What templates should we provide?

[cknitt]

Currently (as of v1.4.0) providing these two:

• Basic: https://github.com/rescript-lang/rescript-project-template.git
• Next.js: https://github.com/ryyppy/rescript-nextjs-template.git

What other templates could/should we provide (while not going overboard with this and still keeping things minimalistic)?

How/where should the templates be stored to enforce consistency and avoid breakage?

Should we provide "experimental" templates for trying out things like JSX4?

[DZakh]

I'd like to have a script that would integrate ReScript into an existing project.

• Install rescript
• Add bs-config
• Add npm scripts
• Add internal files to .gitignore

[cknitt]

Yes, that would be nice. Maybe we could add that as an option in create-rescript-app.

Although people probably wouldn't expect this / wouldn't be looking for this functionality in a create-xxx package? 🤔

[DZakh]

Yeah, probably, more obvious to have such behavior in the rescript init

[zth]

Things that come to mind:

• A vite-based template
• Remix
• Node + Express

[DZakh]

I'm writing an article how to use ReScript for a CLI. Can be packed in a template repo.
Also, I've started working on platformatic bindings, I'd prefer having a template with it or pure Fastify instead of the one with express.

[DZakh]

@cknitt What do you think of rescript-init npm package? I can create it after finishing working on the https://github.com/DZakh/rescript-stdlib-cli that I described in the https://forum.rescript-lang.org/t/wip-the-ultimate-answer-to-belt-vs-js-in-rescript/3844. They should have pretty similar functionality, so wouldn't take much effort.
I'm planning to start writing articles about ReScript and it would be nice to simplify the step of configuring the project 😊

[cknitt]

@zth I would also like to have a Vite template.

There is https://github.com/jihchi/vitejs-template-react-rescript, but that one already includes a bit too much stuff IMHO (rescript-webapi, rescript-vitest).

I would like to have a very simple template with only Vite - or maybe Vite + Tailwind CSS, that's a very nice combo that we are using in our projects.

[cknitt]

Regarding express vs. fastify vs. platformatic: I am currently seeing the following weekly download numbers on npm:

• express: 26.957.203
• fastify: 759.168
• platformatic: 77

I think we should provide a template for express first because it still seems to be the most popular web framework for Node.js. Having a fastify template in addition might also be nice. I would not do one for platformatic.

[fhammerschmidt]

I would welcome a "rescript-development-testing" template that somehow comes with the latest master or at least the next npm package (currently 10.1.0-rc.2) to lower the barrier for others to report bugs and test new features.

[cknitt]

@cknitt What do you think of rescript-init npm package? ...

@DZakh Sorry for the late reply! Yes, it will definitely be nice to have a means to integrate ReScript into an existing project like you described. I am still a bit unsure about where we'd best put that functionality, but it will surely be helpful if you get the ball rolling with a separate rescript-init package. 👍