Scaffold

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

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

Phase bundle

Execute in order. Details: [phases-greenfield.md](phases-greenfield.md).

| Step | Spoke | |------|--------| | 0 | [intake-product-profiles.md](intake-product-profiles.md) | | 1–2 | [stack-and-tooling.md](stack-and-tooling.md) | | 2b | [foundation-env-and-errors.md](foundation-env-and-errors.md) | | 2c | [foundation-testing.md](foundation-testing.md) | | 3 | [foundation-ui.md](foundation-ui.md) + [file-tree-and-conventions.md](file-tree-and-conventions.md) | | 4 | [database-neon-drizzle.md](database-neon-drizzle.md) | | 5 | [trpc-and-query.md](trpc-and-query.md) | | 6 | [auth-clerk-optional.md](auth-clerk-optional.md) (if auth) | | 7 | App shell — [file-tree-and-conventions.md](file-tree-and-conventions.md) | | 8 | [vercel-and-env.md](vercel-and-env.md) | | 9 | [phase-integrations.md](phase-integrations.md) + [ai-sdk-and-integrations.md](ai-sdk-and-integrations.md) — skip only if add-ons = none | | 10 | [verification-checklist.md](verification-checklist.md) | | post | [production-habits.md](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](intake-product-profiles.md) | Product question, profiles, intake template | | [intake-and-variants.md](intake-and-variants.md) | Extend-existing, monorepo, out-of-scope | | [stack-and-tooling.md](stack-and-tooling.md) | Versions, create-next-app, scripts | | [foundation-env-and-errors.md](foundation-env-and-errors.md) | lib/env.ts, lib/errors.ts | | [foundation-testing.md](foundation-testing.md) | Vitest | | [foundation-ui.md](foundation-ui.md) | shadcn vs minimal | | [phases-greenfield.md](phases-greenfield.md) | Phases 0–10 | | [phase-integrations.md](phase-integrations.md) | Phase 9 — install intake add-ons | | [file-tree-and-conventions.md](file-tree-and-conventions.md) | Canonical tree | | [database-neon-drizzle.md](database-neon-drizzle.md) | Neon, Drizzle | | [trpc-and-query.md](trpc-and-query.md) | tRPC server, client, route | | [auth-clerk-optional.md](auth-clerk-optional.md) | Clerk | | [vercel-and-env.md](vercel-and-env.md) | Deploy | | [verification-checklist.md](verification-checklist.md) | Build gate | | [production-habits.md](production-habits.md) | Post-scaffold checklist | | [ai-sdk-and-integrations.md](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.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: robzilla1738
• Source: robzilla1738/roberts-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://robertcourson.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.