffold by robzilla1738 — Agent Skill

Name: Scaffold
Author: robzilla1738

Stack Scaffold

Workflow skill for greenfielding a Next.js + Tailwind v4 + tRPC + TanStack Query + Neon/Drizzle + Vercel app, with optional Clerk auth — driven by product intake so the foundation matches what you are building.

Read this hub first, run product intake, then open only the spokes for your profile.

Mission

Deliver a fully configured repo matching intake: core stack (Phases 0–8) plus every selected add-on installed and wired (Phase 9). No product business logic beyond integration demos/stubs. Phase 10 verification (typecheck, lint, test, build, smoke tests) must pass before the skill is complete.

Non-negotiables

Product intake first — ask what you are building; record scaffold profile before create-next-app. See intake-product-profiles.md.
App Router only — no Pages Router for new apps.
Package manager — default pnpm; pin Node 22.x and pnpm >=10 <11 unless intake says npm.
Environment — lib/env.ts (Zod); secrets in .env.local; committed .env.example. No raw process.env in lib/ elsewhere.
Server boundary — DB and tRPC routers are server-only; import "server-only" where appropriate.
Safe tRPC errors — AppError + Zod mapped in formatter; never leak stacks.
Clerk on Next 16 — proxy.ts + clerkMiddleware when auth is enabled.
Lazy database — getDb() must not throw at import time when DATABASE_URL is missing.
Scaffold profile in README — record profile ID, stack choices, installed add-ons, and production-habits.md checklist.
Intake add-ons are installed — when add-ons are not none, run Phase 9 (phase-integrations.md); do not leave them README-only.

When to use

Starting a SaaS dashboard, internal tool, or API-first Next app
Adding tRPC + Drizzle + Clerk to an empty Next.js repo
User invokes /scaffold

When not to use

Marketing-only → the web-marketing-landing skill
Supabase / Prisma-first → custom plan (not default spokes)
Expo / mobile-only → separate skill
macOS / non-Next → out of scope

Intake router

Profile	Summary
`saas-dashboard`	Default — Clerk, full stack, shadcn, foundations
`internal-tool`	Full stack; simpler shell; optional dev auth bypass
`api-first`	tRPC + DB; minimal UI; auth optional
`marketing-only`	Redirect web-marketing-landing
`extend-existing`	Gap-fill only

Details: intake-product-profiles.md.

Phase bundle

Execute in order. Details: phases-greenfield.md.

Step	Spoke
0	intake-product-profiles.md
1–2	stack-and-tooling.md
2b	foundation-env-and-errors.md
2c	foundation-testing.md
3	foundation-ui.md + file-tree-and-conventions.md
4	database-neon-drizzle.md
5	trpc-and-query.md
6	auth-clerk-optional.md (if auth)
7	App shell — file-tree-and-conventions.md
8	vercel-and-env.md
9	phase-integrations.md + ai-sdk-and-integrations.md — skip only if add-ons = `none`
10	verification-checklist.md
post	production-habits.md — document remaining launch habits in README

Skip phases per profile (e.g. api-first skips shadcn and often auth). Never skip Phase 9 when intake lists add-ons.

After Phase 10, recommend /review via the autoreview skill (/review).

Spoke index

File	Contents
intake-product-profiles.md	Product question, profiles, intake template
intake-and-variants.md	Extend-existing, monorepo, out-of-scope
stack-and-tooling.md	Versions, create-next-app, scripts
foundation-env-and-errors.md	`lib/env.ts`, `lib/errors.ts`
foundation-testing.md	Vitest
foundation-ui.md	shadcn vs minimal
phases-greenfield.md	Phases 0–10
phase-integrations.md	Phase 9 — install intake add-ons
file-tree-and-conventions.md	Canonical tree
database-neon-drizzle.md	Neon, Drizzle
trpc-and-query.md	tRPC server, client, route
auth-clerk-optional.md	Clerk
vercel-and-env.md	Deploy
verification-checklist.md	Build gate
production-habits.md	Post-scaffold checklist
ai-sdk-and-integrations.md	AI SDK streaming, Resend, Stripe, provider/env patterns

Related skills

the autoreview skill (/review)
the web-marketing-landing skill
clerk-auth (global) — deep Clerk patterns

Default stack

Layer	Package / tool
Runtime	Node 22.x, pnpm 10.x
Framework	Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript 5.9+
CSS	Tailwind CSS 4
API	tRPC 11, `@trpc/tanstack-react-query`, TanStack Query 5, superjson, zod
Testing	Vitest
Auth	`@clerk/nextjs` 7 (profile-dependent)
DB	Neon, Drizzle
Deploy	Vercel
AI (intake)	`ai`, `@ai-sdk/react` — Phase 9
Email / billing (intake)	`resend`, `stripe` — Phase 9
Observability (intake)	`@sentry/nextjs`, `posthog-js` — Phase 9

Verify latest minors on npm when scaffolding.

Scaffold

File contents